C&C Group to build a new brewery for its Five Lamps unit

Irish drinks group C&C, the maker of Bulmers/Magners cider and Tennent's lager, will invest in a new brewery in Dublin, to increase capacity for its Five Lamps craft beer label.

Eventually, Five Lamps will move to a new brewing site, away from its current inner city base. Five Lamps was founded in 2012. C&C bought Five Lamps outright last year, after previously owning a majority share of the company. There were 72 craft breweries in Ireland in 2017, up from 15 in 2012. Together, they employed about 500 people.

In the six months to the end of August 2018, C&C hiked revenues to EUR 838.7 million (USD 953 million) and operating profit to EUR 58.4 million (USD 66 million). The revenue figure included a first contribution from Matthew Clark Bibendum, a UK drinks distributor, which C&C bought earlier this year. Stripping that business out, C&C's revenue would have been only EUR 309 million.