AG Barr PLC (LON:BAG), the soft drinks company, said recent trading has been better than anticipated and that it expects its full-year profit to exceed its last full year before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Profit for the 53-week year to the end of January 2022 will be “slightly ahead” of the performance delivered in the 52-week year for 2019/20 when pretax profit was £37.4mln.
Trading since March 30, when it announced its results for the year to January 24 2021, has been better than anticipated, driven by a combination of factors, some COVID related, including customer restocking, in the hospitality sector in particular, and some associated with underlying brand momentum, such as the positive performance of recent innovation launches, it said.
The company said it will provide further information at its scheduled first-half trading update on August 3.