Beer and cider maker C&C Group said today (19 September) the company had “restored” service to customers hit by the introduction of a new software system.
In May, the Tennent’s brewer warned of “significant challenges” after an ERP upgrade at its Matthew Clark and Bibendum businesses in Great Britain.
The company admitted there had been a “material impact on service and profitability”. C&C warned of a “one-off impact of circa €25m ($26.7m)” due to lost revenue and costs to build back service levels.
In a trading update today, the Bulmers owner said it expects its first-half operating profit to be between €29m and €31m, compared to €54.9m a year earlier.
However, C&C said it had re-established service levels to customers.
CEO Patrick McMahon said: “We are particularly pleased with the progress we have made in restoring customer service levels following the ERP system implementation issues in our GB distribution business within our planned timeframe. Delivering outstanding service, winning back customers, continued business simplification and improved operating efficiency remain our top priorities and focus for the second half.”
In the six months to 31 August 2023, C&C expects to have generated net revenue of around €870m, down approximately 1% on a constant-currency basis from a year earlier.
The company said “trading in H1 for our own brands” in Ireland and Scotland was “encouraging”. Net sales revenue from its brands increased by around 6%, C&C said.
Nevertheless, the company added “poor weather” in July and August, “combined with cost-of-living pressures, particularly in GB, resulted in a slowdown in the latter months of the period”.
C&C is scheduled to post its first-half financial results on 26 October.
Greg Johnson, an analyst at Shore Capital, which is C&C’s broker, said “the key takeaways” from the trading update were “the continued resolution of previously-disclosed ERP issues (financial impact unchanged) and that the underlying H1 performance is broadly consistent with the corresponding period and our full-year assumptions. Given the challenging environment, we would see the outturn as reassuring”.
Shares in C&C were up 3.94% at 137.2p at 09:09 BST today.
