C&C to cut 150 jobs in restructuring

Shares in troubled cider maker C&C rose by 2.6 per cent to €4.40 in Dublin yesterday after it announced plans to cut its workforce in Ireland by 150 in a bid to achieve net cost savings of €10 million a year. Ciarán Hancock, Business Affairs Correspondent

C&C said 140 staff would go at its manufacturing plant in Clonmel with 10 leaving its head office at Kylemore Road in Dublin. The decision will result in a cut of 23.3 per cent in its 600-strong Clonmel workforce.

C&C also said it would not be replacing Brendan McGuinness as managing director of its cider division when he retires in May.

Instead, chief executive Maurice Pratt will assume his functions while a new position of managing director for Magners in the UK would be established.

Aidan Murphy, its director of logistics, has been appointed as managing director of its supply chain.

Mr Pratt said the restructuring would result in the group's cost base being "better aligned with the group's business needs". He described the 150 job losses as "regrettable".

C&C said it would take a charge of €15 million in the current financial year to cover the costs of the reorganisation.

It said savings in payroll and other costs would amount to €20 million but a 15 per cent increase in the cost of apples and concentrate meant that the net savings in the year to the end of February 2009 would be half that level.

C&C said it would consult with workers shortly on redundancy terms and expected staff to begin leaving in January.

Siptu, which represents about 350 C&C employees in Clonmel, said it would seek to ensure that all job cuts took place by way of voluntary redundancy. "We will be sitting down with the company in the next couple of weeks for consultation and negotiations regarding the workforce reductions," said Nicholas Parker, Siptu's branch organiser in Clonmel. "We will also be looking for assurances for the people who are left behind."

Mr Parker described the mood among workers in Clonmel as "very glum". "We were told three weeks ago that an announcement would be made," he said. "But we didn't think the numbers would be as high as was announced today."

The last round of voluntary redundancies at C&C's Clonmel plant took place in 1999 when about 70 jobs were cut. According to Siptu, the package made available to workers at that time comprised six weeks' pay per year of service and a €12,700 lump sump up to a maximum payout of €95,250.

Mr Parker said it would seek enhanced redundancy terms for its members this time around.

"We'll be striving to get the best package possible for our members," he said. "It goes without saying that any package would have to improve on that negotiated in 1999."

C&C has had a turbulent year, issuing two profit warnings in July after sales of Magners in the UK failed to meet targets.

About €3 billion has been wiped off its market capitalisation since January, with the cider maker now valued at €1.4 billion.