Pernod Ricard has posted a return to organic sales growth in its Q3 results with predictions of 10% profit growth in FY21.
Sales for the nine months of its financial year totalled close to €6.94 billion (AUD$10.8 billion) with organic growth of 1.7 per cent compared to the same period in the previous financial year.
Of the Q3 gains, Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our Q3 was excellent, marking a return to organic sales growth for 9M FY21. This confirms the strength of our business, with strong dynamism of our domestic must-win markets and good resilience throughout.
“In a still uncertain and volatile global context, with the current information available on the pandemic, we will continue to implement our strategy while actively managing resources, in particular strongly reinvesting where efficient.
“We expect our sales to accelerate in Q4 and accordingly are providing guidance of an organic growth in profit from recurring operations for full-year FY21 of +10%.”
The US continued to grow at around 6 per cent, notably tequila and American whiskey in USA, grew by 22 per cent. China was up 34 per cent and India has also returned to double digit growth with Scotch and Specialty Brands supporting a stable position for the business in Europe. Of the regions experiencing increases, Asia and the rest of the world stood out, rising by 36% in Q3.
From an Australian perspective, a Pernod Ricard Australia spokesperson told Drinks Trade:
“In Australia, G.H. Mumm was the star of the show with very strong performance in the third quarter. We also saw solid performance across key spirits brands, including Jameson and Absolut, The Glenlivet, Martell, Malibu and Kahlua. In the wine category, performance was driven by innovation and the premium wine ranges.”
Martell, Malibu, Jameson and The Glenlivet all returned to growth while Kahlua, Passport and Ramazzotti performed more strongly with double digit growth.
Wine growth was up by two per cent, thanks to off-premise trade performance in the UK
