A G BARR p l c : Annual Report and Accounts FY 2023/24

A N N U A L R E P O R T A N D A C C O U N T S 2 0 2 4

I N T R O D U C T I O N

A.G. BARR is a UK-based branded multi beverage business focused on growth and the creation of long-term shareholder value.

Ambitious and value-driven, with strong consumer focus, we are brand owners and builders, offering a diverse and differentiated portfolio of brands that people love.

Established almost 150 years ago in Scotland, now operating across the UK and with export markets throughout the world, we strive to grow our business both organically and through targeted acquisition.

Employing over 1,000 people across four business divisions and nine UK locations, we are proud to be a responsible business that listens to our consumers, builds lasting customer relationships, takes care of our people, values diversity, gives something back to our communities and works to minimise our environmental impact.



For more information

visit our website agbarr.co.uk

Our locations

Offices

Cumbernauld - Head Office; Bolton (Barr

Soft Drinks); Camden (FUNKIN and MOMA);

Leeds (Boost)

Barr Soft Drinks

Factories

Cumbernauld; Milton Keynes; Forfar

Distribution centres

Cumbernauld; Milton Keynes

Distribution depots

Dagenham; Moston; Wednesbury



For more information

visit our website agbarr.co.uk

O U R P U R P O S E , V A L U E S A N D C U LT U R E

I N T H I S R E P O R T

Our purpose:

To create value, with values - for our shareholders, consumers, customers

and for society as a whole.

We do this by:

Building great brands.

Our business purpose has always been underpinned by strong values. We believe that how we act reflects who and what we are. We strive to behave responsibly across our four core values.

For nearly 150 years we have developed a positive, results-driven and supportive culture. As we grow our business organically and through acquisition, it is important that we retain the entrepreneurial spirit of the new and exciting additions to our Group, while also ensuring that we continue to value and nurture the unique essence of what makes A.G. BARR a great business to be part of.

For more information on our people, culture

and employee values see pages 23 to 27. 

O U R F O U R C O R E V A L U E S :

Acting with integrity

Respecting the environment

Supporting healthy living

Giving back

Strategic Report

Our purpose, values and culture	1
Highlights of the year	2
Investment case	3
Our business and brands	4
Chair's introduction	6
Our business model	8
Our strategy	10
Financial key performance indicators	12
Non-financial key performance indicators	13
Chief Executive's review	14
Our strategy in action	18
Responsible business report	20
Financial review	44
Risk management	48

Corporate Governance

Board of Directors	56
Corporate Governance Report	58
Audit and Risk Committee Report	70
Directors' Remuneration Report	74
Directors' Report	106
Statement of Directors' Responsibilities	112

Accounts

Independent Auditor's Report to the
members of A.G. BARR p.l.c.	113
Consolidated Income Statement	122
Statements of Financial Position	123
Statement of Comprehensive Income	124
Statement of Changes in Equity	125
Cash Flow Statements	127
Notes to the Accounts	128
Glossary	180
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures	181
Notice of Annual General Meeting	185

Corporate Governance

Our section 172(1) statement describing how the directors have had regard to the matters set out in section 172(1)(a) to (f) when performing their duties under section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 is set out in the Corporate Governance Report on pages 61 to 69 and is incorporated by reference into this Strategic Report.

S T R AT E G I C R E P O R T

C O R P O R AT E G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

1

H I G H L I G H T S O F T H E Y E A R

Revenue

£400m

+25.9%

Employee engagement

76%

Women in Leadership

42%

For more information on our KPIs see page 13 

Adjusted profit before tax*

£50.5m

+16.1%

Full year dividend*

15.05p

No Time To Waste environmental sustainability programme

90%

CO2 reduction from each of our new biomethane-fuelled trucks

Profit before tax

£51.3m

+15.5%

Acquisitions during the year

1

tropical drinks brand RIO

Basic earnings per share (EPS)

34.59p

+13.5%

• Items marked with an asterisk are non-GAAP measures. Definitions and relevant reconciliations are provided in the Glossary on pages 180 to 184.

2	A.G. BARR p.l.c.  Annual Report and Accounts 2024

Why invest in us?

F I N D O U T M O R E A B O U T O U R C O M P E T I T I V E A D V A N TA G E S Our business model can be found on pages 8 and 9

I N V E S T M E N T C A S E

01	04
Ambitious with	Disciplined
value-driven	capital allocation
strategy
02	05
Strong core brands	Responsible
with challenger	and sustainable
mentality
03	06
Clear growth	Financial
opportunities	strength

Find out more about our stakeholder engagement

on pages 61 to 65 

3

S T R AT E G I C R E P O R T

C O R P O R AT E G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

O U R B U S I N E S S A N D B R A N D S

We are brand owners and builders, offering a diverse and differentiated portfolio of brands that people love.

Barr Soft Drinks

Boost Drinks

At our core is Barr Soft Drinks, brightening people's lives with refreshingly different soft drinks.

Whether it's the iconic IRN-BRU, launched in 1901

and still going strong today, the vibrant RUBICON fruit based brand or the unique range of BARR flavours, Barr Soft Drinks' brands offer people a choice of great tasting products and bring exciting innovation to the market, available across multiple channels.

Established

1875

Employees

931

The BOOST business is always looking for new trends and to appeal to the evolving tastes of drinkers. Enjoying a very strong position within the UK independent retail channel, BOOST offers an exciting range of flavours across several functional drinks categories - Energy Stimulation, Sport and Iced Coffee. To further strengthen the Boost business's portfolio we acquired the tropical fruit drinks brand RIO in 2023.

Established

2006

Acquired

2022

Employees

35

4	A.G. BARR p.l.c.  Annual Report and Accounts 2024

P O R T F O L I O O F B R A N D S	4	17	1,030	9
I N F O R M AT I O N O N O U R F U L L
can be found at www.agbarr.co.uk/our-brands		Business divisions	Number of brands	Employees	UK sites

S T R AT E G I C R E P O R T

FUNKIN

FUNKIN operates within the exciting and dynamic cocktail market. Real fruit means authentic taste and FUNKIN believes that to shake the best cocktail you have to use the best ingredients. That's why they use the best fruit to create their premium products, famous amongst top bartenders. As the UK's number 1 cocktail brand FUNKIN provides innovative and unique purées, syrups, mixers and a growing ready to drink cocktail range, for behind the bar and at home. Making ordinary moments extraordinary.

Established

1999

Acquired

2015

Employees

47

MOMA

MOMA uses a blend of the highest quality wholegrain jumbo oats that give its oat drinks a full-bodied flavour and its porridge a distinctively creamy texture. MOMA believes in crafting simple, natural ingredients into food and drink that tastes awesome, because a little extra skill and care turns 'good for you' into 'great'.

Established

2006

Acquired

2022

Employees

17

C O R P O R AT E G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

5

C H A I R ' S I N T R O D U C T I O N

I am pleased to report that A.G. BARR has enjoyed a further year of significant progress across multiple fronts, in addition to delivering an excellent financial performance.

Mark Allen OBE

Chair

Overview

Revenue grew by 25.9% year-on-year and we finished the year with adjusted profit before tax* of £50.5m, 16.1% ahead of the prior year.

Despite continued global macro uncertainty and volatility we have navigated these challenging times well. Our long-term growth strategy has been well executed during the year. We have continued to invest in our brands, people and infrastructure and have made good progress against our medium-term margin development plans, following the first full year of ownership of the higher growth but currently lower margin Boost and MOMA businesses.

Highlights during the year included:

• Strong revenue and volume growth across our soft drinks portfolio, with a standout performance from the Rubicon brand
• Good progress on a number of fronts in the first full year of ownership of the Boost business alongside the acquisition of the Rio tropical fruit drinks brand
• Margin rebuild plan well underway, accompanied by strong cash generation and balance sheet strength

Our performance has been delivered by an excellent team of people across the whole Group, who have worked hard in the execution of our winning strategy.

Dividend

The Board is pleased to maintain its progressive dividend policy and recommends a final dividend of 12.40p per share to give a proposed total dividend for the full year of 15.05p per share.

This represents year-on-year growth of 14.9% (2022/23: 13.10p). The final dividend is payable on 7 June 2024 to shareholders on the Register of Members at the close of business on 10 May 2024. The ex-dividend date is 9 May 2024.

6	A.G. BARR p.l.c.  Annual Report and Accounts 2024

Board

As planned, after 62 years with the business, Robin Barr stepped down from the Board in May 2023. We were pleased to welcome

Julie Barr and Louise Smalley as Non-Executive Directors during the course of the year.

In August 2023, after over 21 years as CEO, Roger White announced his intention to retire from the business. He will step down from the Board at the end of April 2024, remaining available until the end of July to support a smooth leadership transition.

Roger has led the transformation of A.G. BARR from a regional soft drinks business into the highly successful multi-beverage, branded company that it is today and he has been instrumental in delivering significant value

to shareholders, stakeholders and employees. It has been a great pleasure to work with Roger and on behalf of the Board I would like to thank him for the huge contribution he has made to A.G BARR's success over two decades as CEO and to wish him well for the future.

I was delighted to communicate earlier this year that Euan Sutherland will join as the Group's CEO with effect from 1 May 2024. Euan has a wealth of consumer goods experience, an excellent track record in delivering sustainable growth and a history of improving efficiency and profitability through major transformation programmes. Euan is well placed to lead A.G. BARR through the next exciting phase of its development and to ensure the continued long-term success of the business.

Responsibility

Our Environmental, Social and Governance Board sub committee is now well established and providing important oversight and direction for the Group, with a particular focus over the past 12 months on our environmental sustainability progress and our net-zero roadmap.

We continue to make good progress across our broader responsibility agenda. Highlights during

the course of the year include FUNKIN's achievement of B Corp status*, validating its high social and environmental standards, as well as external recognition, received from both customers and industry bodies, of the progress we have made. Further details can be found within our Responsible Business Report.

People and culture

I have previously referenced A.G. BARR's unique and positive culture. I am pleased to update shareholders that our levels of employee engagement as measured by our Everyone Barr None survey, have risen further over the last 12 months. This reflects the steps we continue

to take, supporting our colleagues across areas such as diversity and equality, reward, mental health, learning and development as well as workplace flexibility.

We continue to build on our unique culture, protecting and supporting the individuality of our business divisions, people and brands. Over the course of the year, we have been encouraged by the open and constructive feedback received at various Board engagement sessions which now informs much of our thinking, planning and future actions.

We are equally as proud of our values and behaviours as we are of our financial performance.

Prospects

Looking ahead, while we operate in what is likely to remain a volatile environment, I am confident that we have a Group with growth momentum, market-leading brands, a strong margin rebuild plan which is well underway and a long-term strategy which will deliver superior shareholder returns.

Mark Allen OBE

Chair

26 March 2024

O U R F I N A N C I A L P E R F O R M A N C E

Basic Earnings per share

Reported profit attributable to equity holders divided by weighted average number of shares in issue.

2024

34.59p

2023

30.47p

+13.5%

Dividend

Total dividend declared for the full year excluding any special dividend.

2024

15.05p

2023

13.10p

+14.9%

S T R AT E G I C R E P O R T

C O R P O R AT E G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

* Items marked with an asterisk are non-GAAP measures.

Definitions and relevant reconciliations are provided in the7 Glossary on pages 180 to 184.

O U R B U S I N E S S M O D E L

Our business model aims to be simple, effective and profitable.

W H A T W E D O

We make…

We pride ourselves on our safe and effective manufacturing capabilities. We produce high quality brands across our well-invested and efficient Barr Soft Drinks production sites in Cumbernauld and Milton Keynes alongside our water production facility at Forfar. With glass, carton, plastic and can capability, we produce 99% of Barr Soft Drinks' products in-house. We directly source many of our key raw materials, with a particular competency in exotic fruit, develop our own recipes and design all our packaging - all underpinned with the aim of reducing our environmental impact and supporting continuous improvement.

We move…

With our own fleet of more than 60 vehicles, as well as long-standing relationships with our key distribution partners, our business model supports our drive to deliver great service to all our customers. Operating across multiple routes to market, we have a well established and efficient distribution network servicing our diverse sales channels. Our operating model is both flexible and agile.

Barr Soft Drinks

Boost	Partial in-sourced production by Barr Soft Drinks
FUNKIN	Partial in-sourced production by Barr Soft Drinks
MOMA
	We behave
	responsibly…

We take our responsibilities seriously and continuously strive to be a sustainable and responsible business. In particular we have an important role to play in the transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient economy and this is becoming an increasingly important and integral part of our overall A.G. BARR business model.

Our responsible behaviour also encompasses our management of risk, ensuring that we are thinking ahead and taking mitigating actions where appropriate. We have a robust risk management framework embedded across the business, allowing a wide range of employees at different levels to contribute.

8	A.G. BARR p.l.c.  Annual Report and Accounts 2024