Premium drinks group C&C’s (CCR) shares plunged 7.5% to 156.5p after the Magners maker announced the immediate resignation of CEO Patrick McMahon, who has carried the can for accounting failures which have resulted in some significant write-offs.

The maker of Bulmers and Orchard Pig ciders as well as Tennent’s beer has restated three years of earnings, resulting in an underlying charge of €5 million (£4.3 million), after accounting errors that occurred during McMahon’s stint as finance director.

There is something of a revolving door at C&C, since McMahon’s predecessor David Forde resigned last year after shouldering responsibility for disruption caused by a botched software upgrade at the Dublin-headquartered beverages group.

LAST ORDERS FOR MCMAHON

C&C has made a number of prior year accounting adjustments which knock €5 million off of its operating profits between full year 2021 and 2023.

In addition, due to the ongoing weakness in sales of Magners, the brand has been written down by €125 million.

The FTSE 250-listed beverages firm explained McMahon ‘acknowledges that the relevant shortcomings occurred at a time when he had overall responsibility for the group’s finance function. Accordingly, he has informed the board that he will step down as CEO and as a director with immediate effect.’

Chairman Ralph Findlay will fill in as CEO until a long-term successor to McMahon is found.

C&C is recovering from a tough few years that have seen earnings impacted by Covid lockdowns and the ensuing cost-of-living crisis, followed by rail strikes and the more recent technology project debacle that did for Forde.

Operating profit for the year ended 29 February 2024 is expected to come in at €60 million, down from €82 million in the prior year with the shortfall principally reflecting ERP system implementation issues that have been resolved.

HOPING TO SCORE

C&C said that ‘set against a difficult market backdrop’, it was ‘pleased’ with the performance of its brands last year.

Tennent’s and Bulmers continued to gain market share in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland respectively, although Magners volumes in Great Britain declined by 18%.

Trading in the first quarter of full year 2025 has been ‘encouraging’, insisted C&C, which believes it is ‘well placed to take advantage of the critical summer period ahead’ with the Scottish and English football teams taking part in the Euro ’24 tournament.

C&C proposed a 5% hike in the final dividend to 3.97 cent per share, making 5.9 cent per share for the year, and said a further €15 million share buyback will begin from the start of September.

Thanks to resilient underlying cash generation, year-end net debt came in at a slightly better than forecast €167 million.

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