Irn Bru maker AG Barr has revealed it is struggling to make deliveries of its drinks due to the HGV and supply chain issues.
The company said it continues to “monitor closely” the situation and is hopeful the issues can be resolved soon.
Updating the stock market, bosses said: “In recent weeks we have seen increased challenges across the UK road haulage fleet, associated in part with the Covid-19 pandemic, impacting customer deliveries and inbound materials.
“In addition, the risks associated with the wider labour pool and the current Covid-19 pandemic response are areas we continue to monitor closely.”
The warnings came as the company revealed sales remain strong despite the pandemic, with growth returning following the reopening of pubs, bars and restaurants.
Bosses said there had been a heavy shift to at-home drinking of their products but with restrictions easing more customers are buying drinks on-the-go and in the hospitality sector.
Its pre-mixed cocktail brand Funkin saw some of the strongest growth in the six months to August 1 compared with a year ago, they added.
At-home cocktail sales rose 114.3% to £10.2 million and bar sales soared 229.5% following reopenings.
In the six-month period, total sales rose 19.5% to £135.3 million compared with the same period a year ago.
Pre-tax profits were also up nearly four-fold from £5.1 million to £24.4 million – due to a £7 million writedown on its Strathmore water brand recorded in results last year.
Chief executive Roger White said: “AG Barr is a growth-focused business operating in resilient and growing market categories, with dynamic brands, great people and a strong financial position.
“Our positive first-half performance reflects these fundamentals as well as the encouraging performance of recent innovation launches in both soft drinks and cocktails.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel