Newsmaker Maurice Pratt, outgoing ceo, C&C With cider sales and profits set to fall for the second year running, chief executive Maurice Pratt was left with little choice but to resign this week. The 90pc fall in its share price since the beginning of last year makes a takeover of the only quoted Irish drinks group virtually inevitable. The rise and fall of Maurice Pratt and C&C has been a remarkable tale of initial success followed by disastrous failure. For a brief moment in the summer of 2006, it seemed as if C&C's Magners cider brand had succeeded in cracking the lucrative British market. The share price went into orbit, peaking at €13.90 at the beginning of 2007, valuing the group at over €4.5bn, almost five times its annual sales. For decades C&C was a slightly dozy cider and soft drinks company that was jointly owned...
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