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C&C Group PLC on Thursday posted a recovery in half-year profit and revenue as Covid restrictions were lifted in 2022, saying it will resume shareholder payouts.
C&C is a Dublin-based beer, cider, wine, spirits and soft drinks company whose brands include Magners, Bulmers and Tennent's.
For the six months that ended August 31, pretax profit jumped to €47.4 million from €7.1 million a year prior. Revenue grew 37% to €903.0 million from €657.3 million.
C&C aims to a reinstate payouts with a final dividend for financial year 2023, which ends February 28, after not paying a dividend for the past two financial years, blaming the Covid pandemic.
The last full-year dividend was a total of 5.50 euro cents per share for financial year 2020, which consisted only of an interim dividend and was down from 15.31 euro cents for financial year 2019. Pretax profit in financial year 2020 fell to €11.6 million from €81.8 million in financial year 2019.
The company said the recent growth was driven by an 11% increase in volume and 25% in price/mix improvement.
C&C's outlook however was cautious. It noted that September sales were down 5% compared to a year ago. In the near-term, it will focus on the first unrestricted Christmas trading period for three years and the FIFA World Cup, which starts next month.
C&C shares were 1.2% lower at 163.50 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
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