A.G. BARR H1 26/27 Earnings Report

A.G. BARR EPS Results

• Actual EPS: GBX 24.99
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

A.G. BARR Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: N/A
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

A.G. BARR Announcement Details

• Quarter: H1 26/27
• Date: 9/29/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 11:30AM ET

A.G. BARR (LON:BAG) 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, it is a brand owners and builder, 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, A.G. Barr strives to grow its business both organically and through targeted acquisition. A.G. Barr’s purpose is to create value with values, by building great brands across its three business divisions: At A.G. Barr’s core is Barr Soft Drinks, brightening people’s lives, with refreshingly different soft drinks. Established in 1875 and home to some of the UK’s most loved soft drinks brands - from the iconic IRN-BRU to the vibrant fruit-based brand RUBICON and 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. 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. 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’. A.G. Barr’s simple, effective and profitable business model - making, moving, marketing and selling - is supported by strong partnerships, talented people and responsible actions. Employing over 1,000 people across nine UK locations, A.G. Barr is proud to be a responsible business that listens to its consumers, builds lasting customer relationships, takes care of its people, values diversity, gives something back to its communities and works to minimise our environmental impact.

A.G. BARR H1 26/27 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue rose 8.5% to £247.4 million in H1, supported by acquisitions and momentum in core brands; operating margin remained steady at 15% and market share gains exceeded the broader soft drinks market.
• Positive Sentiment: Boost was the standout core brand, with revenue up 8%, while innovations including Boost Water+ and Rubicon’s new products generated incremental revenue. IRN-BRU Zero and Rubicon Sparkling also showed strong growth, particularly in England.
• Negative Sentiment: Supply-chain bottlenecks temporarily reduced service levels and are estimated to have cost approximately £10 million in sales during Q2, while higher interest costs and corrective actions limited profit-before-tax growth to 2.6%.
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the supply issues have been resolved and expects H2 gross margin to improve as integration synergies, insourcing benefits, and operational efficiencies come through; the Milton Keynes expansion and second can line are progressing as planned.
• Neutral Sentiment: Full-year guidance was reiterated, with approximately 10% revenue growth, operating margin slightly above 15%, PBT of £71 million–£72 million, and year-end net bank debt of £10 million–£20 million. CapEx remains elevated at about £40 million this year, while ROCE is expected at the lower end of the 19%–21% target range.

Presentation

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the A.G. BARR p.l.c. investor presentation. Questions are encouraged. They can be submitted at any time via the Q&A tab that is just situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Please just simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today, and will publish our responses where it is appropriate to do so on the Investor Meet Company platform. Before we dive into the live Q&A session, we would just like to play a pre-recorded video covering the results.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Good afternoon, and welcome to the A.G. BARR results presentation for half one, 2026-2027. I am Euan Sutherland, and today I am joined by Stuart Lorimer, our Chief Finance and Operating Officer. Over the next 30 minutes, we will provide a full review of half one, covering both the strong progress we are making executing our strategy and our financial results. We will also provide an update on the outlook for the business in terms of the full year, and leave plenty of time for your questions. Turning to the headlines on page three. In the first half of the year, we made strong progress against our strategy.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Our core brands are carrying good trading momentum with IRN-BRU, Rubicon, and Boost all performing well in the market. Additionally, the product innovations we launched over the past year are outperforming our expectations and driving incremental growth, which I will cover later. On the operational side, we successfully completed the integration phase of Fentimans and Frobishers with synergies coming through from half two. Financially, the business continues to deliver, even with short-term supply constraints during the peak summer trading period. Revenue grew 8.5%, reflecting core brand momentum and the contribution from our recent acquisitions.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Critically, we maintained a strong operating margin and ROCE in line with our established financial framework. Looking ahead, our positive brand performance has continued into the early part of half two, and we remain on track to deliver full-year results in line with market expectations. Before diving into the business in more detail, I want to provide a brief overview of the soft drinks market in the first half and how we performed within it. The total soft drinks market grew by 6.7% with higher growth in the second quarter due to the favorable summer weather.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

This performance reinforces that soft drinks remains a highly resilient consumer category. Growth in the market was driven by energy and sports, still and juice drinks, water, and dairy, all of which were up between 10% and 15%. The carbonates category grew at 3%. Against this backdrop, A.G. BARR outperformed the wider market, delivering 7.2% growth with Boost and Rubicon the primary engines behind performance. England saw the biggest increase in share for A.G. BARR growing at 11% in the 26 weeks, driven by IRN-BRU Zero, Rubicon Sparkling, and Boost Sport.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

We believe these metrics prove that our commercial strategy is successfully driving consumer demand, giving us good momentum and confidence for the second half of the year. Turning to slide five, we continue to execute our plan across each of our five strategic growth platforms in the first half of the year. We will cover many of these points on this slide later. At this stage, I will summarize that I am pleased with the progress we have made in half one, strengthening our business today while adding to the foundations for sustainable growth over the long term.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Before shifting focus to our plans for the second half, I want to provide an update on the supply chain program and the one-off issues we highlighted in our recent trading update. During the first half, we executed several complex operational projects, which I will cover in more detail on a later slide. To summarize, these included the final phase of our manufacturing line refresh program at Cumbernauld, the integration of Fentimans and Frobishers, and the rollout of a new demand and supply planning system. As we moved through the second quarter, it became evident that embedding this system had created some operational bottlenecks.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

In response, the team took corrective action, and I am pleased to report that the issues are now resolved with both inventory and customer service metrics normalizing. With the heavy lifting of the Cumbernauld transition behind us and our manufacturing upgrade in Milton Keynes proceeding to plan, we are confident that we have a strong, stable, and more efficient supply chain for half two and beyond. Moving to slide seven. We entered the second half of the year with a clear plan to benefit from the commercial momentum we have built. We remain fully focused on maintaining our brand momentum in the market.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Current trading is on track as we drive volume and value growth across the portfolio, including in the newly acquired and integrated brands. Operationally, we are in a stronger position with much of our change agenda complete. This gives us robust foundation we need to meet growing customer demands.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

The one operational project of scale in half two is adding our second can line in our Milton Keynes factory, which will further support our brand commercial ambitions. This project is progressing well. With our brands performing well, our operational footprint secure, and our investments landing well, we are confident in our plan and achieving the full-year expectations. I will now pass to Stuart to take you through the financials.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Thank you, Euan. Today I will start with a review of what the business delivered in the first half of 2026-2027, a period where we continued to make strong financial progress. I will conclude with an outlook for the second half of the year before handing back to Euan to provide some highlights on business activities and plans. Starting with our standard financial scorecard. We will cover many of the metrics on subsequent slides, so I will only call out a few headlines here. I believe the scorecard demonstrates another period of strong financial results.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Revenue grew 8.5% to GBP 247.4 million, led by our acquisitions and core brands, and despite around GBP 10 million impact from supply constraints that had a temporary but significant effect on service. In a period of significant change, we maintained a strong and sustainable operating margin of 15%, and we are on track to deliver year-end ROCE within our target range of 19%-21%. Revenue growth and sustained operating margin were partially offset by higher interest costs, resulting in profit before tax growing 2.6% to GBP 36.1 million.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Gross margin was diluted by the impact of recent acquisitions, as well as corrective action to support service recovery. We are forecasting a stronger gross margin in H2 as integration synergies and improved operating efficiencies come through. We will cover the balance sheet and cash flow in a moment, but our GBP 47 million net bank debt is in line with our expectations and reflects the active deployment of our balance sheet over the past 12 months on acquisitions and CapEx, as well as normal working capital phasing relating to summer trading.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Combined with continued market share gains, encouraging innovation, and the actions taken to resolve the supply challenges, we enter H2 in a strong position and remain confident in delivering market expectations. Looking now at brand revenue performance where our core soft drinks brands continue to underpin the performance of the group. Euan will be providing more insight into our brand activities in a moment, so I will only share a few headlines. IRN-BRU remains our largest brand, accounting for 29% of group revenue.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

While revenue was broadly flat in the period, the brand exited H1 with encouraging momentum, supported by continued brand activity, good performance in England, and promising growth in IRN-BRU Zero. Rubicon, which represents 19% of group revenue, delivered 1% revenue growth, supported by continued brand investment and new product development. Once again, Boost was the standout performer, delivering revenue growth of 8%, reflecting continued penetration in convenience and grocery, and the expansion of the brand into healthy hydration through the successful launch of Boost Water+.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Within portfolio brands, which represent 29% of the group, revenue was down 6%. This primarily reflects softness in FUNKIN and BARR brands and necessary portfolio prioritization during the summer supply disruption. Finally, Fentimans and Frobishers accounted for 9% of revenue in the period and drove our overall growth. With both brands now fully integrated into the company, our focus is firmly on realizing the commercial and operational opportunities we can bring to these brands. Overall, the mix of our portfolio continues to evolve. Our overall portfolio is in robust health and well-positioned for growth in H2.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Turning now to cost and margin on page 11. We are not immune to the external cost headwinds affecting U.K. businesses. Energy costs, supply chain disruptions, environmental regulations, and government revenue-raising actions are all recognized challenges. We have been proactive in our response to these cost pressures, strengthening resilience and locking in certainty where possible while ensuring we protect growth capability. We have up-weighted our procurement team and created more optionality through dual sourcing of key materials and putting in place a robust co-packer network to provide additional capacity during peak periods.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

We have continued to drive efficiencies in our cost base with our ongoing program of manufacturing and sourcing and effectively integrating acquisitions at pace. We are continually balancing margin protection and growth opportunities and are pleased to report sustained 15% operating margins while progressing our strategic agenda. Looking forward, the external outlook remains challenging, and we expect that current inflation, interest rates, and oil pricing will stay high for longer. It is therefore important that we continue to manage costs on multiple fronts. Our hedging program and contract management continue to provide cost visibility over the medium term.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

We have long-term contracts in place for cans, electricity, water, CO2, and other key materials. We have hedging cover for major commodities like aluminum, PET, and sugar, and we have full hedging cover for the balance of 2026-2027. We are in the process of building our hedge position for 2027-2028, albeit at more elevated pricing levels. Looking now in detail at our cash flow and cash deployment. We started the year with GBP 41.6 million of net cash and generated GBP 33.9 million of profit before tax during the period.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

The major operating outflows during H1 was the increase in working capital in support of trading activities, a combination of trading seasonality, and the timing of the final month-end payment run following an H1 period this year. Last year's H1 close date was July 26. This left us with a pre-allocation cash position of GBP 33.9 million at period end. Our capital allocation remains aligned with our well-established framework.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

CapEx at GBP 23.4 million reflects what is a peak investment year for the group, including around GBP 10 million at Cumbernauld, where we complete its multi-year refresh program, GBP 10 million at Milton Keynes as we commence its expansion plans, and GBP 3 million relating to Innate-Essence, where we are insourcing high-pressure processing capability. M&A spend of GBP 40.5 million related to the Fentimans acquisition, which completed in February. We are pleased to continue our progressive dividend program with a GBP 17 million final dividend paid in June. As a result of these investments, we closed the period with GBP 47 million of net bank debt.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

This reflects the deliberate and active deployment of our balance sheet to support both organic and inorganic growth. It remains comfortably within our leverage target of up to 2x-2.5x EBITDA, and we have significant debt capacity headroom. While M&A continues to be a core element of our long-term strategy, we are not currently in any processes, and we do not foresee any specific opportunities in the near term. We are a strong cash-generating business with a clear, consistent, and disciplined capital allocation framework backed by a robust balance sheet.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

On my final slide 13, I'd like to remind you of our financial framework and confirm our expectations for the full year. As set out previously, we have a simple and well-established financial framework, which aims to deliver strong, consistent business growth and returns for our shareholders. The three key metrics we target are revenue growth of at least 4%, operating margin between 14%-16%, and ROCE of between 19%-21%. Following a good first half, we remain on track to deliver against all three metrics.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

We expect revenue growth for the full year to be around 10%, driven by recent acquisitions and supported by improved trading in H2. Operating margin will be slightly above H1 performance as integration and insourcing synergies more than offset inflationary pressures and the incremental cost of service remedial actions. ROCE is expected to be within our guided range, albeit at the lower end, as acquisition costs and expansionary CapEx come onto the balance sheet with the full benefit of these being realized over the coming years.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Additionally, we expect to have a net bank debt position of between GBP 10 million and GBP 20 million by year-end as working capital phasing unwinds and the business continues to generate cash. As previously communicated, this is a peak CapEx year, and we expect cash CapEx of approximately GBP 40 million. Lastly, we expect around GBP 3 million of adjusting costs, primarily related to the non-recurring integration of Fentimans. All this ultimately translates into an expected PBT performance for the full year of between GBP 71 million and GBP 72 million, in line with market expectations.

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

The 2026-2027 plan, and indeed our whole operating model, are designed to deliver consistent top and bottom-line growth while ensuring we have the brands' capability and capacity to sustain this growth over the long term. With the progress we have made in the first half and the actions now in place, we remain on track to deliver our full-year expectations. With that, I'll hand back to Euan.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Thank you, Stuart. I'll now explain in more detail the progress we've made towards our strategy. Overleaf, our framework and commitments are unchanged. There are strong proof points of progress starting to appear, which I want to highlight over the next few slides. I want to cover growing portfolio scale, core brand growth, especially in England and Wales and into the main grocery soft drinks aisle, value for money and incremental pricing headroom, early distribution gains in key customers, integration, DRS, and supply chain investment.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

We have confidence in our strategy and are focused on execution. Our objective is to create a strong and consistent flywheel of growth. We are confident we have the right growth platforms and enablers to deliver our targeted financial outcomes consistently across the years ahead. Turning to slide 16, our portfolio strategy is focused on building a broader and more balanced portfolio, which has the engines for long-term growth across multiple market segments. In the last two years, the portfolio value of A.G. BARR has significantly increased. At the heart of our business is Everyday Refreshment.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

This core pillar, led by core brands IRN-BRU and Rubicon, provides us with significant scale and deep consumer resonance. At only 3% U.K. market share, we have significant growth headroom, and our strategy is focused on maximizing that. Alongside this, we are intentionally increasing our participation in the high-growth Daily Performance space, which spans energy, sport, and functional drinks. We are unlocking the highly attractive structural growth here as consumers increasingly pivot towards functional benefits and healthy hydration. Our third pillar, Elevated Experience, stretches our presence into premium occasions.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

This segment represents a significant long-term opportunity, which we've materially accelerated through the acquisitions of Fentimans and Frobishers. Crucially, these segments target distinct consumer needs and separate occasions, ensuring no portfolio cannibalization. Turning now to the highlights from our commercial progress we've made across our core soft drinks brands. Starting with IRN-BRU, the brand is experiencing growth driven by two key priorities, expanding in England and accelerating the rebranded Zero variant. A major milestone in the first half was our highly successful summer football campaign, designed to increase penetration in both Scotland and the rest of the U.K.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

It did exactly that with the System1 market research platform ranking IRN-BRU as having the most effective World Cup advert after it achieved over 5 million views on YouTube, 58 million impressions, and even an endorsement from the mayor of Boston. We also completed the rollout of the IRN-BRU brand refresh in quarter one. Since being rebranded, IRN-BRU Zero has performed strongly, delivering 7% revenue growth and 10% RSV growth in the period, as consumers increasingly recognize it as IRN-BRU's lead zero sugar alternative. IRN-BRU's expansion into England also continues with 7% RSV growth in half one, underpinned by a strong 19% RSV growth in Zero.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

We continue to view England as our primary scale opportunity for IRN-BRU, and these results give confidence our strategy is working. On Rubicon, our focus is to increase the brand's mainstream presence, supported by the recent brand refresh, high-quality marketing execution, expanded distribution, and continuous innovation. Our main soft drinks aisle strategy is delivering strong results, yielding 16% RSV growth in Sparkling, with 13% RSV growth in Mango Sparkling, and distribution of our new Tropical and Cherry variants into major grocery customers. Innovation is also a core engine of growth for Rubicon's growth, and the new range of Twist and Dilutes are delivering GBP 2 million of incremental revenue in half one, backed by important listings across both Tesco and Sainsbury's.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

We continue to see significant growth runway for Rubicon. Thirdly, Boost continues to carry strong growth. In half one, we saw 6% RSV growth in Boost Energy and an outstanding 24% RSV growth in Boost Sport. Crucially, we're starting to convert this demand into valuable grocery distribution gains through customers, including Co-op and Morrisons. On innovation, Boost Water+ has made a great start, outperforming our expectations to generate GBP 3 million of incremental revenue during the period.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

This is more impressive considering it is currently only in the symbols and independent convenience channel. Further growth in Boost Water+ is a sizable opportunity for half two and for 2027-2028. We expect Boost to continue to be a key growth driver for the group. Whilst we don't detail FUNKIN's performance on this slide, I want to call out that it continues to show a sales decline with challenges in both on and off-trade parts of the business.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

However, it's also important to note that the brand's profitability has been significantly improved over the recent years through full integration into A.G. BARR., with the brand now broadly in line with the group's operating margin. Moving on to slide 18, I want to highlight our approach to brand pricing. As you can see, even after retaking price over the last two years, we have clear price headroom versus key competitors across our core brands. Looking at the data, our IRN-BRU and Rubicon 500 mL products sit at an accessible GBP 1.29 below key category comparators like Coke Zero and Fanta.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

We see a pronounced competitive advantage within our functional ranges. Boost 500 mL energy propositions at GBP 1, compared with Monster at GBP 1.75, while Boost Sport offers incredible consumer value at GBP 1 compared to Powerade and Lucozade. Structurally, this position delivers three critical benefits for the group. First, it maximizes our value return while maintaining our market competitiveness, especially as we have insourced production.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Second, it ensures an accessible price point for consumers against those premium benchmarks during a tighter economic climate. And finally, as we continue to grow our brand equity, this gap creates significant pricing headroom and flexibility for us moving forward. This highly resilient position that protects our volume whilst leaving us well-insulated for the future. Our confidence over future revenue growth is provided by several lead indicators, which we are showing positive progress on. Firstly, distribution of our brands is up year-on-year by 15% across grocery and convenience. We are winning additional space in our customers.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Secondly, our sales team has worked hard to deliver improved in-store execution, and we are seeing the fruits of this with brand displays up over 20% on our two biggest brands. These factors have driven higher penetration with double-digit growth in the number of households buying IRN-BRU, Rubicon, and Boost. All of which plays into a stronger brand equity with consumers. In a recent YouGov survey, Rubicon and IRN-BRU were first and third in improved consumer consideration when buying your next soft drink. Lots of positive lead indicators for us to build on in half two and beyond.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Turning to value creation from acquisitions, where we have a clear and proven model for integrating brands into A.G. BARR and unlocking value over time. Boost is the most established example of that model. Since acquisition, we have successfully integrated the business, delivered cost synergies, and accelerated commercial growth while gradually bringing production in-house. This has given us a strong blueprint for how we approach our acquisitions, and we're now applying this blueprint to Fentimans and Frobishers. The integration of both brands was completed in half one, 2026-2027, in line with plan, with expected overhead cost synergies coming through in half two.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Half two also provides us with the opportunity to start realizing commercial growth synergies as we leverage our brand-building capability and larger sales network to deliver growth. Beyond this, we see further value creation with Fentimans through bringing manufacturing in-house in early 2028. Frobishers manufacturing is optimized at third-party co-packers, and there's no plan to bring this in-house at this time. So while each brand is at a different stage, the model is consistent. Eliminate duplicate costs, leverage A.G. BARR sales, brand and innovation capabilities to drive growth, and where appropriate, bring manufacturing in-house to reduce costs.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

This creates a flywheel of improving profitability and reinvestment, supporting further growth across the portfolio. On slide 21, I want to address the upcoming regulatory landscape, specifically our readiness for the U.K. Deposit Return Scheme. Planning is already underway across the group for the October 2027 launch. As a brief overview of the scheme mechanics, consumers will pay a GBP 0.20 deposit on all plastic and metal drinks containers sized between 150 mL and 3 L. Looking at the potential impact on the market, we've analyzed the data and learnings from the Irish scheme launched in 2024.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Based on that rollout, we anticipate some initial short-term disruption as producers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers adapt to the scheme. However, we expect limited impact on volumes over the longer term, and anticipate any temporary impact to have normalized out by early 2028. It is likely the market will see some consumers shifting towards higher volume per unit packs, such as the 2 L format. In terms of A.G. BARR's preparations, we are in a good position at this early stage.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

A key element of the project is the execution of the large-scale SKU label change program as the new DRS logo is added. Financially, we estimate a one-off implementation cost alongside a potential small adverse impact on working capital related to deposit cash flows. We'll continue to update the market as the scheme preparations alongside our own progress towards launch later next year. Through the work we've done to date, we believe we are well-positioned to navigate this transition smoothly and protect our market position.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

As we continue to build our supply chain capability and capacity, I'm pleased to report that our major CapEx projects at Cumbernauld and Innate-Essence were successfully completed in the first half. At Cumbernauld, our new high-speed can line is now fully commissioned, delivering a significant step change in our core volume capacity. Alongside this, we've added new PET sleeving capability, which allowed us to in-source Boost Sport and Boost Water+ volume from the end of half one. Moving to Innate-Essence, the investments in the new high-pressure processing equipment is fully implemented, unlocking manufacturing efficiency and capacity within our functional portfolio.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Finally, our Milton Keynes site expansion is progressing well, including the installation of a second independent can line, which will step up both our capacity and technical capability from early 2027. Importantly, this site expansion paves the way for our planned Boost Energy insourcing across 2027-2028 financial year. From a financial perspective, our CapEx guidance is unchanged. GBP 40 million this financial year, dropping significantly to around GBP 30 million in 2027-2028. Structurally, these investments mean we are systematically moving away from third-party reliance, driving improved product margins, and providing the business with long-term growth capacity.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Now to conclude with a summary before moving on to your questions. In the first half, we made significant strategic headway across each of our growth platforms, backed by robust underlying financial performance. Importantly, we have resolved the short-term supply chain constraints that impacted our Q2 performance. The operational changes are now embedded and our half two performance is tracking to plan. As I outlined, our preparations for the U.K. Deposit Return Scheme are at an early stage, but well progressing. We have good understanding on the likely market and business impacts as we execute our roadmap towards the 2027 launch.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Our in-market performance in the first half gives us increased confidence to commit to our full-year delivery of market expectations. While there remains plenty to deliver in half two, we have a disciplined plan, a resilient business model to back it up. Translating to full-year results of approximately 10% revenue growth, a circa 15% operating margin, and a circa 19% return on capital employed. Looking beyond the current financial year, we are over time building a stronger, broader, and more resilient A.G. BARR.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Through our broader brand portfolio, which has multiple routes to growth, and our greater manufacturing capability and capacity, we have the building blocks in place to support sustainable long-term growth and strong financial delivery. Thank you very much. We will now open the room to take your questions.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions just by using the Q&A tab that is situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Euan, I will just bring you up on camera for the Q&A. And we have received a number of questions, so perhaps if we dive straight into it. The first question that we have here asks, "Are your medium-term targets unchanged?

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Perhaps if I jump in and take that. Yes, absolutely. We are recommitting not only to the year-end, but also to the medium-term targets. We have got a very clear flywheel of growth that we are establishing. I am more confident now, despite some of the short-term supply chain issues that we have had in quarter two, that we can deliver that in the years ahead. So I think, as I said in the summary, we have got a stronger A.G. BARR, and I think we are able to capitalize on that in the years coming.

[Operator]

Perfect. Thank you. We have a question here asking, "How confident are you in achieving full-year revenue guidance?

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Very confident. We stated that yesterday. Clearly, we lost some sales with the short-term supply issue that we had in quarter two. We are seeing good availability and better customer service coming through every single week. We believe that we will be back up to where we needed to be at the end of quarter three, leading us into a good place for quarter four. We have got strong demand, as we have also tried to show in the presentation around the market share gains that the brands have made. Yes, we are in good shape.

[Operator]

Perfect, thank you. What did the Fentimans and Frobishers integration actually involve?

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Do you want to handle that?

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

Yeah, sure. It is a very normal integration whereby we take ownership on day one, so it involved us putting an A.G. BARR team into the Fentimans organization, working with the team there, who were excellent and very professional, I have to say. Over the last six months, we have been working with that team to transfer the brand into the A.G. BARR ownership and network. That means both the physical logistics and warehousing, but also the marketing and sales and brand building. As of now, the Fentimans brand is part of the A.G. BARR portfolio. The old Fentimans organization has been disbanded and exited, and it is now our job to make sure that we can build the brand, grow it, and take it forward.

[Operator]

Thank you. Perhaps just sticking with those acquisitions, we have another question here asking, how much of the H1 revenue was due to the acquisitions of Fentimans and Frobishers?

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

I would look at the revenue in the first half into three segments. The first segment would be the core brands, IRN-BRU, Rubicon, and Boost. They were all in growth that we showed in the deck, so a combined growth of 2%-3%. Then there was Fentimans and Frobishers, which delivered about 8%. But underneath both of them, unfortunately, we had a decline in FUNKIN and the BARR brand, which were down. In total, the portfolio brands were down 6%. When you bring all that together, that is where you get our 8.5% growth.

[Operator]

Thank you. We have someone asking, given the lack of obvious synergies with soft drinks business, what is the rationale for owning FUNKIN and MOMA?

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Perhaps if I take that one. Look, I think that both businesses are non-core. We are seeing very good growth from our core soft drinks portfolio, and we have clear growth plans around the core brands growing with penetration headroom. Lots of good innovation landing so far this year and a clear plan to drive M&A. Both businesses are now profitable. MOMA is in good growth. As Stuart said, FUNKIN has had sales declines over the last three to four years.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

The profitability of FUNKIN is actually good. It is at the company operating margin level, and we have significantly improved the profitability of FUNKIN. That said, we have to think about where we focus our time, and clearly we have got good momentum within core soft drinks. While we have got good momentum in MOMA, we have got work to do in FUNKIN. So we continue to review those brands as part of the portfolio.

[Operator]

Thank you. Just turning to the next question. Where do you see the strongest potential to take margins above 15% as current cost and investment pressures unwind?

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

If you look at the portfolio, 15% is across the whole portfolio. So already we've got a number of brands that are well above the 15%. The iconic IRN-BRU and the Rubicon deliver stronger than 15%. We've also got challenger brands and more development like MOMA and Boost, etc, which are below the 15%. So the 15% is an aggregate. We believe that we can grow that over time. Our choice is right now we invest margin into growth because we see that the runway in top-line growth is attractive and worthy of investment. So over the medium term, we're seeing 14%-16% is the right balance between margin and profitability and reinvesting for long-term growth.

[Operator]

Thank you. You have considerably increased CapEx since joining the business. Did you inherit a business that you considered under-invested? And what would you consider a medium-term level of maintenance CapEx to be?

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

I think that we've been really sensible in the CapEx deployment that we put into the factories, and we're seeing the benefits of those coming through. We had a very clear plan over the last three years that we needed to upgrade the Cumbernauld factory and expand out the Milton Keynes factory. The Cumbernauld factory is 27 years old, and therefore, part of that CapEx was replacement, but part of it is also expansion, and you're capitalizing on the benefits of newer production lines that are now available that weren't available back 27 years ago.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

So I think it's a combination of those. I think we are in peak CapEx year, and that will leave us this year and next year very well set for the growth plan that we believe that we can deliver over the medium term. So I'm really happy with where the CapEx is now. I think it's being deployed very sensibly. I think when you get down to a maintenance level of CapEx, we're talking probably GBP 20 million-GBP 25 million going forward with the size of the estate that we've got.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

I guess we've always said that our CapEx would be lumpy. If we get to a point where 15 years have passed and we need to replace a new production line, that costs probably between GBP 20 million and GBP 30 million. That could be into the 2030s that we have additional years where there would be slightly more than that long-term guidance.

[Operator]

Thank you. Perhaps one final question that we have here, which asks what was the like-for-like growth rate in H1?

[Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at A.G. BARR]

It was broadly flat. If you look at it, the like-for-like, remembering that we had Fentimans and Frobishers this year delivering just under 8%, so probably about 1% from the core portfolio.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

I think the important point to state in that is, as we've stated, we believe that we lost about GBP 10 million worth of sales across the board from the supply chain issue that we had in quarter two. That equates to about 4% of like-for-like growth. If you strip that back out, we're probably in a place that was 4%-5% underlying. We're certainly seeing good growth as we've gone into half two as those issues have now been resolved. So a slightly artificial depression of the like-for-like estate in quarter two, which kind of depressed the overall half.

[Operator]

That's great, and thank you very much indeed for addressing all of those questions that came in from investors this afternoon. Of course, if there are any further questions that do come through, we'll make these available to you immediately after the presentation has ended just for you to review. But Euan, perhaps before really now just looking to redirect those on the call to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to yourself and the company. If I could please just ask you for a few closing comments just to wrap up with, that'd be great.

[Euan Sutherland, CEO at A.G. BARR]

Well, firstly, thank you very much for making the time to be on the call. We are very happy to meet one-to-one if there are more questions and more details that would help in doing your numbers. Clearly, we are very confident that we are building a stronger A.G. BARR. We have got good momentum in the marketplace, strong market share. We believe the blip in supply chain is very short term, and we are coming out of that strongly, and we look forward to updating you again at the end of January.

[Operator]

That is great. Euan, thank you once again for updating investors this afternoon. Could I please ask investors not to close this session, as you will now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback. On behalf of the management team of A.G. BARR p.l.c., we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session, so good evening to you all.

Participants

Executives

• Euan Sutherland, CEO
• Stuart Lorimer, Chief Finance and Operating Officer