Rubicon puts fizz into Barr's Southern sales

It might be that southerners have yet to develop a taste for IRN-BRU - AG Barr's top-selling beverage - but they cannot get enough of its Rubicon range of fruit drinks.

Barr paid £60 million for Rubicon in August 2008, and in the 30 months since then, sales - which are largely in London and within the M25 - have doubled.

They now account for a fifth of Barr's total sales, which rose by 10% last year to
£222 million.

Chief executive Roger White has just launched Rubicon Light which contains a higher proportion of mango pulp and less added sugar.

He said: "We saw the carbonated Rubicon ranges growing at a faster rate than the still as we improved distribution last year."

But White is cautious about the current year.

"The consumer has had to put up with tax increases, low wage inflation and rising fuel costs for their car and home so their standard of living is being squeezed," he said.

Despite this, the company's sales during the first two months of its current financial year are running ahead of the previous one.

Pre-tax profits rose by 13% to £31.6 million in the year to the end of January, and the dividend is being raised by 10% to 25.41p a share.

AG Barr's shares gained 24½p to 1179½p.