Management at C&C will be keeping a close eye on developments at HP Bulmer after its shares tumbled to 10-year lows earlier this week. But the timing of the troubles at the British cider maker is far from ideal for C&C.

Since Monday, the British cider maker has issued what is in effect its fourth profit warning in eight months, lost its chief executive and postponed its annual meeting.

The company's problems throw a serious question mark over the future of its brands, which include Bulmers cider.

Acquiring these rights would be the perfect expansion opportunity for C&C, which owns the Bulmers brand in the Republic. In addition to providing it with an opportunity to move into the British market, the Irish group would also get the worldwide rights to the brand.

C&C is said to have had "a long and harmonious" relationship with HP Bulmer and would almost certainly be in the frame if the Bulmers brand comes on the market.

The problem is that HP Bulmer may not sell off its brands, whose production is tied up together, on a piecemeal basis.

The feeling among company observers in London is that the family controlled business, faced with an uphill task to restore credibility in the market, might plump for an outright sale of the business.

While C&C might just stretch to acquiring the Bulmers brand, it is unlikely to be in a position to take on the whole company and its problems given C&C's very stretched balance sheet.

C&C's failure to float in July means it is still saddled with a considerable debt burden of more than €700 million while its freedom for manoeuvre as a private company is limited.

In a worst-case scenario, the Irish company might just have to sit back and watch while the prized Bulmers rights fall into the hands of a rival drinks group.