Magners puts a €190m fizz into C&C
The drinks group said Magners sales in Britain have now exceeded Irish cider sales after just over a year on the market. Group turnover rose 27% to €981.4m mainly as a result of the Magners boost.
The surge in cider consumption helped lift pre-tax profits in the year to end February to the €190m figure from €103.8m in the previous 12 month period.
The success of Mangers, which has a 1.7% market share in Britain’s pubs, has convinced C&C to launch the cider in Germany and Spain. The company is testing drinkers thirst by pumping €12m into a marketing campaign in Munich and Barcelona to see if Magners will sell on the continent.
C&C chief executive Maurice Pratt said yesterday that it was too soon to tell how well Magners is doing and it would need a full summer to judge if it was a success.
Cider sales were up 85.6% year-on-year to €517.9m thanks to the growth of Magners. Revenues from Magners was 262% higher at €318.7m, while Bulmers revenues in Ireland were up 5% to €199.7m. Operating profit from the cider division rose 109% to €178.9m.
Mr Pratt said the growth of Magners and Bulmers would continue in 2007.
C&C smaller division did see some improvement in operating profits. Its spirits and liqueurs arm, which includes Tullamore Dew whiskey and Carolans Irish cream, saw revenues rise 8.7% to €79.1m and operating profit grow 6.6% to €17.7m.
Its soft drinks arm saw a rise in revenues grow 3.9% to €185m and profits rise 43% to €15.3m.
But its distribution arm, which distributes wines and spirits on behalf of other drinks companies, suffered a 15.2% loss in revenues to €199m and an 86% collapse in profits to just €700,000.
The downturn was caused by the loss of a contract to distribute brands owned by Allied Domecq.
