C&C could face more testing trading conditions as rival cider is launched

Drinks group C&C, which owns Bulmers cider and Tennent’s lager, is due to report full year earnings this week.

Goodbody Stockbrokers say the introduction of Heineken’s new cider in Ireland, coupled with new drink-driving legislation in Scotland, indicate the potential for difficult trading conditions for C&C. Ireland and Scotland account for 85 per cent of C&C’s profits.

Heineken recently launched its first Irish cider, Orchard Thieves, in both the on- and off-trade nationwide.

While the brand is available in just 10 per cent of Dublin pubs this is expected to grow. Reports earlier in the year suggested that Heineken would invest €20 million in marketing the brand.

Separately, British brewery and pub group Greene King blamed the new drink-driving legislation in Scotland for flat sales.

Earlier this year C&C pulled out of €1 billion takeover talks with British pubs group Spirit. The Irish cider maker had been engaged in a bidding war with UK brewer and pub owner Greene King for the pub group.

C&C has also begun a restructuring of its struggling operation in England and Wales. The company has combined its three separate businesses in England and Wales into a single division, C&C Brands. Previously it operated in the region using a triumverate of trading units: Magners GB, The Shepton Mallet Cider Mill and Internat.

Separately, on the subject of drinks groups, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney will on Tuesday launch a new “Vision for Irish Whiskey”.

The vision for Irish whiskey strategy sets out the industry’s ambition for the future in order to continue its double-digit growth sustainably, moving away from the boom-bust cycles of years past.

The Irish whiskey industry is one of Ireland’s fastest growing sectors, with exports set to double by 2020 and double again by 2030.