Strong stuff that Magners Irish cider:
Dublin, London, 13 July 2009: C&C Group plc (‘C&C’ or the ‘Group’), today issued the following correction to the trading update for the four months ended 30 June, 2009 issued on 8 July, 2009.
Preliminary, unaudited revenue details provided within the trading statement were inaccurate. Revised revenue details are included below. Volume details and Operating Profit guidance, as outlined in the 8 July trading update, remain unchanged.
Whoops.
In last week’s statement, C&C said its total volumes were up 3 per cent in the first four months of the year, not down 5 per cent as it now transpires.
Trading, for the first four months of FY2010, is ahead of the Group’s expectations. For this period, revenues increased by 3%, year-on-year. This performance reflects an increase in revenue of 3% within the cider business and a decline in revenue of 12% in the Spirits & Liqueurs business (all on a constant currency basis).
While the overall business environment is challenging, particularly in Ireland, the Group’s cider business has benefited from a period of good summer weather and a successful launch for Bulmers Pear in the Republic of Ireland and Magners Pear in Great Britain (“GB”) and Northern Ireland.
Pear cider, yuk.
And that’s not all, Irish cider sales were said to be up 7 per cent year-on-year, not flat, while in Great Britain sales were actually down 12 per cent, not 4 per cent as first stated.
C&C is blaming ‘human error’ for today’s correction. Or should that be ‘human errors’. After all these statements are pored over by lots of professionals – the finance director, the head of IR, the head media relations, the company brokers and its lawyers to name but a few.
The good news is that guidance remains unchanged, with operating profits in the current year expected to come in at the top end of its previously indicated range of €77m to €82m – if you trust the figures that is.
All in all, this is very embarrassing for the management team at C&C, who were brought in from Scottish & Newcastle to try and rebuild credibility, which was shot to pieces by a series of profit warnings.
Shares in C&C were down 10 per cent at €1.98 at the time of writing.