DRINKS GROUP C&C yesterday said it was “confident” of meeting its full-year operating profit guidance despite a “challenging” trading environment in Ireland.

It predicted operating profit would be in the range of €102 million to €106 million for the year.

C&C said it continued to see a recovery in cider business Magners GB, with year-on-year volumes rising 4.8 per cent in the three months to November 30th.

Export volumes for Magners rose 42.6 per cent in the quarter, with North America and Australia providing most of the growth, and volumes were up almost 37 per cent in the nine-month period.

Although Bulmers volumes in the Republic rose 2.4 per cent over the quarter, the cider business continued to experience revenue “deflation” of about 4 per cent.

However, this was an improvement on the 4.4 per cent decline recorded at the half-way point in the year, and has been partly attributed to the fact that the year-on-year comparison is no longer being distorted by the reduction in the price of the Bulmers pint bottle introduced in June 2009.

Weather had a “severe” impact on pubs in November and December. Magners volumes shipped to the UK on-trade fell 19 per cent compared with a year earlier, while total Bulmers volumes shipped across both channels of trade in Ireland were down 5 per cent. However, this was partly offset by what the company reported as a “robust” performance in the UK off-trade for Magners over the Christmas period.

“The poor weather in the UK appears to have encouraged consumers to stay at home, weighting the festive demand further in favour of the off-trade as a consequence,” C&C said in a statement.

Off-trade volumes for Magners UK were up 52 per cent in December, although the comparative period in December 2009 was weak. Shares in C&C rose by 1.27 per cent to €3.582 yesterday.