Related Articles
Early summer is normally when cider sales start to spike as drinkers try to quench their thirsts.
But for the seller of Bulmers and Magners this season could be one to forget.
Today, the company’s shares plunged after its chief executive quit following the revelations of a string of accounting errors.
Dublin-based FTSE 250-listed drinks company C&C, which also makes Scottish lager Tennent’s, revealed it had recorded a £14.5m charge on its balance sheet linked to ‘discrepancies’ over the past three years.
Chief executive Patrick McMahon was finance boss at the time of the ‘discrepancies’, before stepping up to become chief executive in May last year.
Bad taste: For the seller of Bulmers and Magners this season could be one to forget
McMahon has accepted responsibility for what the firm described as ‘accounting mistakes and errors of judgement’. Shares sank 7.6 per cent, or 12.8p, to 156.4p. The update came alongside the group publishing its unaudited annual results that showed revenues fell 2 per cent to £1.4billion.
The company also swung to a loss of £94m, having made a £44m profit the year before.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.5 per cent, or 39.97 points, to 8245.37 and the FTSE 250 lost 0.8 per cent, or 160.51, points, to 20,555.37.
London’s blue-chip index clocked a fourth straight week of losses for the first time since the end of 2020. In the Middle East oil giant Saudi Aramco sold shares at the lower end of its expectations. The state-owned firm offloaded £8.8billion worth of stock at 570p.
Such funds will help Saudi Arabia – which remains Aramco’s largest shareholder with over 90 per cent of the stock – in its quest to transform its economy.
Back in London computer maker Raspberry Pi is to float its shares at the top end of its price range when it lists next week.
Shares are expected to be priced between 260p and 280p that would see it valued at £540m.
Housebuilder Bellway is optimistic over Britain’s housing market after it reported stronger trading during spring.
The firm’s private reservation rate rose 6.9 per cent between February 1 and June 2 due to customers benefiting from improved affordability as mortgage rates ease and wages rise. Bellway added it is ‘on track’ to build 7,500 homes across its financial year.
Shares edged down 0.7 per cent, or 18p, to 2764p.
Time is running out for the bidders hoping to buy two London-listed firms.
Ad agency Brave Bison has until Monday to announce whether it wants to make a firm offer to buy its rival The Mission Group or walk away.
The suitor saw its sweetened offer rejected earlier this week, leaving the deal hanging in the balance. Shares in The Mission Group slid 3.6 per cent, or 1p, to 27p. Brave Bison shares were unmoved at 2.45p.
IT services provider Redcentric is to stay listed in London – for now at least – after its Italian rival Wiit walked away from making an offer on Thursday. Shares fell 2.6 per cent, or 3.75p, to 142p.
