An apple a day keeps the doctor away

C&C’s British sales were also boosted by last year’s purchases of Scottish beer brand Tennent’s from AB-InBev and the UK cider assets of Constellation Brands.

C&C was less successful in Ireland where cider profits fell 8.6 percent to EUR 27.8 million despite price cuts and the introduction of pear and draft cider varieties in a bid to boost flagging local sales.

In the six months to August, net sales fell by 8 percent to EUR 58.1 million while volume sales fell 3.7 percent. Most of the decline was seen in the pub trade where sales fell by 13 percent to EUR 79 million, it was reported.

Ireland’s consumer environment is “very cautious”, Chief Executive Officer John Dunsmore was reported as saying.

“The sheer scale of the challenge Ireland faces means there isn’t a prospect of a near-term recovery. There’s a very different mood there than there was two years ago,” Mr Dunsmore added.

So what’s happened to the proverbial “luck of the Irish”?