News

December 11, 2008

C&C Is Fizzing Again With New Management At The Helm

Charles Wyatt

Troubled cider group C&C has put a little fizz back into its share price with some pretty radical action. Not only has just it secured the former top managers of rival Scottish & Newcastle, but the new team is putting €1.5 million of their own cash into the company. Hardly surprising that C&C’s shares, quoted on the Irish stock market, shot up 26 per cent on the news to €1.45 a couple of weeks ago.

While the price has come back a little, to around €1.35, giving C&C a market cap of €424 million, analysts are now getting ready to push up their forecasts. This, despite the prospects looming of an extremely tough international drinks market. Dublin broker Davy’s analyst John O'Reilly is saying that while shareholders should not expect an "instant reversal in performance" with the arrival of the new team, "there can now be reasonable expectation of improved performance". At the moment the...