C&C Group CEO steps down over €17m accounting error

Patrick McMahon, CEO of C&C Group, has stepped down after “accounting mistakes and errors” caused the firm to take a €17 million charge.

The Group, which manufactures brands including Tennent’s and Magners, said it was “in the best interests” of the company for McMahon to step down, though the decision was taken “with regret”.

Earlier this year, C&C Group appointed an independent accounting firm to investigate discrepancies in its results. It found failures in the company’s reporting network and said that parts of the organisation behaviours fell short of the level of transparency demanded and required to identify any issues.

McMahon was chief financial officer during the three-year period in question.

In a statement released on Friday, C&C outlined several prior year accounting adjustments, including a €12 million charge “with respect to onerous apple contracts”.

It said: “The adjustments have been made following detailed internal and external reviews of inventory and balance sheet reconciliations after discrepancies were notified to the audit committee earlier this year.”

McMahon left the role late last week. However, C&C has said he will remain an employee of the business until September in order to facilitate a smooth transition.

Ralph Findlay, chair of the board, has been appointed group CEO. C&C expects that he will remain in post for between 12 and 18 months, subject to the timing of the recruitment of McMahon’s long-term successor.

In August 2023 C&C Group’s head of agency partnerships Michael Saunders has handed in his resignation and will leave the company at the end of the year. Saunders, who joined Bibendum in 1982 and worked his way up to become CEO of the company, ended his employment with C&C Group in January 2024. Read more on that story here.