The Strathmore bottled water brand appears to have been saved from sinking as current owner AG Barr announced a potential buyer.
UK beverage group AG Barr revealed plans in March to discontinue the brand as Strathmore had “struggled to compete” in recent years and because the facility in Forfar, Scotland, from which the business operates, was “no longer sustainable”.
However, London-listed AG Barr, which also owns the Irn-Bru soft drinks line, has now entered talks with an unnamed buyer.
“The company is pleased to announce that it has now entered into exclusive discussions with a third party regarding a potential disposal of the Strathmore business,” AG Barr said in a brief stock exchange filing today (30 April).
“These discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that a transaction will ultimately occur.”
AG Barr, which also produces the Funkin cocktails range, added that it will make further announcements to the market “as and when appropriate”.
No mention was made today over the future for the workers at Forfar.
As AG Barr unveiled the exit plan in March alongside its full-year results, the company said the site was at risk of closure, putting 23 jobs on the line.
The scrapping of the Strathmore brand follows an “organisational simplification” of the beverages group business which the company said was announced to staff in February. The move saw the integration of Barr Soft Drinks and the Funkin cocktails businesses into a “unified AG Barr operation, streamlining activities and fostering synergies”.
In March last year, AG Barr announced a round of redundancies affecting 160 roles as part of a shift from a direct-to-store delivery model to “an enlarged and enhanced field sales operation”.
Around the same time, AG Barr also revealed plans to “fully integrate” its Boost Drinks subsidiary into the Barr Soft Drinks division to remove “duplicated activities”.
In its full-year fiscal period, AG Barr’s revenue rose by 5.1% to £420.4m ($544.5m), driven by “strong” performance in its soft drinks segment, particularly a “standout performance” from Rubicon and “continued strong growth” from Irn-Bru.
The business also reported a 6.5% increase in gross profit to £164.3m, while operating profit was up 3.2% year on year at £51.7m. Profit before tax grew 3.7% to £53.2m.
