Fizzically fit Irn Bru's health kick helps gird AG Barr sales

Calorie-conscious Irn-Bru fans snapping up a new no-sugar version of Scotland’s favourite soft drink have helped put manufacturer AG Barr on track to meet City forecasts, the firm’s boss said today.

Roger White (pictured) said the launch of Irn-Bru Xtra last year has been “very positive in terms of growth [in orders] with distributors and consumers buying into it”.

The group, which is facing a government tax on sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks, expects sales for the year to January 28 to hit £257 million. The Snapple maker added it will meet profit forecasts, around £42.3 million, aided by cost cutting, including around 100 redundancies it made in the final quarter.

However, AG Barr warned that “2017 will be another challenging year”.

White said the firm is dealing with the post-EU referendum weaker pound: “Undoubtedly there will be some impact, which could be cost rises to our customers.”

The shares fizzed 10.5p higher to 512.5p.