C&C Group has reported a 4% increase in operating profit to \u20ac43.4m, underpinned by operating margin improvement of 40 bps to 5.5%.<\/p>\n
The drinks group, which includes Scottish brands Tennent’s and Innis & Gunn, also posted underlying free cash flow of \u20ac36.9m and half-year leverage of 1.4x, during the six months ended 31 August 2026.<\/p>\n
However, net revenue – on a constant currency basis – was down 3%, comprising a 3% growth in its various brands – due to favourable weather, the World Cup and targeted brand investment – offset by a 4% decline in distribution, as some lower-margin customer business was exited.<\/p>\n
The board has announced an interim dividend of two cents per share.<\/p>\n
During the period, there were new Tennent\u2019s and Bulmers variants delivered – with “encouraging early performance” – while Tennent\u2019s Stout was launched after the period end.<\/p>\n
The brand and associated intellectual property of Innis & Gunn was acquired in March and has now been integrated into the group, while the full integration of Matthew Clark and Bibendum was completed during the first half, to create MCB.<\/p>\n
The acquisition of Asahi UK\u2019s wholesale interests was completed in October, with customer and supplier onboarding into MCB now under way.<\/p>\n
Medium-term priorities comprise volume growth in C&C brands and margin expansion in MCB, alongside strong cash generation and disciplined capital allocation. The group is targeting operating profit3of \u20ac85m in full-year 2030 and cumulative free cash flow of more than \u20ac100m across 2028 to 2030.<\/p>\n
“We remain on track to achieve full-year operating profit in line with market expectations, albeit noting that the market conditions remain volatile and we have the important Christmas trading period ahead of us,” read the stock exchange statement.<\/p>\n
Chief executive\u00a0Roger White commented: “We have delivered a solid first-half financial performance, reinforcing our actions to build resilience in our business.<\/p>\n
“The general economic environment remains volatile, and we have the important festive trading period yet to deliver, however, we have strong trading plans in place for the balance of the year alongside a number of brand initiatives and the delivery of our developing innovation agenda, all of which give us confidence in our ability to meet market expectations for the full-year.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
3% brand growth during the first half offset by a 4% decline in distribution <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":8528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,120781],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-8527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","category-markets","tag-featured-story","tag-greater-glasgow"],"yoast_head":"\n