C&C to float on stock exchanges

DRINKS and snack food group C&C has confirmed it will float on the Dublin and London stock exchanges this summer, two years after aborting its first planned flotation.

Chief executive Maurice Pratt said yesterday that the group was "excited by the opportunities afforded by public company status".

The group, whose brands include Tayto crisps, Bulmers cider and Ballygowan spring water, blamed poor market conditions for the decision to call off its flotation in the summer of 2002. C&C was valued between €900 million and €1.2 billion at the time, but plunging equity markets hurt investor sentiment and caused a number of companies to postpone their listing plans.