Bulmer's near terminal decline costs CE's scalp
failing to improve business at the beleaguered cider maker.
This week's revelation that struggling UK cider maker HP Bulmer has discovered previously unnoticed marketing costs - which will push it further into difficulty in the current financial year - has forced the company's chief executive to resign, a move which will hardly improve investor confidence in the company.
Mike Hughes has stood down just two days after the £3.3 million (€5.3m) promotional costs were announced, and will be temporarily replaced by Colin Brown, a non-executive director at HP Bulmer.
The Financial Times newspaper reports that the departure of Hughes pushed Bulmer's shares even lower, and that the company had postponed its annual meeting - due yesterday - in order to concentrate on finding a permanent replacement for Hughes.
This is unlikely to be an easy task, given the difficulties faced by the company, which has high levels of debt and whose principal business, cider, has struggled to compete successfully with other drinks notably ready-to-drink premixed spirits and premium bottled lagers. With UK cider sales sluggish at best, and the company struggling to perform in international markets, Bulmer could be something of a poisoned chalice for whoever takes the helm.
