French drinks conglomerate Rémy Cointreau enjoyed double-digit sales growth of its Islay spirits in each of the three quarters to December, as the group announced a return to overall sales growth in the third quarter thanks to improved trading in China and the US.
Sales of Bruichladdich whisky and The Botanist gin were particularly boosted by new account listings in the US, Japan, the UK, Germany and Belgium, the Paris-based company said in a trading update on Thursday.
After a tough first half, during which organic decline (a measure based on constant exchange rates) was -5.9 per cent, the French spirits maker reported sales up 3.2 per cent on an organic basis to €287m (£228m) in the three months to December 31st, 10.8 per cent higher than during the same period the previous year and beating analyst expectations of €294m (£225m).
Compared with the nine months to December 2014, worldwide sales in the nine months to December 2015 were up 7.9 per cent and amounted to €799 million (£612 million).
The maker of Rémy Martin brandy, Cointreau liqueur and Mount Gay Rum said that the uptick in third quarter sales allowed it confirm its full-year forecast to deliver “positive growth in current operating profit for the 2015/16 financial year, at constant exchange rates”.
Analysts had been concerned that that economic slowdown of China would have hit Rémy’s high-end cognac sales in Asia, but the company brushed aside those fears saying that sales in China had been a major driver of growth in the third quarter along with increased sales in the US, its top export market.
Rémy Cointreau bought the Hebridean Bruichladdich distillery for £58m in 2012 in the company’s first move into the premium single malt Scotch whisky market. At the time of the deal it was believed to be the highest price paid for a whisky distillery.
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 here