Roger White, the outgoing chief executive of AG Barr, has said there is still “life left in me” as he contemplates his career options beyond that of the soft drinks group that he has led for more than two decades.
The company, best-known as the maker of Irn-Bru, confirmed yesterday that Mr White is set to be replaced by former Saga, Superdry and Co-op Group chief executive Euan Sutherland. Mr Sutherland will take over on May 1 at Barr, with Mr White standing down from the board but remaining “available” until the end of July to ensure a smooth leadership transition.
READ MORE: New boss in charge of Irn-Bru is no stranger to controversy
The news came alongside a trading update in which Barr lifted its profit guidance for the year to January 28 as it began to reap the benefits of a number of acquisitions made in recent years. Pre-tax profits are expected to reach £49.5 million, a slight rise on market consensus and up almost 14% on the previous year.
Revenues were up by 26% at £400m after the company’s Funkin Cocktail and MOMA Foods brands both put in a positive performance. Barr acquired Funkin back in 2015, and took 100% control of MOMA at the end of 2022.
Mr White said MOMA is a relatively small part of the group but has “really strong growth potential” that has started to pull through as the business has increasingly focused on providing its oat milk to out-of-home speciality coffee retailers. Oat milk consumption in that channel is growing at pace and Barr is hoping to capitalise on that.
“In Funkin we have a leading position in the on-trade, but it was a tougher year in the on-trade,” Mr White said. “The late-night venues have suffered reduced footfall, but we’ve compensated for that to a large degree by our retail business, and we had a good strong Christmas in retail on the cocktail side.”
Soft drink sales – which include standard-bearer Irn-Bru along with the Rubicon and Boost brands – grew in terms of both value and volume despite the weight of inflation on consumer’s discretionary spending. Excluding Boost, which was acquired in December 2022, group sales were up by 8%.
READ MORE: AG Barr names Euan Sutherland as new chief executive
As for rising costs, Mr White said the company is currently looking at “something like mid-single digit inflation”.
“It’s obviously been a pretty bumpy ride for the last couple of years, and as we look forward into this new year there is still inflation persisting,” Mr White said. “It’s a lot less than it has been the last couple of years but it’s still there.
“Quite a lot of it relates to labour costs, whether they’re direct or embedded costs, and on the commodities side of things it’s a little bit more of a mixed bag. We have got some areas where there are increases and some areas where we are seeing some benefits as things come down.”
Barr now employs about 1,000 people across the UK, some 450 of whom are involved in head office, manufacturing and distribution at its headquarters in Cumbernauld.
Profit margins have benefitted from cost controls and productivity improvements that Mr White said have come in large part from bringing in-house the manufacturing of acquired brands, with the impact feeding through a bit earlier than originally anticipated.
READ MORE: AG Barr chief executive Roger White to exit
Of his decision to retire which was first announced in August, Mr White said “all good things have to come to an end”. He originally joined Barr in 2002 as managing director and in 2004 became the first non-family member to hold the post of chief executive.
Asked about his plans for the future, the 59-year-old replied: “I haven’t really said too much about that yet but I think I still have some life left in me.
“I’m pretty focused on what I’m doing here for the next couple of months and then by the time we get to the end of April, I’ll take a little bit of time to pause for a moment, but hopefully find something to occupy me and interest me thereafter.”
Barr is due to release its full-year results on March 26. Shares in the company, which have been on a steady run since the beginning of December, closed yesterday’s trading 6p higher at 574p.
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