Bad weather sees C&C profits fall 37%

C&C Group said operating profit last year dropped 37.3 per cent to €125.2 million as poor weather hit cider sales.

The company, whose shares dropped 70 per cent last year, said revenue for the period was €679.0 million, a fall of 8.1 per cent.

The company said the reason profits had dropped more sharply than revenues was due to an investment to increase its cider brewing capacity.

Cider sales declined 11 per cent last year. C&C have fallen over 70 per cent last year and yesterday closed at €4.73. The stock has added 15 per cent this year, increasing the company's market value to €1.48 billion.

The stock has come under pressure as as Scottish & Newcastle added competing cider varieties under the Strongbow name and other brands.

The company realised a gain of €247 million from selling soft-drink division to Britvic last August to allow the company could focus on Magners cider and other alcoholic beverages.

The company said annual profit climbed 13 per cent on the gain from selling its soft-drink unit.

Net income rose to €234.9 million, or 72.6 cents a share, in the year through February, from €208.2 million, or 62.9 cents, in the prior period, the Dublin-based company said in a statement.

In a bid to revive its sales in the UK C&C has hired an executive from beermaker Molson Coors Brewing Co. in January.

It will also start selling Magners, available only in bottles until now, on tap in British bars and pubs this month in an effort to stoke demand.

The cider maker uses the Magners brand outside Ireland and sells cider under the Bulmers name here, which is owned in the UK by Scottish & Newcastle, the country's largest brewer.

Last year the company upped its spending on marketing its cider brands by 41 per cent to €68 million during the year as part of a series of measures to improve its performance.

It has also cut 150 jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme which it says is "substantially complete".

The adjusted earnings per share was 32.2 cent, a decline of 41.4 per cent.

Tullamore Dew sales volumes increased by 22 per cent last year.