PARIS (Reuters) – French spirits group Pernod Ricard reported a worse-than-expected decline in third quarter sales but said it was confident of delivering a strong performance over the 2022/2023 full year, helped by very strong sales in the fourth quarter.
Pernod, the world’s second-biggest spirits group after Diageo, predicted organic growth of some 10% in profit from recurring operations in its full financial year ending June 30, with some expansion in operating margin.
Pernod Ricard, which owns Mumm champagne, Absolut vodka and Martell cognac, reported sales of 2.391 billion euros ($2.64 billion) in the three months to March 31 – a 2.2% decline on a like-for-like basis, which was below analysts’ expectations of 0.5% growth.
The third quarter performance reflected high comparables and soft demand for Martell cognac during the festive season in China.
Sales for the nine-months reached 9.507 billion euros, a like-for-like rise of 7.6%. This followed a 12% organic sales growth in the first-half of the year.
Pernod Ricard’s fiscal year starts on July 1.
($1 = 0.9051 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
