AG Barr – excellent Final result sees shares increase 10% to 681p, with more to come

Mark Watson-Mitchell - 01.04.2026

Last Thursday we highlighted the shares of AG Barr (LON:BAG), the Scots-based soft drinks maker famous for its IRN-BRU brand.

That was ahead of yesterday’s Finals for the year to end-January.

The then £697m-capitalised group’s shares were trading at a lowly 628p.

They had previously been up to 715.32p in the last month or so, before falling back to a recent Low of 608p, scored early in March.

After some profit-taking the shares closed the day up 6.65% at 658p, some 41p better on the day, capitalising the business at £730m.

The Final Results

The branded multi-beverage business with a diverse and differentiated portfolio of 16 brands, including IRN-BRU, Rubicon and Boost, reported strong financial delivery and strategic progress for the financial year to end-January, with revenue increasing by 4.0% to £437.3m and adjusted profit before tax rising 12.5% to £65.8m, driven by a 120 basis point increase in adjusted operating margin to 14.8%.

The company maintained an adjusted return on capital employed of 20.4% despite significant investment in brand and capital expenditure, and statutory profit before tax saw a notable 17.7% increase.

Cash generated from operations grew by 12.7% to £64.9m, supporting a 11.0% increase in the full-year dividend to 18.71p per share, with net cash at bank standing at £41.6m following acquisitions.

The company stated that it has entered the new financial year with good momentum and is expecting low double-digit revenue growth supported by recent acquisitions.

Management Comment

CEO Euan Sutherland stated that:

"This was a year of significant strategic progress in which we also delivered on our targeted financial metrics. 

We have strengthened the foundations of the business and stepped up our investment in brand development, commercial capability and our operations to ensure we can consistently sustain high levels of performance.

These actions, supplemented by a more meaningful M&A strategy, support our ambition to deliver our target of sustainable, consistent top and bottom line growth. 

We entered FY26/27 with good momentum and clear priorities, and expect to deliver a year of low double digit percentage revenue growth supported by our recent acquisitions.

Our strategy aims to deliver above-market growth rates and realise our ambition of doubling the size of the business.

Importantly, we are pursuing this ambition without changing our core business model, and with a continued disciplined focus on margin, ROCE and shareholder returns."

Analyst Views

At Shore Capital Markets, analysts Darren Shirley and Clive Black see lots to like in AG Barr’s equity investment case, notably at a decade-low PER.

For the year to end-January 2027, the analysts estimate revenues of £490.0m (£437.0m), with adjusted pre-tax profits of £72.0m (£65.8m), earnings of 48.0p (44.2p) and a dividend of 20.3p (18.7p) per share.

The 2028 year could see £510.0m sales, £76.9m profits, with earnings of 51.2p and a 21.7p dividend per share.

Analysts Caroline Gulliver and Hannah Crowe, at Equity Development, have a ‘fair value’ of 800p on the group’s shares.

Their estimates for the current year to end-January 2027, are for revenues of £489.3m, with adjusted pre-tax profits of £71.0m, worth 47.5p per share in earnings and more than double covering a 20.1p dividend.

For 2028, they see £513.8m sales, £78.3m profits, 52.4p earnings and a 22.2p a share dividend.

SQC Research View

The company is seeing the benefits of its growth through its acquisition strategy, and it anticipates further synergies to show through during the second half of this year.

The group’s shares closed at 658p, 6.81% higher on the day, putting in a good performance for last Thursday’s selection.

Obviously, it is sensible to allow for some profit-taking after such a good performance, so if the shares drop back much further it would be reasonable to expect canny investors taking advantage of the lower price.

In the last year, its shares have been up to 728p and could so easily rise above that point again.

(Profile 31.07.20 @ 444.50p set a Target Price of 525p*)

(Profile 26.03.25 @ 610p set a Target Price of 715p*)

mark@sqcresearch.com