The 58-year-old chief executive of Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr will retire from the company within 12 months, after more than two decades at the helm.

Roger White’s departure was announced to the stock market yesterday by AG Barr, which declared: “The board will immediately commence a formal succession process, including an external search, to ensure a smooth leadership transition.”

The announcement came as AG Barr said its revenue for the 26 weeks to July 30 is expected to be around £210m, up from £157.9m in the first half of its previous financial year.

Revealing the change at the top, AG Barr said: “Chief executive Roger White has agreed with the board that he will, at a mutually agreed date in the next 12 months, step down from his role as CEO, resign as a director of the company and retire from the company.”

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Asked if Roger White is planning to retire as opposed to taking up another full-time job, if it was his decision to leave, and if there would be any pay-off to the outgoing chief executive, a spokesman for AG Barr said: “On Roger’s retirement, there [is] nothing to say over and above what’s in the release.”

Mr White, who was appointed managing director of AG Barr in 2002 and became chief executive in 2004, said: “It has been a privilege and pleasure to lead the business for over two decades and now the time is right to plan for my succession and to ensure the continued success of the business. I would like to pay tribute to everyone across the whole organisation who make AG Barr a very special place with amazing brands.”

Mark Allen, chairman of AG Barr, said: “Roger has served the shareholders, board, wider business and industry for over 21 years - this makes him one of the longest-serving CEOs in the UK public market.

"He has supported the transformation of the business from a regional soft-drinks business into a highly successful, multi-beverage, branded company that has delivered significant value to shareholders, stakeholders and employees. AG Barr has a strong culture and momentum and is strategically well placed to continue to deliver for the long term”.

AG Barr declared yesterday that it expects its full-year profit performance will be “marginally above the top end of analyst expectations”. Analysts were, overall, forecasting pre-tax profits for the full year of around £45m, before yesterday’s announcement.

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The group, which also has the Rubicon, Funkin and Boost brands and is based at Cumbernauld near Glasgow, said of its first-half revenues: “This represents [circa] 33% year-on-year revenue growth – [circa] 10% on a like-for-like basis excluding the contribution from the Boost Drinks business acquired in December 2022.”

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It added: “As anticipated, first-half margins remained under pressure but are in line with our expectations.”

Asked what had caused the pressure on profit margins in the first half, the spokesman replied: “This year AGB (AG Barr) are in an invest-for-growth phase – [circa] £17m to £19m capex but there are also some inflationary pressures such as commodity prices.”

AG Barr employs around 1,000 people, with approximately half of its workforce in Scotland.

Commenting on its Barr Soft Drinks and Boost Drinks businesses, the group cited “strong trading performance…driven by volume growth, pricing and mix, alongside effective sales execution and successful consumer marketing activity”.

In its Funkin cocktail mixers, purees and syrups business, AG Barr flagged “revenue growth driven by further distribution gains, increased consumer marketing investment and continued exciting innovation, particularly in the retail channel”.

It added: “While cocktail consumption in the on-trade has slowed following last year’s post-Covid high, Funkin has maintained its position as the UK’s number one cocktail brand.”

Mr White said: “In March we communicated that 2023/24 would be a year of investment across the business, supporting the group’s long-term revenue and profit growth ambitions. I am pleased to report we have had a strong first half, despite ongoing macro cost challenges.”

Looking ahead, AG Barr said: “We exit the first half with strong brand momentum. The Scottish deposit return scheme delay provides us with a more stable and certain consumer environment and enables the accelerated execution of our innovation plans.

“We now have a number of exciting brand launches planned for the second half of the year. We continue to progress our strategic brand investment programme at pace across the group. As previously stated, the current full-year group operating margin will be impacted by persistent cost inflation alongside the known near-term impact of the lower-margin Boost division.”