BOOMING sales of Scotch in fast-growing economies such as China and Brazil have put Pernod Ricard on course to grow profits 8% in the current financial year, despite the uncertain global economic outlook.
The French drinks giant, which owns Chivas Brothers, said it grew sales by 11%, to €4.6 billion (£3.8bn) in the first half. Strong growth in emerging markets compensated for falling sales in some mature markets, including the UK.
Describing growth in Asia, Africa and the Middle East as the driving force for the first-half success, Pernod Ricard highlighted the key role played by the four Scotch whiskies in the 14-strong portfolio of its leading brands.
Sales of Royal Salute blended whisky increased 34% by value in the six months to December 31, compared with the same period in 2010. Sales of Glenlivet single malt increased by 19% annually. The value of sales of the Chivas Regal and Ballantines blended whiskies increased by 13% and 6% respectively.
Pernod Ricard joins a long list of Scotch producers that have posted strong growth in sales on the back of booming demand in areas such as Asia, helped by the emergence of a new class of affluent consumers.
The company said sales increased by 6% in mature markets. It said accelerated growth in eastern and central Europe (15%) had offset a "moderate decline" in western Europe, where sales in the UK had fallen by 6%, in Italy by 11% and in Spain by 5%.
Profit from recurring operations increased by 17%, to €1.4bn, in the first half, which included the key Christmas trading period.
Scotch whisky exports surged to record levels last year helped by the drink's popularity as a status symbol among members of the middle classes in emerging markets, including Brazil and China.
In December the Scotch Whisky Association said overseas sales of Scotch had increased 23% in the first nine months of 2011 to almost £3bn, contributing £125 per second to the UK's balance of payments.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article