Bad weather has hit the first-half profits and full-year forecasts for Britain's largest brewer, Scottish & Newcastle, the parent company of Beamish & Crawford.
Scottish & Newcastle said "severe" weather conditions in June, continuing into July, had hurt sales of its beer and cider brands in the UK and France. Achieving its trading targets for 2007 would be "very challenging", the brewer admitted.
In blaming the weather for poor sales, Scottish & Newcastle has echoed recent profit warnings from its rival in the cider market, Irish drinks group C&C.
Scottish & Newcastle posted a 5.5 per cent rise in its pre-tax profits for the first half of the year, at £191 million (€280 million). This was below analysts' forecasts.
Cork-based Beamish & Crawford, which is the oldest brewery in Ireland, said it continued to make solid progress in the Irish market.
The company's flagship brand Beamish Stout is now the number two selling stout in Ireland and continues to gain market share, although the overall stout market continues to decline.
Beamish is particularly strong in Cork city, where it enjoys a 34 per cent share of the stout market.
Beamish & Crawford's portfolio of lager bands include Miller Genuine Draft, Foster's, Carling and Kronenbourg 1664, while it has also acquired the franchise and distribution rights to Spanish beer San Miguel.
The company has started to distribute other beers into the Dublin market, including Baltica, Kronenbourg Premier Cru and Kronenbourg Blanc.
Beamish & Crawford said Miller Genuine Draft was growing by double digits in the Irish lager market, which itself is growing by 6 per cent. Miller is now the biggest selling bottled beer in Ireland, ahead of Budweiser, Carlsberg and Heineken.
Beamish & Crawford chairman and managing director Alf Smiddy said it was important for the brewer to concentrate on strengthening and adding to its lager business, given that the category is performing better than other areas of the drinks market.
Beamish is currently investing €5 million in a new kegging line at its brewery in Cork and is investing €1 million in new beer bottling packaging equipment to support its activities in the surging take-home or "off-trade" drinks market.
Scottish & Newcastle's main focus will be on the UK cider market, according to Mr Smiddy, who sits on its board.
The brewer's Strongbow cider has gained market share in the UK, while the company launched Bulmers Original in the "cider over ice" premium market in order to compete with C&C's Magners cider. On the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday, C&C's share price fell by more than 1 per cent following Scottish & Newcastle's statement.
