Drinks group C&C has said it expects its full year operating profit will be €110m - within the range of its previous guidance - as it reported a positive performance over Christmas
In an interim management statement, C&C said that volumes of its cider brands Bulmers and Magners were up by 1% on last year over the key Christmas period.
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In today's trading update, C&C said that Magners had a strong performance in the three months to the end of November with a 5.8% increase in volume and a 7.8% increase in net revenue.
The company also saw continued momentum in Magners exports in the three-month period with a near 32% increase in volume.
However, it said that Bulmers net revenue remained under pressure from a weak pub trade in Ireland and increase in pricing in Irish off licences. During the three months to the end of November cider volumes in Ireland fell by 4.6% while cider net revenues dropped by 12.3%. But beer volumes rose by 23% in the same period, while beer net revenues were up 11.3%.
C&C said that despite the challenging conditions, the earnings contribution from the Irish business this year is expected to be broadly in line with last year, with trading more ''robust'' in December than the previous three months.
C&C Group also said this morning that it has appointed Joris Brams to the newly created position of Managing Director of its International Division, with effect from February,
Mr Brams, a Belgian national, joins C&C from Puratos Group, a privately owned Belgian company which supplies products and services to the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors in over 100 countries with over 5,500 employees. He previously worked brewer Scottish & Newcastle as well as at Alken-Maes Breweries, a Belgian brewer and subsidiary of Danone.
