Magners, as C&C's Bulmers brand is known outside of the Republic, has performed strongly in Britain over the past year, with C&C concentrating its initial efforts on Scotland and London.

Data compiled by research firm AC Nielsen over the period from March 2005 to January 2006 shows that Magners volumes are up by 234% in Scotland. Over the same period, Magners has quadrupled its market share in London, with volumes up 410%.

Magners now has a 2.5% of what is described as the "long alcoholic drink" or LAD category in Scotland, a market that includes cider and lager brands.

Magners share of the cider market in Scotland, meanwhile, is over 25%, less than three years after its launch.

That success prompted last year's introduction of Magners to London, and so far the brand appears to be justifying C&C's faith. Since March last year, the cider has grown its share of the London LAD market in pubs from 0.2% to 0.8%.

The numbers bode well for the planned nationwide rollout of the brand. The long-term vision is that Magners can duplicate Bulmers' success in the Irish market. A research report by analysts Deutsche Bank calculated that achieving even a 10% share of the LAD market across the UK, similar to Bulmers' market share in the Republic, would add 40m to C&C's pre-tax profit.

UNITED DRUG IS A CONSISTENT PERFORMER UNITED DRUG could be the best prescription for investors feeling bearish about the Irish Stock Market.

A new analysis by Davy Stockbrokers of the company's share price performance underlines the company's consistency in both good times and bad.

Picking through relative returns over 44 quarters and stretching back to 1994, analyst Jack Gorman finds that United Drug is a "strong defensive play in times of Iseq declines".

United Drug has outperformed the Iseq in more than half of those quarters and its share price appreciation has exceed the Iseq growth rate in seven of the last eleven years.

The company performs even better during turbulent times for the markets.

Gorman notes that during the 11-year period the Iseq has experienced quarter-on-quarter declines 13 times. United Drug outperformed the market during 12 of those 13 quarters, a strong testament to its defensive qualities.

PLAYSTATION 3 DELAY PLAYS INTO DCC HANDS SONY'S confirmation that the launch of its Playstation 3 console will be delayed until November is a doubleedged sword for distribution and logistics group DCC. DCC's technology distribution division is the exclusive distributor for Playstation 3's rival in the lucrative computer gaming market, Microsoft's Xbox 360.

The somewhat troubled birth of Playstation 3 has played into Microsoft's hands.

It launched in time for the hugely important Christmas market last year, and had a free run at the market with its new console while Sony was busy ironing out creases ahead of an anticipated Spring 2006 launch.

That launch has now been put back to November, giving Microsoft - and by implication DCC - more time to make hay before Playstation 3 arrives. The flip-side is that DCC also distributes software and computer games for a range of games publishers, such as THQ, whose Playstation 3 titles will not be shipped until the console is launched.

All things considered, though, it looks as if Christmas 2006 will be a busy one for the Irish company as the battle between Microsoft and Sony for the hearts, minds and wallets of computer gamers gets underway.

IRISH COMPANIES OUTPERFORM UK RIVALS ARE Ireland's biggest publicly-quoted companies better than their UK counterparts? Motley Fool, the investment advice website, has uncovered the startling statistic that Irish shares have returned 230% over the past 10 years compared with a, relatively, paltry 62% for stocks quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

"The UK is three times bigger, fifteen times more populated and boasts an economy that's twelve times larger than Ireland. But it's the Irish that have had the last laugh when it comes to stock market gains, " says Fool columnist David Kuo.

He compares some of the Dublin-based exchange's largest components with their UK equivalents and reaches the not-verystartling conclusion that companies such as AIB and Kerry Group have outshone peers such as HSBC, Travis Perkins and Dairy Crest because of their exposure to the fast-growing Irish economy.

Other companies Kuo cites for contributing to the dramatically better performance of the Iseq over the decade include Ryanair, which has seen its shares soar above rival British Airways and Grafton, which has capitalised on the Irish construction boom.

"In the last decade the economy has expanded around 7% a year, which puts Britain's recent growth rate of about 2% to shame. Consequently, it's not so surprising that Irish companies have outshone many of their British counterparts, " he says.