By Scott Wright
THE boss of Tennent’s Lager owner C&C Group has said he understands the frustration felt by Glasgow publicans who are still unable to sell alcohol inside their premises because of ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association declared this week that there was “intense anger” among pub operators at being stuck on level three while the go-ahead was given for a 6,000-capacity fan zone to be set up in Glasgow Green for Euro 2020 next month. Glasgow is the only part of Scotland in level three.
David Forde, who took over from Stephen Glancey as C&C chief executive in November, said he has sympathy for customers in the industry.
Speaking as C&C Group has reported an operating loss of nearly €60 million as it dealt with the “unprecedented impact” of Covid 19, sending shares down more than 11 per cent, Mr Forde said: “I fully understand that for our customers it has been a long and difficult 14 months. All we can plead for is sensible decision-making from regulators and government. Clearly at times, over the last 14 months, decisions have been made that don’t always make sense.
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“By and large, people are trying to protect society, protect the well-being of consumers, which we welcome. But some of the decision-making has been pretty inconsistent.”
C&C, which earned 80 per cent of its net turnover from hospitality before the pandemic, saw revenue plunge by 56.1% to €736.9m in the year ended February 28. It aims to raise €151m in a rights issue to reduce leverage and “provide sufficient liquidity to manage near-term trading uncertainty.”
Mr Forde, a former managing director of Heineken UK, said he was “cautiously optimistic” now that restrictions have started to ease.
The company will be looking to drive up sales on the back of Euro 2020, which kicks off on June 11, and has a major campaign lined up to help publicans in Scotland capitalise on the opportunity. Scotland face England at Wembley on June 18 in a fixture that traditionally draws big crowds to pubs.
READ MORE: Plans for giant Euros fan zone sparks 'intense anger' of Glasgow publicans
Mr Forde said: “I am hoping that the worst is behind us, that the cloud is lifting and that at some stage in the future we will return to some kind of new normal, which feels a lot like what we lived in 2019.
“The last year was difficult. The market we compete in has been closed for vast swathes of that period, and thankfully we are beginning to see reopening. It has been cautious to date, but it is accelerating.”
Mr Forde noted that the experience of lockdown easing last summer showed that C&C returned to profitability when restrictions were eased in July, August and September.
And he said the evidence from the latest release from lockdown points to consumers relishing the opportunity to get back to bars, suggesting that people perhaps “took the pub for granted” prior to the crisis.
Mr Forde said: “Our strength is in hospitality. If there is one thing that Covid has done, it has got consumers in Great Britain and Ireland to really appreciate what the pub stands for. I haven’t met a consumer yet in either market who isn’t dying to get back into a pub with family and friends.”
He acknowledged that some pubs will be financially distressed because of the pandemic, which could lead to closures, but noted that there would be operators waiting in the wings to taken them over.
“I am not convinced that hospitality is in structural difficulty,” Mr Forde said.
“The industry has learned to reinvent itself many, many times over the past years, and will continue to do so into the future.”
Shares in C&C closed down 34.6p at 270p.
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