- A.G. Barr expects annual profit to exceed pre-pandemic levels and beat current market expectations, with "on the go" and hospitality sectors remaining particularly strong, the Scotland-based soft drinks maker said on Monday.
The company, best known for fizzy drink Irn-Bru, forecast both annual revenue and pretax profit ahead of current market expectations, despite ongoing near-term operating cost pressures.
Irn-Bru was in the spotlight earlier this month when Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon handed U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a can of the orange fizzy beverage at COP26 in Glasgow, with Ocasio-Cortez giving the cherished Scottish drink a thumbs-up.
A.G. Barr expects full-year revenue of about 264 million pounds ($351.73 million) and profit before tax of around 41 million pounds for the 12 months ending January 2022, compared with 26 million pounds last year.
The company, which has seen a revival in demand since COVID-19 curbs were relaxed earlier in the year, said the fast-moving pandemic situation remains a risk but it still expects its revenue momentum to continue into 2022.
The emergence of a new variant of coronavirus late last week has raised questions of increased curbs ahead of Christmas, with Britain announcing some new measures to try and slow the spread.
($1 = 0.7506 pounds)
