Shares in A.G. Barr were up on the FTSE 250 in morning trading after the maker of soft drink Irn-Bru said it was anticipating good sales growth for both its fourth quarter and full year trading periods.

The group said it currently expected fourth quarter total sales growth of five per cent, making for full year like for like sales growth of around 10 per cent.

A.G. Barr said that strong fourth quarter sales were "especially pleasing" given that it faced not just the heavy snow, but tough comparatives with the previous year.

The group said that sales of Irn-Bru were doing well in its core market and had seen good growth in the North of England. In addition revenue from A.G. Barr's Rubicon brand has increased 30 per cent in the last year to around £50 million.

In an outlook statement A.G. Barr said, "Over the course of the next financial year we expect to see increased pressure on consumers as rising inflation and static household incomes impact purchasing power. Despite this difficult economic environment we anticipate further sales growth opportunities through our core brands which offer a broad choice of high quality excellent value products across an increasing geographic area. The investments we have made in our asset base to improve efficiency together with tight cost control and price increases will continue to help offset rising commodity costs."

By 11:15 shares in A.G. Barr were up 2.14 per cent on the FTSE 250 to 1,100.00 pence per share.