C&C Group, the makers of Magners cider, is going ahead with an extensive jobs cull as part of its restructuring operation after the business was hit hard by the wet summer weather.
The company expects to save £7m a year by cutting about 15% of its workforce and merging its head office and cider management divisions.
In Great Britain, its biggest cider market, it intends to appoint a new head of operations and increase sales and marketing expenditure.
C&C, which has expanded rapidly in recent years on the back of escalating demand for cider, blamed the wet summer earlier this year for posting a first-half loss back in October.
The group also blamed a 50% rise in marketing costs and competition for the 33% drop in operating profit at £46.9m.
At the time chief executive Maurice Pratt said the firm “has conducted an extensive review of its performance and market position” and had “taken certain corrective steps” to sharpen its competitive capability.
