C&C headache as drinkers lose their taste for Magners

The cider boom is over. C&C, the irish drinks group behind Magners, admitted today sales have slumped.

Sales are down 10% for the four months to the end of June despite a strong television campaign that tried to make the cider an integral part of the english summer. it seems that drinkers are baulking at the cost - more than £4 in a pub - of a large bottle over ice in a pint glass.

The push gave cider a new lease of life, updating its previous image as the choice of tramps or drunk teenagers but bulmers copied the strategy and began to take market share.

Sales of both brands have been on the slide for at least a year, however.

C&C, headed by Maurice Pratt, said that its performance between March and May had been "broadly satisfactory" but that June was bad.

"A weak trading performance in June together with continuing unsettled weather and a deteriorating economic backdrop in C&C's principal markets makes the outlook uncertain," the company said.

It concedes that "revenue is unlikely to match ast year's level", although better margins should go some way to offsetting the fall in profits. its shares have tumbled lately and fell again today, losing 22 eurocents to ¤2.50.