A.G. Barr, the owner of the Irn-Bru and Rubicon brands, said today that it was on track to meet its annual targets after benefitting from the reopening of the hospitality sector and consumers shifting back towards ‘drink now’ occasions.
Have seen sales and profits slide during 2020 as a result of the pandemic, the company said in an update ahead of its AGM today that its Barr Soft Drinks division had made a relatively strong start to its new financial year. As well as seeing a return to more normal consumption trends as the lockdown restrictions started to ease, the business was supported by “encouraging” new product launches, including Rubicon RAW Energy.
Meanwhile, its Funkin cocktail business started to benefit from the reopening of pubs and bars with the group saying that recent on-trade sales had provided “optimism for the sector’s recovery”. However, A.G. Barr noted that it was continuing to see strong performance of the Funkin ready to drink (RTD) cocktails range in the take-home channel with an increase in both retailer listings and new consumers.
The company stated that it was planning to invest more in products and marketing after “encouraging” trading in recent weeks.
A.G. Barr did warn of some lingering uncertainty in the short term but said that it was “confident” about its prospects for the full year.
