C&C Group plc CCR
C&C has lagged peers by 81% since its 2019 LSE listing under four CEOs and a board owning 0.05%; electing Engine's two nominees brings M&A and capital-allocation expertise.
Thesis
Engine Capital, owner of just under 5% of C&C Group plc, argues the UK cider and beer company has been a perennial underperformer since its 2019 LSE listing, lagging the FTSE 250 by 72% and peers by 81% over the five-year period. Engine blames succession missteps (four CEOs in four years), an ERP implementation fiasco, goodwill impairment and deficient internal controls, and a board that collectively owns just 0.05% of shares and lacks financial expertise. Having been rebuffed privately on board representation, Engine is nominating Ryan Dubin (Engine investor, ex-Perella/Deutsche Bank) and Alan Hibben (former RBC M&A head and seasoned Canadian public-company director) for election at the August 15, 2024 AGM. Shareholders need not replace incumbents — they can simply add both Engine nominees to create a 10-person board with M&A expertise, capital-allocation skill, and genuine skin in the game.
SCQA
C&C Group is an LSE-listed cider and beer company with unique strategic assets including Bulmers, Tennent's, and distribution in Ireland and Scotland; Engine has owned just under 5% for more than four years.
Since its 2019 LSE listing, C&C has underperformed peers by 81%, cycled through four CEOs in four years, suffered ERP and internal-control failures, and is run by a board owning 0.05% of shares with no capital-allocation or M&A expertise.
Shareholders should add both Engine nominees — Ryan Dubin and Alan Hibben — to the eight company candidates at the August 15, 2024 AGM, expanding the board to 10 directors with owner-mindset members committed to buying shares personally.
Adding directors with financial skillsets, a sense of urgency and skin in the game would catalyze long-overdue operational improvements and a strategic review, closing a steep discount to relevant transaction multiples.
The three reasons
- 1
C&C has underperformed peers by 81% and the FTSE 250 by 72% since its 2019 LSE listing
- 2
The board owns just 0.05% of shares — directors have no skin in the game
- 3
Four CEOs in under four years signals persistent succession and governance failure
Primary demands
- Elect Engine's two nominees (Ryan Dubin and Alan Hibben) to the C&C Board at the 2024 AGM
- Add directors with capital allocation, capital markets and M&A expertise plus genuine share ownership
- Separate the Chair and CEO roles to comply with the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018
- Explore strategic alternatives to maximize value given the steep discount to transaction multiples
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (2)
Notes
Hybrid BUSINESS WIRE press release + open letter to shareholders announcing a proxy fight at the C&C Group 2024 AGM (Aug 15, 2024). Classified as press_release per its BUSINESS WIRE masthead and filename marker 'CC-PR-and-Letter'. Engine has a partner website (ABetterPathforCandC.com) and retained Saratoga Proxy Consulting and Longacre Square Partners. The peer-gap table on p.1 and the board-ownership table on p.2 are the two visual anchors. Board chair/CEO Ralph Findlay is implicitly the governance-code issue but not explicitly vilified — hence villain_named=false.