AG Barr credits marketing for revenue uplift
Irn-Bru maker AG Barr has credited its long term brand building strategy for outperforming the market in the last quarter and says the company is on track to complete its merger with Britvic later this year.
AG Barr says its commitment to placing “significant marketing investment” across all core brands – such as Rubicon, Orangina and Rockstar – helped them perform well despite the poor weather, economic challenges and significant increases in promotional activity from competitors.
Total revenue for the 15 weeks to 12 May increased 2.4 per cent year on year, which compared favourably with the overall soft drinks market, which was flat in terms of revenue growth in the same period, according to Nielsen.
The soft drinks market is entering the key summer trading period and AG Barr anticipates that, while the market will remain “highly competitive”, its commercial, long-term brand building and operational plans are “well developed” and the company remains focused on delivering a strong full-year result.
AG Barr and Britvic are hoping to merge this year and expect to receive notification of the Competition Commission’s provisional findings of its investigation into the two companies in early June.
In its interim management statement, AG Barr says: “The strategic attraction of the merger, as previously described to all shareholders, has not changed and the board will accordingly reconsider the transaction once the Competition Commission findings are available.”
Soft drinks experts predicted last year Rubicon is likely to emerge as the winning brand of the proposed merger if it goes ahead.
