C&C Group plc
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | |
| 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) |
| € 115.0 million (2015) | |
| €(81.0) million (2015) | |
| 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.
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. 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. 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. 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.
...
Wikipedia