Current Account: C&C is facing into a difficult time having been forced to abandon its planned flotation this week. The group pulled back at the last minute, blaming inclement market conditions, and insists it will return to the markets when the storm clouds have passed.

Just when that may happen is increasingly difficult to call, and the drinks and snacks company will have to make long-term plans based on having to grow the business without the massive resources a successful flotation would have yielded.

Chairman Mr Tony O'Brien is at pains to stress the group will not be hampered immediately by failing to raise the €267 million after costs and payment to existing shareholders it hoped the flotation would deliver. But analysts continue to point to C&C's balance sheet and the pressure its high borrowings will exert going forward.

Mr O'Brien was correct in saying the group was unlucky in its timing, given the volatility of world stock markets. But there may also have been deeper issues that affected the attractiveness of investing in C&C in good or strained times.

It is a highly cash-generative business and owns leading household brands such as Bulmers Cider, Ballygowan mineral water, Club Orange and Tayto, making it a defensive stock and a business that is easy to understand.

But with the rate of economic growth slowing in the Republic and the heavy reliance C&C places on the profits generated by Bulmers, the company may not have been sufficiently attractive to international investors, who would have been expected to take up to 70 per cent of the stock.

C&C may have to wait up to one year to offer the shares again and there are still no guarantees that they would be snapped up.

The flotation has been a huge distraction for management and Mr O'Brien will have to ensure the board remains focused on managing the business in more normal circumstances.