John Dunsmore, the chief executive of C&C, the cider maker, insisted yesterday that “incompetence not malevolence” was responsible for an error that led the company to publish inaccurate trading figures.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Irish stock exchange are understood to be investigating the affair, which led to a 16 per cent slump in the company’s share price yesterday as soon as it had admitted the mistake and published restated data.

Total revenues for the four months to June, which last Wednesday’s statement said were up by 3 per cent, had in fact fallen by 5 per cent, the company said.

Cider sales, which it had claimed were up by 3 per cent, were down by 6 per cent. A reported revenue fall of 12 per cent in its spirits division was in fact far steeper — at 22 per cent.

“Preliminary, unaudited revenue details provided within the trading statement were inaccurate,” C&C said in a short statement, adding that it was nevertheless sticking by its profits forecast for the full year of €77 million (£66 million) to €82 million.

John Dunsmore, its chief executive, told The Times: “I’m an ex-analyst. I do understand this doesn’t look very impressive.”

The explanation was human error. Figures for the original trading statement were inaccurately transcribed from internal management accounts, he explained.

On the day of the trading statement, management was focused on the guidance on profits and somehow did not notice the incorrect revenue figure.

“It didn’t stand out as an anomaly,” Mr Dunsmore said. “We didn’t give sufficient attention to this bit of paper.”

He said he took full responsibility for the mistake. Big swings in currencies complicated the figures, he added: “It’s a rapped-knuckles incident, not more serious than that.”

Ironically, C&C was not scheduled to put out a statement last week, but decided to do so because it felt that trading was going better than expected and it wanted to keep the share market updated.

The mistake was spotted late on Friday. The board’s audit committee met on Sunday and decided to issue the correction yesterday.

Analysts said that they were bemused by the affair. Andy Blain, an analyst with Shore Capital, said that he had queried the numbers with the investor relations department last Wednesday.

“I looked at the numbers and they just didn’t make sense,” he said. “But I couldn’t get any answers. Now we know why. It’s a big slip, but it should be just a one-off.”

Another analyst, who declined to be named, said: “They’ve made a pig’s ear of this.”

Buyers of C&C shares between Wednesday and Friday last week could claim that they bought in a false market and demand recompense.

The shares were changing hands in the €2.20 to €2.36 range at the time, compared with Monday’s close of €1.84.

The FSA declined to comment on the C&C case, but said that listed companies were obliged to make sure that published information was accurate and timely.

A spokesman for the Irish stock exchange said that it did not comment on individual cases.

Falling flat

5% Fall in total revenues for the four months to June. C&C said last week revenues had risen 3%

6% Fall in cider sales. It had reported a 3% rise

16% Fall in C&C share price on Monday

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