Howzat! World cup boosts Barr's sales

Advertising around the cricket world cup helped boost sales of Cumbernauld-based AG Barr's growing portfolio of soft drinks in what was becoming a tougher market.

The maker of Irn-Bru said yesterday that revenue for the last 15 weeks was up by 6.3 per cent on last year. It was offsetting input costs with price increases. In a "sell" note, Shore Capital analyst Phil Carroll said that given inflation in soft drinks pricing has been running at high single digits recently, Barr's figures suggested volumes may have been flat.