BREWING industry veteran John Nicolson is to join the board of Irn-Bru maker AG Barr.
The group also said that Jonathan Warburton had stepped down as a non-executive with immediate effect yesterday to focus on his role as chairman of Warburtons, the family-owned baker.
Nicolson is to join the soft drinks group, which also makes Rubicon and Tizer, as an independent non-executive in January. He is currently president of Heineken Americas, based in New York, where he is responsible for the Dutch brewer’s operations in Brazil, Mexico and the US.
He took on the role in October 2008, following S&N’s £7.8 billion acquisition by Carlsberg and Heineken.
A graduate of the University of Strathclyde, Nicolson began working in the beer industry in 1993, when he became executive director of Foster’s Courage business in London, where he was in change of European marketing and UK off-trade sales. In 1995, S&N acquired the Courage business and he moved to Edinburgh to take up the role of group marketing director.
From 2000 until S&N’s takeover in April 2008, Nicolson was an executive board member of the Edinburgh-based brewing group, with responsibility for China, India, Vietnam and the Baltic Beverage Holdings business.
Among his other roles, he was a director of the Russian brewers Baltika and Yarpivo, and served on the board of India’s United Breweries.
Ronnie Hanna, chairman of Cumbernauld-based AG Barr, said: “I would like to thank Jonathan [Warburton] for his extremely valuable contribution over the past three years in helping to shape the direction and performance of the business.”
He added: “I am delighted that John Nicolson will be joining our board. He brings with him a wealth of highly relevant experience.”
AG Barr will unveil its first-half results next month. The group is expected to report a 4.5 per cent increase in sales to around £130 million, despite record rainfall dampening demand for soft drinks, although profits look set to fall because of higher costs.