FRANCE: Champagne sales hold up at Vranken-Pommery Monopole

• Champagne house outperforms sector
• Expects recovery in 2010

Champagne house Vranken-Pommery Monopole has outperformed rivals in 2009 to report a sales decline of less than 10% for the year.

Champagne sales dropped by 6.5% to EUR267m (US$378m) for the 12 months of 2009, against EUR286m in 2008, Vranken-Pommery Monopole, owner of Charles Lafitte, said late last week (22 January).

Even though fourth quarter sales fell by 8%, to EUR132m, the group still outperformed several major rivals in a Champagne sector hit hard by the global economic downturn.

Remy Cointreau last week reported Champagne sales down 32% in value for the nine months to the end of December, while Laurent-Perrier recently reported sales down 23% for the first six months of 2009.

Vranken-Pommery said sales were resilient in Europe, including the UK, and that a good performance in this region, particularly in Italy, helped it to offset falling sales further afield.

The Pommery brand also grew sales in the US, said the firm, which is the second largest Champagne house with a 9% share of the sector.

In volume terms, the group said its 1.3% volume sales slip for the year reflects favourably with global Champagne volumes thought to be down 10% over the same period.

Vranken-Pommery said it expects 2010 to improve on 2009 for the Champagne sector.

While sales performed relatively well, profitability may be a bigger problem for the company. It reported net losses of EUR2.9m in the six months to the end of June 2009.

The company has not yet released full-year profits figures.