drinks maker AG Barr has announced that its chairman, Ronnie Hanna, is retiring at the end of this year.Board member John Nicolson will take over the role, with immediate effect.
Hanna has been chairman for five years, on the board for 11 years. Nicolson, meanwhile, has been on the board since January of last year, and is currently the senior independent non-exeucitve director.
In a management update, the Irn-Bru maker also confirmed its sales rose 5.2% year-on-year in the 15 weeks to 1 May. The soft drinks market as a whole saw growth of 1.9%.
However it warned that the retail and consumer environment remained "volatile".
The company, which also makes Tizer and Rubicon, said its strategy of extending distribution was making progress.
Its strong trading performance comes after the group opened a new factory in Milton Keynes in 2013 in order to boost sales in the South East.
The firm said its rise in revenue "has been underpinned by a strong volume performance across all of our core brands" and that margins were in line with expectations.
The group added that "comparative trading for last summer will be challenging", though it remained confident of delivering expectations for the rest of the year.
