A.G. Barr sees annual profit at top end of forecast on higher prices

(Reuters) - A.G. Barr <BAG.L>, best known for Scottish fizzy drink Irn-Bru, said on Tuesday it expects annual adjusted pretax profit to be at the top end of current market view, helped by higher prices of its soft drinks.

In July, the company forecast lower annual profit as price increases for its drinks hit volumes. The company had cut prices in 2018 and changed the recipe for some of its drinks in response to a sugar tax, boosting sales in that year.

The British soft drink maker expects adjusted pretax profit just above 37 million pounds ($48.63 million) for the year ended Jan. 25., compared with 45.2 million pounds last year.

"We are taking action to reset our business and we enter the new financial year with confidence and a strong trading plan," Chief Executive Officer Roger White said.

The Rockstar and Rubicon maker expects full-year revenue to be around 255 million pounds, compared with 279 million pounds last year.

A.G. Barr also said it completed the first phase of its business re-engineering programme and expects associated exceptional costs of 1.5 million pounds to 2 million pounds in the year to be almost entirely offset from the removal of a wind turbine in Cumbernauld.

Shares of the company jumped nearly 10% to 596 pence by 0810 GMT, topping gainers on the FTSE midcap index <.FTMC>.

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)