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(Alliance News) - AG Barr PLC should start paying dividends again "sooner rather than later" with an announcement possible in the summer, Chief Executive Roger White said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Barr said it plans to resume payouts this financial year, after sales declined 11% and pretax profit dropped 30% in the financial year ending January 2021. Dividends have been suspended since April 2020, when the company looked to preserved cash at the start of the pandemic.
Barr will restart dividends when the financial risks have passed and lockdown restrictions are eased, according to White.
Speaking to Alliance News, White said: "I think sooner rather than later, during the course of this year, as we see the vaccination campaign gathering pace and hopefully being successful and the roadmap being followed, then we will recommence our dividend flow."
"As long as we feel we're out of the potential risks from a financial point of view, then yes, hopefully over the course of this summer we'll be able to update shareholders on that," he continued.
Lockdown restrictions hit sales because Barr is more reliant on impulse buys from on-the-go consumers than sales in supermarkets, bars and restaurants, according to White.
"The large cola brands and the mixers for that matter saw quite a considerable translation of hospitality volume into take-home. We would probably see less of that, our brands are more about impulse than the on-trade," he explained.
Barr will focus on supporting its on-the-go and hospitality customers as well as on sales in supermarkets, White said.
"We've got a strong execution plan within the take-home retail market. We want to support our customers in the impulse, on-the-go market...and then obviously with the on-trade and hospitality there's a fair amount of rebuilding for that sector to do within their own activities, and we want to support them where we can," White added.
Shares in Barr were down 3.7% to 501.68 pence in London on Tuesday afternoon.
By Ivan Edwards; ivanedwards@alliancenews.com
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