C&C to take over wholesale arm of Asahi UK, shares jump

(Sharecast News) - Irish drinks manufacturer C&C Group has acquired the UK wholesale businesses of Asahi and entered into a long-term business partnership with the Japanese brewing giant, causing the London-listed stock to jump on Friday. C&C, known for brands such as Bulmers and Magners ciders and Tennent's lager, said it would take over all of Asahi UK's wholesale interests for a nominal consideration, integrating the assets into its Matthew Clark Bibendum (MCB) business.

The deal will see MCB assume all customer and supplier relationships and agreements alongside the intellectual property, a leased depot, and certain assets including vehicles and stock.

C&C's chief executive Roger White said the acquisition represents an "attractive opportunity to provide a significant number of new customers with MCB's market-leading service and range proposition whilst simultaneously delivering immediate scale and efficiency into the group's operations".

Completion is expected to happen in early October, with customer and supplier transitions happening in the coming weeks. The deal should make a "small positive contribution" to results for the current financial year that runs to the end of February 2027.

C&C also reported that trading over the first half ended 31 August has been in line with expectations, with net revenues down 3% year-on-year, as branded sales growth of 2% was offset by a 4% decline in distribution turnover. The distribution weakness resulted from the planned exit of some lower-margin customer business, along with the ongoing market decline in outlet numbers and certain drink categories.

Underlying operating profit for the first half is tipped to be €43m-44m, which the group said was in line with expectations, as it reiterated confidence in hitting consensus forecasts for the full year.

The stock was up nearly 6% at 94.4p by 0852 BST.

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