Brown-Forman has reported strong growth for its first quarter ended July 31, 2015.

Despite seeing a decline in net sales by 2 per cent, the company reported 7 per cent growth on an underlying basis, and 3 per cent to $227 million in operating income.

Paul Varga, Brown-Forman’s Chief Executive Officer said: “We are off to a strong start in fiscal 2016.

“Despite a volatile global economy, adverse foreign exchange and increasing competitive intensity, our growth in underlying sales and operating income were impressive, and continued to compare quite favorably to our industry competitive set.”

According to Varga, the first quarter results were particularly driven by the company’s flagship Jack Daniel’s trademark, which has returned positive growth for Brown-Forman over a number of recent years.

Based on these latest figures, Varga said the company is confident that its global brands will continue to grow in 2016, predicting 6 per cent to 7 per cent underlying sales growth and 8 per cent to 10 per cent in underlying operating income growth.