Annual General Meeting and Infrastructure Update

RNS Number : 2843O

Barr(A.G.) PLC

27 May 2015

 

                                                                                                                                              27 May 2015

A.G. BARR p.l.c.

Annual General Meeting and Infrastructure Update

A.G. BARR p.l.c., the soft drinks Group, issues the following statement covering trading for the period 26 January to date ahead of its Annual General Meeting being held in Glasgow later today.

Total Group sales, excluding the now divested Orangina brand and Findlays water coolers, declined by 1.1% for the 15 weeks to 9 May 2015 versus the same period last year. The recently acquired Funkin business continues its growth trajectory and contributed just under £3m to gross sales. In the period, the total soft drinks market as measured by Nielsen, recorded modest value growth of 0.7%.

As previously indicated, this sales performance reflects the return to a more normal sales phasing over the year compared to the strong first half performance in prior year sales related to our Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games marketing and promotional activity.

Margins continue to hold up well as we drive efficiency improvement across the business.

We have a strong summer brand programme planned across all of our core brands and expect to see a return to sales growth in the second half of this financial year.

The balance sheet remains strong and there have been no significant changes in the financial position of the Company, save as disclosed below, since publication of the Report and Accounts for the year ending 25 January 2015.

Milton Keynes Phase 3

We are pleased to confirm that we have now signed development agreements to build further warehousing capacity as we continue to develop our Milton Keynes site. This includes the acquisition of an additional 1.54 acres of land.  We have also agreed to purchase a further 3.86 acres of land, adjacent to our existing site, to give us additional expansion options in the future. The total cost of this development is £11m including £4m for the land for additional future expansion.

Outlook

The UK macroeconomic environment appears more positive; however, this is balanced by a retail market which continues to be competitive and volatile.

We remain confident in our strategy and long-term prospects. We are on course to meet our expectations for the full year despite the challenging conditions across the market.

For further information, please contact:

A.G. BARR	Tel:  [phone]	Instinctif	Tel:  [phone]
	Roger White, Chief Executive		Justine Warren
	Stuart Lorimer, Finance Director		Matthew Smallwood

 

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