Annual report and accounts 2023 - Flipbook - Page 18
A.G. BARR p.l.c. Annual Report and Accounts 2023
Chief Executive’s review continued
Driving efficiency
Building trust
Our drive for continuous improvement across our
assets, processes and technology remains a constant
across the business. This is particularly the case in Barr
Soft Drinks where we invest significantly in our asset
base to drive efficiency and increase our manufacturing
and logistics capacity and capability.
Trust is earned. We continue to work hard to retain
the trust of all our employees, our wide range of
stakeholders and our communities, as we have done
for over 145 years.
2022 saw us embark on the first phase of an extensive
asset replacement programme at our Cumbernauld
facility. Over the next 3-4 years this programme will
deliver new high speed PET and can filling lines,
advanced packaging and palletising capability, as
well a number of associated energy and environmental
sustainability benefits. Phase 1 of the programme is
now well underway and we expect to have a new
small format PET line and new downstream packaging
machinery installed and commissioned in the next
12 months.
As a high growth and innovative business, FUNKIN
has operated with an outsourced manufacturing
business model that provides both agility and flexibility.
Its recent move into RTD cocktails in cans presented
an opportunity to leverage some of the benefit of being
part of the wider A.G. Barr Group. Following an £8m
investment at our Milton Keynes facility, we successfully
installed and commissioned new slim 250ml can filling
and cardboard multipack capabilities. This opens up
new growth opportunities for Barr Soft Drinks, and
allows us to produce FUNKIN’s nitro-infused ready to
drink cocktail cans in-house, bringing with it significant
operational efficiency benefits.
For more information on our Strategy in Action
see pages 18 to 29
16
As the cost of living crisis continues to place pressure
on households and businesses across the UK, we
recognise the duty of care that we have for our
people. Our employees have shown huge levels of
commitment over recent years and in recognition of
this, and the difficult economic landscape, we made
two special cost of living payments in 2022 to those
colleagues who we believed would benefit the most
from additional financial support. We will continue to
monitor the welfare and wellbeing of our people and
have plans in 2023 to offer additional financial support
services, as well as maintaining our longstanding
commitment to mental health support within the
workplace.
Our environmental sustainability programme No Time
To Waste continued to deliver clear and tangible
progress throughout the year, from our first plastic
bottles made of 100% recycled content, launched in
April 2022, to the formal approval of our science-based
targets and net-zero commitments by the Science
Based Targets Initiative. We have a stretching yet
achievable net-zero roadmap, coupled with a genuine
drive and ambition to push further and faster. This is
particularly the case for our use of recycled material,
notwithstanding current challenges associated with
availability and quality. We are well advanced in our DRS
preparations, due to go live in Scotland in August 2023,
which has the potential to increase the availability and
quality of recycled material, as well as supporting our
long-term circular packaging goals.
For us, a successful business also means being
a sustainable business and we will continue to
demonstrate our values in this respect through
honest and meaningful actions.
