c group plc type public traded as iseq gcc lse ccr fwb gcc otcqx ccggy industry beverages founded belfast ireland 1852 headquarters dublin ireland key people tony o brien chairman john dunsmore ceo stephen glancey coo products alcoholic drinks soft drinks revenue 986.5 million 2015 1 operating income 115.0 million 2015 1 net income 81.0 million 2015 1 slogan n a website cancgroupplc.com c & c group plc known prior to its flotation as cantrell & cochrane limited is a manufacturer marketer and distributor of alcoholic drinks particularly cider . it has production facilities across ireland the uk and the us but its products are sold around the world . 2 contents 1 history 2 21st century 3 sponsorship 4 production operations 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was founded by dr thomas cantrell who opened a shop in belfast selling soft drinks in 1852 ; he went into partnership with alderman henry cochrane thereafter trading as cantrell & cochrane limited . 3 cochrane was appointed a baronet in 1903 . a particularly famous product in ireland is c & c club orange a carbonated orange soft drink developed in the 1930s . 4 other flavours were subsequently developed such as club lemon and club rock shandy an orange and lemon blend . with c & c s increasing emphasis on alcoholic beverages the club range of soft drinks was sold to britvic ireland early in the 21st century . in 1937 william magner acquired the rights to produce the bulmers cider brand in the republic of ireland from h. p. bulmer . 5 c & c introduced magners cider in 1999 as they only held rights to bulmers in the republic of ireland and wanted to expand into the united kingdom . in america the company saw a chance to challenge soft drink giants coca cola and pepsi cola with its own c & c cola . an elaborate marketing scheme was launched in 1955 in connection with the television revival of 740 motion pictures produced by rko radio pictures . c & c television corporation reprinted the entire rko library for nationwide syndication in the united states . all of the features now began with a c & c movietime title card and tv stations showing the films would interrupt the telecasts for commercial mentions of c & c cola . although the broadcast rights to the rko library now belong to turner entertainment licences to the c & c prints were granted in perpetuity and stations that bought 16mm prints of the c & c films in the 1950s continue to show them today . 21st century edit the company changed its name to c & c group and then launched itself on the irish stock exchange in 2004 . 6 the company started selling magners cider in northern ireland then in london and then in the rest of england spain and bavaria . sales exploded in 2005 and 2006 and the company had to bring forward expansion plans to meet forecast demand . 7 h. p. bulmer seeing their market share in the uk decline relaunched their bulmers cider in packaging similar to magners and sold it to be served over ice a concept introduced by c & c. as a result of better distribution and better pricing h.p. bulmer regained some lost ground . 8 c & c acquired the tennents lager brand and wellpark brewery in august 2009 from inbev . 9 tennents is the largest lager brand in scotland . tennents also has a large share of the northern irish lager market and it was intended this would strengthen magners position as tennents and magners would share distribution . as part of the acquisition c & c will also exclusively distribute inbev brands on the island of ireland with the exception of budweiser which is distributed historically by diageo . 10 in 2009 magners had about 12 % of the uk cider market . c & c cut production and laid off staff at clonmel in 2009 due to overcapacity . 11 in late 2009 c & c bought the gaymer cider company giving them a large production facility in somerset and a distribution warehouse in bristol . 12 c & c sold its portfolio of spirits brands in may 2010 . the largest of these was tullamore dew the worlds second largest selling irish whiskey after jameson 13 other brands are carolans irish cream irish mist and frangelico which are exported to over 80 international markets . in april 2010 c & c announced it was selling its spirits & liqueurs division to scottish distillers william grant & sons for 300m . this would be used to pay down debt built up from the tennents and gaymers purchases . the division s 57 staff it was announced would transfer with the business on disposal . it was also revealed that william grant whose brands include glenfiddich scotch whisky and hendrick s gin would operate the division s packaging facility located at the group s manufacturing site in clonmel county tipperary . 14 in october 2012 c & c bought the largest cider maker in the us vermont hard cider for 305 million . 15 16 in december 2015 c & c announced that pabst would be taking over distribution of its cider brands in the us . pabst also gained the option to acquire c & c s two us cider brands woodchuck and vermont . 17 in january 2016 further retrenchment was announced with the closure announced of the company s shepton mallett factory . 18 sponsorship edit like many alcohol companies c & c invests heavily in sports sponsorship . 19 their brands have used this method extensively . current and previous sponsorship includes the league now known as pro12 magners league tennents scottish cup london wasps edinburgh rugby bath rugby celtic f.c. dundee f.c. and rangers f.c. . production operations edit clonmel s cider factory production takes place at clonmel . the home of bulmers irish cider and main cider production facility . wellpark brewery glasgow . the historic home of tennent s lager acquired in august 2009 from inbev . shepton mallet in somerset . acquired along with the gaymer cider company in late 2009 . due to cease production in 2016 . 20 middlebury vermont . production facility for cider in the us including the woodchuck brand . references edit a b c annual report 2015 pdf . c & c group . retrieved 24 january 2016 . market operation c & c group . candcgroupplc.com . retrieved 2012 12 22 . beverage council of ireland . beveragecouncilofireland.ie . retrieved 2012 12 30 . our brands . britvic . retrieved 24 january 2016 . history c & c group . candcgroupplc.com . retrieved 2012 12 22 . ireland s c & c group readies ipo 27 april 2004 finance . sales of magners cider triple . telegraph . retrieved 2012 12 22 . c & c chief maurice pratt quits after magners cider loses its fizz . telegraph . retrieved 2012 12 22 . ca clears c & c takeover of tennents hospitality news on . barkeeper.ie . retrieved 2012 12 22 . uk scotland cider maker buys tennent s lager . bbc news . 2009 08 27 . retrieved 2012 12 22 . bulmers to shed 103 jobs in clonmel rt news . rte.ie . 2009 02 19 . retrieved 2012 12 22 . babycham gaymers shepton mallet this is shepton mallet . this is somerset . 2009 12 03 . retrieved 2012 12 22 . sat dec 12 2009 crack open something sweet . the irish times . 2009 12 12 . retrieved 2012 12 22 . everest in panoramic hd . plan to sell spirits division sends c & c shares soaring irish business . independent.ie . retrieved 2012 12 22 . magners maker to buy us firm vermont amid weak uk sales . telegraph . retrieved 2012 12 22 . this week s sunday independent . shares in c & c surge after company announces 234m vermont hard cider acquisition irish business . independent.ie . retrieved 2012 12 22 . http www.irishtimes.com business agribusiness and food c c signs distribution deal with us brewer pabst 1.2462974 http www.theguardian.com business 2016 jan 12 shepton mallet cider mill to close the best apps of 2012 . c & c to raise sponsorship spend on scottish sports european business . independent.ie . retrieved 2012 12 22 . shepton mallet cider mill closure risks 120 job cuts . bbc news . 12 january 2016 . external links edit official website v t e iseq 20 companies of ireland aryzta bank of ireland crh c & c group dalata hotel group fbd holdings fyffes glanbia green reit hibernia reit irish continental group irish residential properties reit kerry group kingspan group origin enterprises paddy power betfair permanent tsb ryanair smurfit kappa total produce retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title c % 26c group & oldid 739213744 categories companies listed on the pink sheetscompanies established in 1852companies listed on the irish stock exchangedrink companies of ireland1852 establishments in irelandmultinational companies headquartered in the republic of irelandhidden categories use dmy dates from february 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload 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