Maker of Magners cider, the Irish drinks group C&C, reported a drop of 10 per cent in profit for the first six months of the year, citing challenging market conditions particularly in August and September.

C&C said its net profit fell to EUR51.9 million during the first half of the year as compared with EUR57.6 million in the same period last year.

C&C said its revenue dropped by 11 per cent to EUR257.5 million.

Adjusted earnings per share plunged to settle at 15.3 cents as compared with 17 cents last year.

Group's CEO, John Dunsmore, said cider market's retail off-trade sales grew 22 per cent on the year, however grew just by 6 per cent in the months of August and September.

C&C, which acquired the Scottish and Irish businesses of Anheuser-Busch, has reassured that full-year operating profit would be at the top end of the EUR77 million to EUR82 million range.

It was informed that the group plans to pay an interim dividend of 3 cents a share.

In the recent trading, shares in C&C plunged by about 15 cents to 2.85 euros in Dublin.