Magners hit by 15pc sales drop
Wednesday July 14 2010
C&C GROUP received a blow yesterday with the news that sales of its flagship Magners cider at British pubs and restaurants fell significantly between April and May.
According to Goodbody stockbrokers, the latest Nielsen on-trade data shows that sales of Magners declined 15pc in the four weeks to May 15 compared with the same period in 2009.
That decline outpaced the wider cider market which experienced a decline of 8pc overall. Liam Igoe, an analyst with Goodbody stockbrokers, said the decline broke a long-standing trend in the on-trade.
"This is in contrast to the last set of off-trade data which was very strong, although that covered a later period which included early World Cup matches and summer weather effects," he said.
"Monthly data can be very volatile and we anticipate that the subsequent months will have seen cider generally and Magners specifically show year-on-year growth once again."
Despite the weak on-trade data, Mr Igoe believed trends remained positive for C&C.
"A combination of the strong off-trade data, the continuing good weather in the UK and C&C's efforts at winning new customers should result in strong sales in the three months to the end of August," he said.
- Peter Flanagan
Irish Independent
