White attitude to Irn-Bru sales surge

AG BARR chief executive Roger White saw his pay package rise by just 3.3 per cent despite leading the Irn-Bru maker to its second consecutive year of double-digit sales growth.

The Cumbernauld group's annual report, published yesterday, showed that White received a total of 570,000 in remuneration. That included 336,000 in basic pay, an annual bonus of 253,000 and travel benefits of 14,000, minus 33,000 in "salary sacrifice" pension arrangements.

Other directors saw heftier rises, though these were driven in the main by bonus awards augmented by the transfer of long-term incentive shares into cash payments.

Robin Barr, the great-grandson of the company's founder, saw his pay drop following his retirement as executive chairman to take up a non-executive post. He received a total of 37,000, down from 101,000 the previous year.

The firm enjoyed record annual turnover of 222.4 million last year as sales of leading brands continued to grow. Pre-tax profits of 31.6m were up more than 13 per cent on the previous year.