Lack of sunshine fails to dampen sales of Magners cider in Britain

SALES of C&C’s Magners cider at British stores has increased this summer despite a lack of sunshine.

The company has previously suffered from dismal sales because of dismal summer weather.

However, figures from Nielsen show sales rose 1.2% in the four weeks to August 8 this year. This will come as welcome relief to the company which holds its AGM in Dublin on Friday.

NCB Stockbrokers said a review of weather records in Britain covering the period April to July, show that July was “extremely wet” with rainfall amounts twice that of the 30-year average, with July sunshine hours 6% below normal.

“We expect that August weather records may also show higher rainfall, cooler temperatures and below average sunshine hours relative to 30-year averages. Cider sales tend to rise during the summer period and favourable weather improves recruitment of new drinkers and boosts sales,” it said.

C&C is expected to provide a trading update for July and August on Friday.

The drinks group raised its guidance for operating profits in July on the back of a better than expected trading performance in the first four months of the current financial year.

It also recently cut its prices in Ireland and introduced a pear product.

Goodbody analyst Liam Igoe said it is encouraging that Magners continues to grow volumes of its pear product, without having to make a radical movement in the price.

Last week a report by Merrion found C&C may need to support its pear cider offering with further new products to boost sales.

The Irish drinks group which owns the twin cider brands of Bulmers and Magners saw its share price rise by 9c to €2.17.

The Merrion update was based on its recent survey of pubs, which was carried out in the wake of C&C’s 10% cut in its wholesale prices for publicans, in June.

It found that distribution levels for Bulmers Pear are running at over 92%, but that even with most pubs passing on the price cut to customers, the sales response was moderate.