Drinks company C&C has announced the appointment of Jonathan Solesbury as chief financial officer.

The Bulmers-maker, which also distributes a range of branded cider, beer, wine and soft drinks, said the appointment was effective immediately.

Kenny Neison resigned with immediate effect as group CFO for personal reasons in June. Mr Neison had spent about nine years at C&C, first as operations director, before assuming the chief financial role.

A former SABMiller director of group finance, Mr Solesbury held a number of senior roles during his 22-year tenure, including overseeing the acquisition and subsequent integration of SABMiller's Colombian business and transformation programme in Latin America.

Mr Solesbury served the company as an executive director on many boards across multiple jurisdictions and as chief financial officer for the Latin American and Asian regions.

He has been performing the role of Group CFO on an interim basis since August 2017.

“As outlined at the time of his appointment as interim Group CFO, Jonathan brings significant industry experience to C&C, including serving for 22 years in senior finance roles at global drinks company, SABMiller,” C&C said on Wednesday.

C&C chief executive Stephen Glancey said: “We are pleased to announce Jonathan’s appointment as group chief financial officer on a permanent basis.

“During the period in which he has been performing the role on an interim basis, Jonathan has had a positive impact leading our finance function and made a strong contribution to the commercial side of our business.”