There has been plenty of campaigning from business groups over recent weeks concerning what they would like to see in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ eagerly anticipated Budget tomorrow.

But Ralph Findlay, interim chief executive of C&C Group, would prefer tomorrow to be uneventful for the pub and brewing industry.

The Scot, who is temporarily holding the fort while the Tennent’s Lager owner searches for a new permanent boss, expressed hope for as “little interference as possible” from the Chancellor. “This is a sector which really has been hit by cost increases over a long period of time,” Mr Findlay told The Herald today.

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“I think it is going to be very difficult if it sees further increases in costs that are brought upon it by the Chancellor”.

Mr Findlay has good reason to desire a slightly quieter life. The former Marston’s chief executive was parachuted in to lead C&C from his role as chairman last June following a tumultuous period that saw it part company with two chief executives in little more than a year.

David Forde fell on his sword in May of 2023 after it emerged that the company had run into serious problems over an IT systems upgrade at its Matthew Clark and Bibendum wine wholesaling business, which would ultimately result in the loss of customers and have a “material” impact on its results for the year. That controversy was followed by a further debacle in June, when the company disclosed that it had been forced to make retrospective charges totalling €17 million to its accounts for the previous year. It led to the exit of Patrick McMahon, who had been chief financial officer during the period the adjustments related to.

However, after publishing its results for the first half of C&C’s current year today, which revealed a €9.1m rise in underlying profits to €40.3m, Mr Findlay expressed satisfaction that the worst of those problems were behind it, citing improvements in customer service levels and gains in customer numbers.

“Good customer service is the cornerstone of winning that business back and I think the growth in customer numbers indicates we are well on track with that,” he said.

C&C reported today that Tennent’s Lager had grown market share in Scotland, despite poor summer weather and an exodus of Scottish football fans to Germany in July creating a difficult backdrop.

Mulling the outlook, C&C warned that trading conditions remain tough and that “sentiment regarding the UK autumn Budget (30 October 2024) has generated some consumer caution”, which may account for the sharp fall in the share price seen today. But it added that “positively, we have well executed plans in place for the Christmas and New Year period, as well as encouraging trading momentum”.

The company, which declared a 6% rise in interim dividend to 2 cents per share, said it remains on track to achieve an operating profit of €80m for the full year.