Tullamore Dew goes to Scotland -C&C to sell

Irish Drinks group C&C has announced that it is to sell its spirits and liqueurs division to William Grant distillery of Scotland for €300million

The C&C group had entered the spirits business when it acquired Grants of Ireland way back in 1970 and since then has added to its portfolio by acquiring Irish Mist, Tullamore Dew and keeping the Frangelico Liqeuer brand when disposing of Barbero. The Carolans Liqeuer brand that is also part of this disposal was developed by C&C. 

This is the latest move in C&C establishing itself as a Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) Company with previous disposals seeing it offload its snackfood and softdrinks divisions to Largo foods and Britvic Ireland respectively over the last few years.

C&C the owners of the Bulmers Cider Brand in Ireland (Magners outside Ireland) added to its LAD portfolio last year when the acquired the Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish businesses of Anheuser-Busch InBev, including the outright ownership of the Tennents brand.

Profit collapse for Britvic Ireland (former C&C Soft drink division)

Britvic PLC’s Irish division has reported zero profits for the six months to April 12th, down from €4.8 million for the same period last year.

Irish revenue fell 13.8% although a weak pound saw a 1.6 per cent increase to £101.1 million when converted to sterling. The company said that it was well-placed to take advantage of the eventual upturn in the Irish soft-drinks market.

Britvic owns Irish brands Ballygowan, Club Orange, MiWadi and Cidona as well as Robinsons, J2O, Britvic and Tango. They also have the bottling and distribution contracts for Pepsi and 7UP for the UK and Ireland and Gatorade in Great Britain.

Sales of soft drinks in large grocery stores were up 4 per cent over the period while sales in the more profitable “impulse and licensed markets were down 15 per cent and 20 per cent”.

While announcing record profits for the Britvic group overall, the company noted that its sales in the Republic had been depressed by foreign exchange differences between the North and South, “with increased imported volumes from GB and Europe evident”.

Britvic Ireland to cut 145 jobs

Britvic Ireland, the former soft drinks division of the C&C Group PLC, has announced today that it is to cut 145 people from its workforce.

The company, who manufacture & distribute Pepsi & 7UP throughout Ireland along with its own brands such as club orange and Ballygowan, says the decision was made following a review of its business. The jobs will primarily be cut from logistics, finance, IT, and sales departments.

The company says it will be restructuring the business, with the possibility of consolidating regional distribution centres to Dublin, which would lead to the closure of the Cork, Donegal and Waterford depots.