The boss of Magners maker C&C has unexpectedly quit after he was found to have overseen a string of accountancy errors at the business.
C&C, which also makes Tennent’s lager and Orchard Pig cider, said Patrick McMahon had informed the board he would be resigning as a director and chief executive with immediate effect.
It comes just over a year after he was first appointed, as he was promoted from the role of chief financial officer last May.
His sudden departure comes after a string of accounting blunders at C&C, which said had occurred while Mr McMahon had “overall responsibility for the group’s finance function”.
The issues have forced C&C to restate three years of accounts, leading to €17m (£14.5m) worth of adjustments.
C&C said there would also “clearly” be an impact on its latest set of interim results, sparking an 8pc drop in its share price.
The company said the “shortcomings” in accounting had taken place as C&C struggled to implement a new software system at one of its subsidiaries.
The botched IT upgrade cost it millions of pounds and led to its previous chief executive David Forde leaving the company.
C&C said on Friday that its investigation into accountancy discrepancies had also found failures in its reporting framework, as bosses missed opportunities to fix the issue.
It said is working to ensure this is not repeated.
In its announcement, C&C said it had agreed with Mr McMahon that it was in the best interests of the group for him to step down as chief executive.
Ralph Findlay, C&C’s chairman who had served as chief executive of pub chain Marston’s for 20 years, will replace him “to ensure continuity of executive leadership”.
C&C said it expected him to remain in post for between a year and 18 months while it finds a permanent replacement for Mr McMahon.
The update came as C&C published its annual results for the year to February, which had been delayed during the review of its accounting issues.
C&C revealed it had swung to a £111m loss for the period, compared to a £52m profit 12 months earlier.
This followed a heavy impairment charge across its UK business, which it said “reflected continuing challenging trading conditions in the crowded and competitive UK cider market”.
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