C&C plunges 16% on news it overestimated revenues

DUBLIN REPORT: Iseq: 2,606.04 (+33.06) Settlement date: July 16thTHE ANNOUNCEMENT by drinks group C&C that it misstated its revenues in last Wednesday's trading update for investors proved to be the big – and, indeed, only – excitement of the day on the Iseq index of Irish shares, which finished up 1.3 per cent.

Volumes were light across the board, with the exception of the flare of unwelcome interest in C&C. Its shares plunged 16 per cent to €1.85, down 36 cents, as the market did not take too kindly to its statement that, rather than seeing a 3 per cent climb in revenues in the four-month period to the end of June, revenues had in fact declined 5 per cent.

One Dublin-based share dealer described C&C’s error as “a big, big negative on the day”. High trading volumes in the stock, at an above average 5.2 million, proved to be the exception on a quiet day.

The Iseq’s biggest stock, building materials group CRH, was not prone to any wild swings yesterday and closed up 1 per cent at €15.99, while the other main feature of the market was a recovery in financial stocks.

Positive sentiment about the banking sector in the US ahead of the key second-quarter reporting season helped AIB, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life Permanent recover some of the gains they had lost last week.

Bank of Ireland climbed the most, rising 12.9 per cent to €1.40, while AIB joined in with a 10 per cent rise to close at €1.37. Irish Life Permanent managed only a smaller-percentage gain, rising 4.1 per cent to €2.74, but then it had not slipped as much as the other banks last week.

Elsewhere, it was a bad session for fruit group Fyffes and its distribution spin-off Total Produce, both of which edged downwards.

There was a big bounce in percentage terms in Independent News Media, which climbed 18 per cent to 23 cents, a gain of three cents.