Scottish soft-drink manufacturer A.G. Barr today unveiled a sparkling set of annual results.
Profits in the last year surged by more than 60% at the Cumbernauld business.
The Irn-Bru maker also said that trading at the start of the new financial year was well ahead of a year ago.
Barr’s revealed that pre-tax profits in the 12 months to the end of January were £42.2million - up 62.3% on the previous 12 months.
Turnover was also significantly ahead - up 18.3% to £268.6million.
Chief executive Roger White said that the last 12-month period had been another volatile year.
He explained: "We successfully navigated intermittent Covid-19 restrictions and periods of significant market recovery, as well as the well-documented issues associated with labour shortages, material-availability challenges and the beginning of a period of higher inflation across the UK.
Our business and brands have once again proven their resilience in uncertain and often challenging circumstances.
"We have accelerated our revenue growth - and consequently delivered a strong financial performance. In the year we have recommenced our dividend, alongside paying a one-off special dividend, and our balance sheet has continued to strengthen.
"Our focus on environmental sustainability has accelerated, as we increase our use of recycled materials, reduce our carbon footprint and ready our business for a successful deposit return scheme implementation, due to go live in Scotland in August 2023."
Mr White added that Barr has entered the new financial year with good momentum and exciting brand and sales plans.
He went on: “Trading in the early weeks of the new financial year has been well ahead of the prior year and in line with our expectations.
"Like most companies, we are facing significant inflationary pressures but we are well placed as a group to deal with these and will continue to seek to manage our exposure proactively through mitigating actions across revenue management, pricing, procurement and cost control.
"The growth potential of our business is underpinned by our growing brands, our highly-capable people and our resilient infrastructure.
"We plan to invest further in all of these important areas, and I remain confident in our ability to deliver continued growth in both revenue and profit in the coming year."
FTSE 100
Meanwhile the UK's top share index, the FTSE 100 was up 60 points at 7,534 shortly after opening today. It closed down 10 points yesterday.
Brent crude futures slipped by 1.01% this morning to $111.34 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Finals: A.G. Barr, Ten Entertainment
- Interims: Bellway