C&C Group has posted an operating profit of €43 million in its Irish business (excluding the Gleeson operation), a 9.4% increase on the previous year, according to accounts filed this morning for the 12 month period to 28 February 2014.
Irish net revenues at the Bulmers maker were up 2.2% to €94.2 million (excluding Gleeson), with cider net revenue up 1.7%, boosted by the summer weather last year.
'Bulmers brand volume finished slightly ahead of the prior year helping to increase its share of LAD by 50 basis points to 9.2%', the company said. 'The brand experienced positive volume swings of 8ppt and 7ppt in the on-trade and off-trade, respectively. In both channels of trade the brand outperformed the marketplace, highlighting the beneficial impact of a good summer on cider consumption'.
Tennents, its core beer brand, had a mixed performance here, declining 16.0% in the off-trade, yet growing its volume 14.6% in the on-trade.
C&C Group's performance was also lifted by a reduction in its spend on consumer marketing. 'As C&C’s Irish business model continues in its evolution towards a customer centric model, investment in sales, customer lending and price have reduced the levels of consumer marketing required,' it said. 'Over the past 12 months, advertising and promotion spend was €3.0 million lower than last year. Value growth in both the on and off-trade channels suggests that brand presence is certainly undiminished'.
Finally, it said that the Gleeson business 'performed in line with first year expectations. Despite a complex and challenging integration there was no significant disruption to customer service or operational performance'.
C&C expects that synergies from the Gleeson acquisition will lead to full-year benefits in FY2015. 'In addition, the Group expects to begin delivering on revenue and operational synergies over the next few years, improving on this year’s reported operating margin of 3.6% for Gleeson'. The Gleeson business reported net revenue of €143.1 million in the period.
Across its entire business, C&C posted net revenue of €620.2 million for the full year, an increase of 30%.
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
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