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THE C&C GROUP, the company behind Bulmers cider, hasn’t lost confidence in its key brands despite big slides in sales last year.
The company’s income from the top-selling cider brand in Ireland dropped 7.5% over the 12 months to the end of February, while in the UK its Magners label suffered an even heavier fall.
The decline in C&C’s Irish business came after what it described as the one-off effect of an “exceptional” summer on Irish cider sales in 2013.
However the company said it had been spending up on marketing and its “not a moment too soon” campaign had “resonated exceptionally well” with its target audience.
In England and Wales, it plans to cut costs for its Magners business after sales of the cider brand plunged 14.1% by volume.
Consumer affinity for the brand remained strong with the brand regaining number one in premium apple cider in the off-trade,” the company said. “However, economically the existing business model is not tenable.”
That was despite the “challenging” trading conditions for the last three months of the financial year after the introduction of stricter drink-driving rules.
C&C CEO Stephen Glancey said the company’s core businesses in Ireland and Scotland – which delivered the vast majority of profits – had delivered “modest” growth in the year.
We continued to make progress towards our objective of building leading brand-led distribution businesses in both of these regions,” he said. “This model reinforces the sustainability of our earnings and cash generation capability which, in turn, drives our ability to create and sustain value for shareholders.”
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First 2 years my mortgage was fixed rate cost me €1300 pm this latest drop in interest rates will bring it down to under €800. Still only surviving. Wages have dropped about €600pm in same period and then property tax and the rest. ECB are keeping me afloat
In 2001, Halifax were the first to offer tracker mortgages in Ireland – they even offered €1,000 to anyone who wanted to switch from their existing lender to the Halifax tracker mortgage.
All Irish banks followed suit by offering trackers in order to gain market share.
There was always a risk that the ECB base rate could increase so trackers weren’t always quite as appealing as they are now.
The irony was amazing – before Halifax left Ireland, they offered €1,000 to anyone who was mad enough to switch their tracker mortgage to another lender, thereby losing their tracker and ECB protection.
There is no doubt about it now though – you would be crackers to give up your trackers.
I am on a tracker. Thank you for paying my mortgage, oh hang on you don’t. So your being punished because the Government have no backbone, the banks F**KED up, Germans want their money back. Your not being punished because i bought a house and luckily enough got a tracker mortgage.
How much are you all paying above the base rate… I was paying 1.15 plus the ecb rate.. got a loan to value ratio valuation in the boom, obviously it had gone up so ulster bank aged to drop the base rate to 0.85…. my new rate is 0.5 plus the base rate which comes to 1.35.% wooo hoooo….
0.6% + base rate :-D
Mind you I did buy my house in May 2007. Just one month later and the shit hit the fan. My tracker is the only thing keeping me fed!
It’s incorrect to say that you are being punished because some people bought tracker mortgages. It’s correct to say that it is variable rate mortgage customers are being punished because of reckless and irresponsible lending by certain ( most ) banks.
Blaming tracker mortgage holders is like getting a last minute ryanair flight booking, boarding the plane, finding out the guy sitting beside you got a better deal, and then having a go at him. Nonsense!
If anything Ryanair are to blame for varying prices across the board
First 5years off mine was fixed to, at 1200euro and is just over 800 now and I to am finding it tuff, but get on with it as I did when it was 1200euro and am glad I am on a tracker now and didn’t fix it for another few years as wouldn’t have it at all now ,
I was accused of being an idiot in 2005 for going on a tracker by a friend of mine. He advised me told to fix it for 5 years.
I don’t feel smug now; I just feel incredibly lucky.
Itiswhatitis, if you want to blame someone, blame your bank! its not tracker mortgage holders fault at the end of the day. we did what we did because we were advised to by an independent advisor.
@iswhatitis I worked in an intermediary mortgage centre in England until 2007 back when the base rate was around 6%. All the brokers and IFAs use to laugh at our attempts to flog trackers, even those that tracked below base rate, it was all about the fixed rates at 4.5%ish for them. That said we never sold a tracker that lasted longer than 3 years, after that it was onto SVR with you like a fixed customer, was shocked when I heard about the lifetime trackers here!
A Tracker mortgage is a product that’s paid for by someone else, Namely a Variable mortgage holder.So OK don’t blame the bank,All tracker holders know some one has to pay their bills.
Of course it was a risk. When I took a tracker, ECB rates were rising. A number of products were on the table, I chose one which I was quite entitled to do, and now people who chose differently are blaming tracker holders for their rates increasing. The banks are the villains here lads, don’t forget that
I read before that Trackers cost the banks when the base rate is below a certain percentage.
So if they’re costing other people now, then does it mean we were subsidising other mortgage-type holders when the rates were higher, Genius?
@Colin Tyrrell
No you were paying the rate on the day as was the variable rate payer, Its like uninsured drivers they know deep down the insured drivers are paying a big levy for them but the choose to ignore it and drive on.
no need to apologise Genius!
I don’t feel like a criminal; but I do genuinely feel sorry for someone not on trackers at the minute. I’ve worked out how much extra I’d be paying if I was on variable, and it would crucify me.
I saw a tv show on Channel 4 last year about mortgages & ‘Ledge-dwellers’. Ledge-dwellers are those who are currently on the verge of being pushed over the ledge – for instance if we lost a job, or if interest rates went up. I’m a ledge-dweller I think. And it’s bloody scary.
And I know it could get worse for me; I’m just praying it doesn’t.
“Tracker bashing” has become a real thing in Ireland. Unbelievable. I fixed my mortgage for 3 years at the start, then switching to tracker. The other option before me was, fix for two years and go on SVR after. My broker advised me to fix for three years and switch to tracker. Thanks Mr. Broker man. But now people like me are ridiculed because of a decision we made, that lucky, ended up being the right one.
Yes it was I switched in 2005 when the ECB was putting up rates to 5/6 you were not giving out about trackers then , grow up , I bought a house in the uk 1991 interest rate was 17 1/2 % now that scare the crap out of ya
Why because I too a chance , and it worked for me is that the reason John I was pointing out in 1991 interest rates were at 17 and a half% it’s the chance you take John
What an idiotic comment genius (irony). I bothered my ass to research trackers v svp and fixed rates back in 2006 or 07 whenever I got mine. I asked a simple question to the bank rep as follows. If the ecb rates go up do the banks increase their svr? The answer I was given was “almost always yes”. I then asked if the opposite was true and was told no. I saw it as a bit of a no brainer. How is someone else paying my mortgage when I’m paying back the principle plus interest as agreed? It’s fairly obvious that they’re not…
Are you saying that the govt should penalise the tracker holders because they had the cop on and wherewithal to obtain a tracker? How does that work? The bloody banks are the qualified finance experts. So they need help because they made a mistake with trackers.? I don’t see ordinary people getting much help after they’ve made financial mistakes
So those on variable are blaming those on trackers for the banks actions
Wake the F**k up and try to gain some small understanding about finance b4 coming on here and making complete fools out of yourselves
Divide & conquer we’ll at work here, such an easy strategy with the Irish
Jason just nailed it. If given the choice it was an absolute no brainer. The banks would always pass on an interest increase immediately but would usually delay an interest decrease by a few months or not pas it on at all.
I think it’s hilarious that as I bought in 2006 and now have approx 100k of negative equity people are bitter/jealous of my tracker mortgage! I got all the luck!
Exactly Adam, suppose I got a break on the tracker but the 90k negative equity and the serious hit in my wages negates that. The best piece of financial advice I ever got was from my Dad. He said “listen to advice from Eddie Hobbs and then do the opposite.” The man is a Jonah!!!!
EBS you dirty rotten pri€ks, putting it up last week to counteract this cut. God how I hate ye and every other
S€um bank in this country. They are keeping us in recession while continually lining their pockets
Am I right saying sll those being charged to the hilt are offsetting the losses banks are suffering from trackers? If I am right, others are gaining at the expense
More or less Barry , it’s what you signed up for most ppl took a fixed rate at the time witch was the right thing at the time when interest rates were rising trackers were loosing out now its the other way round
Those animals in ebs will see this as a green light to ride us again just got another increase off them. I reckon these banks are trying to push us into arrears so they can take our homes, in the hope that the value will increase and they can then sell them to make a tidy profit.
It’s funny how things work out I was remortgaging years ago and the night before I went I was pricing a job for a mortgage broker he told me about the tracker and how it works (I never got the job from him) but the next day I applied for a tracker that man saved me a right few euro over 200k mortgage .
This is all well and good but ECB can’t maintain these low rates for ever… Once they start increasing interest rates it will be the ruin of the country. Banks will aggressively increase their rates it’ll force thousands into to unsustainable repayments and flood the housing market with people trying to sell to save themselves.
The Govt know we’ll this is inevitable but refuse to take their heads out of their Ars3s and try to address the impending doom
The AIB variable rate is just .1% below the fixes rate for 1 year… So flipping annoying this third increase just when you get your head around your repayments they go up!
I refuse to be guilt tripped by anyone over my tracker mortgage. I’ve had fixed and variable rates and when I was invited to switch, I took the chance. I’d be homeless by now if not for it.
Swings and round abouts , I got a Variable because Tracker were not available. i also bought my house in May 2012 and the price has increased (house next door sold for a good bit more tha I paid)
you can keep you tracker and be smug, but don’t expect any write down of debt or any reduction to those in negative equity
Banks couldn’t get enough of low ECB interest rates when they were lashing money out like there was no tomorrow, but now most people are getting shafted on variables for the incompetence of those same monkeys in the banks.
A pox on them.
When I questioned the last interest rate increase from BOIF considering ECB rates were coming down , the response was quiet simply the bank needs to return a positive position. When times were good they didn’t pass on the positivity , bloody cheek.
ECB dropping rates the Irish “pillar banks” raising them at the same time. The government will wash their hands and say they can do nothing. Somebody is laughing and it’s not the poor suckers caught in the debt trap created by the EU and Irish government(s).
I could kiss the guy in AIB who made me take the tracker mortgage, still won’t cover all the extra taxes the government have taken from me but it’s a big help.
Not enough people would get behind it. If you can afford to pay you are not going to take the chance with a faceless bank. They would destroy your credit rating and have the last laugh. Not that I know too many people looking for finance at the minute, but you get what I mean.
To use the technical term….They have us by the goolies
All mortgage holders deserve to be treated equally . By paying our mortgages we are keeping banks in business . I have empathy for all mortgage holders but the variable holders should also be benefitting . When the ECB interest rates eventually go up we will be hit as well
Increasing interest rates is a clear case of gouging and profiteering on the misery of others, It must stop forthwith it is not a commercial decision it is clear and blatant sharp practice.
No its a humorous name, you might notice the avatar its a bit of a giveaway I think, But some people just think they’re above satire,What do you reckon Norman.
That’s OK Norman it no reflection on you that your ability to comprehend humor is impaired, But do try and use less venom in future there just comment’s, it will eat you up if you don’t.
Tracker holders are benefiting now where as fixed benefited a good while back. I was advised to go tracker from day one and that’s what I did. I am not a criminal for doing so and those on other mortgages must realise that their quarrel is with the banks, not tracker mortgage holders. I would not be able to live if I had a different mortgage. I am a very happy tracker!
I don’t begrudge tracker holders there decrease, I just wish the EBS stopped putting our mortgage up, our mortgage is going up over 400e from June. That’s a very bitter pill to swallow given all the money which has been pumped into the banks and considering the lies that politicians spewed about forcing banks to pass on interest rate cuts. We just lost out and there’s nobody in our corner. More power to people on tracker mortgages, pity I’m not one
Are you seriously bitching at people that have a tracker?I assume you took out the rate you felt was best at the time,as did tracker holders not their fault it worked out better.
Get over it,bitching won’t a bit of difference just makes you look like a begrudging moaner.
Who exactly is enjoying themselves?tracker or not I’m still at risk of teetering over the edge at any time like most and I certainly ain’t partying. Your generalisation is childish!
Those with trackers were cute/lucky when they took their loans. Get over it. Pay your SVR. Us tracker people have holidays and new TVs to pay for. Cheers by the way…..:)
Maybe this is a stupid question, but I’m a little confused.
Maybe I’ve oversimplified how I thought this worked, but I always thought the bank borrows the money for X%, lends it for X+Y% and Y is their profit on the loan (contributes to overall profits, but also operating costs etc).
On a tracker, Y is fixed for the lifetime of the loan. On variable, they can increase or decrease Y based on market e.g. decrease it to attract more borrowers (in better market condititions) and increase it to just take more from what they already have, or potentially deter people from borrowing too much.
What have I got wrong in the above (without getting too indepth) that means SVR has to go up while ECB rate goes down – or is the real problem of passing more on to SVR mortgage holders is actually because they’re not lending money and just milking what they can from the customers they have?
Can/do banking regulations (either Irish or European) prevent banks from putting too much or too little difference on their rates (from the ECB) to ensure decisions that an ECB rate change, fundamentally designed to alter economic activity, is passed on appropriately?
Finally – don’t understand blaming tracker mortgage holders. Blame the banks for offering an unsustainable product, and the regulators for letting it happen!!!
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