HNDGradeUnited1.doc

A G Barr plc — A case study Background information A G Barr plc manufactures, distributes and markets drinks, primarily carbonated soft drinks. Based in Glasgow, it has been manufacturing soft drinks in Scotland since 1875. Its most famous product, Irn-Bru, was first produced in 1901. Barr’s became a public limited company in 1965. The business has always been associated with the Barr family and members of it own the majority of shares in the company. However, Robin Barr, the chairman, is the only member of the Barr family still directly employed in the business. Barr’s has a deliberate policy of focusing on the drinks market. It does not produce any other type of product and has no interests in any other fields of business activity. It describes itself as an ‘independent, consumer led and profitable public company, engaged in the manufacture, distribution and marketing of branded soft drinks’. In the last 40 years, the number of soft drinks manufacturers in Scotland has fallen from around 200 to about six. Barr’s is by far the biggest of those which survive. Over the years, Barr’s has acquired a number of other companies. These include other soft drinks firms, particularly ones in England, such as Tizer Limited in 1972 and Mandora St Clements of Mansfield in 1988. In 2001, Findlays Limited of Edinburgh, which produces Findlays Spring Mineral Water, became a wholly owned subsidiary of A G Barr plc. Appendix 1 gives details of the organisation of Barr’s. The soft drinks market and Barr’s product portfolio Barr’s competes against internationally known brands owned by large multinational companies, like Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. It does so by a combination of brands which it owns itself and brands belonging to other companies which it manages in the UK. Branding is highly significant in the soft drinks market. It means that companies must have funds available to spend on marketing their products. At the same time, they have to be able to