By Scott Wright
THE owner of Tennent’s Lager unveiled the appointment of Scottish brewing and pubs veteran Ralph Findlay as its new chairman yesterday after reporting its return to profitability following the upheaval brought by the pandemic.
Dublin-based C&C Group has appointed Mr Findlay, the chief executive of Marston’s, as director and chairman designate. The Scot will join the board as a non-executive chairman on March 1, before succeeding Stewart Gilliland as chairman following the company’s annual meeting in July.
The appointment was announced shortly after C&C said it had made a “strong return to trading” in the six months ended August 31, boosted by the easing of on-trade restrictions, good summer weather, Euro 2020, and staycations.
The drinks company, which makes Magners Irish Cider and owns the Matthew Clark wholesale business, said it expects net revenue for the first half to come in at €657 million. This compares with €398m for the first half of last year, and €896m for the same period the year before, before Covid. Operating profit is expected to be €16m compared with first-half loss of €12m in 2020, and a profit of €66m at the interim stage in the year prior.
The company will publish its results for the first half on October 28.
Chief executive David Forde said: “Despite sector challenges, our business has shown its inherent strength and cash generation capability in the first half of FY2022. As the on-trade has progressively re-opened, we returned to profitability and worked closely with our customers to meet the resurgence in consumer demand.”
Mr Findlay has been chief executive of Marston’s since 2001, and will retire from that role in October.
He said: “It is an exciting time to be joining C&C and I am very much looking forward to working with the board and the wider team.”
Shares in C&C closed up 6p at 232p.
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