Irn-Bru maker weathers wet summer

Publishing its results for the six months ended 26 July, the Irn-Bru maker’s chief executive Roger White said: "This has been the second summer of poor weather in a row - despite this we have continued to see excellent top line sales growth.” Having acquired the Rubicon exotic juice business in late August, White said the company was now working with the Rubicon team to ensure the growth momentum of the business was maintained. He went on: “The combination of poor summer weather, volatile input costs and the generally gloomy economic outlook will make the balance of the year challenging, however assuming the market doesn't deteriorate significantly from now, we anticipate meeting our expectations for the full year" Pre-tax profit for the period increased by 9.8% to £11.10 million (2007 - £10.13 million), while turnover versus the comparable period was up 5.8% at £82.4 million (2007 - £77.9 million). The Irn-Bru brand grew sales by 5.8% across England and Wales as well as its ‘native’ Scotland. Earlier this month, A G Barr completed the £2.85m purchase of a further 20.5 acre site with 155,000 square feet of warehouse space adjacent to its Cumbernauld facility. This will not only allow for future expansion but will also immediately decrease operating costs through increased efficiency of raw material storage, less finished product stock movements and reduced outside storage requirements, the company said. Looking ahead, A G Barr said despite the sustained period of very poor weather through August having a negative impact on the market, it expected to meet full year expectations provided that market conditions do not significantly weaken.