C&C Group swings back to profit as hospitality venues reopen

Magners, Bulmers and Tennent’s maker C&C Group said on Thursday that it swung back to a profit in the first half as revenues grew thanks to the reopening of hospitality venues.

In the six months to the end of August, the company swung to an operating profit of €16m from a loss of €13.2m in the same period a year ago, as revenues rose 65% to €657.3m. C&C put this down to the progressive reopening of the hospitality sector in the latter months of the first half.

Chief executive officer David Forde said: "Following the easing of on-trade restrictions over H1 FY2022, we are delighted to be back serving our customers and consumers in both indoor and outdoor hospitality across our core markets of UK and Ireland.

"We are encouraged by how quickly the on-trade recovered and we are pleased to report that trading in the first half has been ahead of plan and our inherent cash generating strengths are reflected in the return of the business to cash generation from June 2021."

As far as current trading is concerned, C&C said it served 89% of outlets in September versus the same period in 2019, and the rate of sale per outlet has improved, with volumes at 93% of 2019 levels.

Assuming current trading conditions prevail, the group expects to deliver FY2022 operating profit of between €50m and €55m.

At 0825 BST, the shares were up 6.4% at 265.59p.