Pernod Ricard has renewed its agreement with Corby Spirit and Wine, allowing the latter to continue representing its brands in the Canadian market.
The Jameson whiskey owner holds a controlling stake in the Toronto-listed business.
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Through the present representation tie-up “Corby achieved the performance criteria”, and the contract between the two parties has been renewed for three years.
In a statement, Pernod’s CEO of its North American business Conor McQuaid highlighted the Corby has represented the French spirits groups brands in Canada for 20 years.
“This renewal reflects our confidence in Corby and our ambition to continue growing our iconic brands together in this important market,” said McQuaid.
Florence Tresarrieu, president and CEO of Corby, added: “This renewal gives Corby continued access to some of the world’s most recognised premium spirits brands and strengthens the breadth, scale and competitiveness of our portfolio.”
The agreement with Pernod provided Corby with $29.4m in revenue in its financial year to the end of June.
In its full year results, released on Wednesday, Corby Spirit and Wine booked a 10% increase in organic revenue, at C$271.6m. Without the impact of the disposal of “non-core” brands in the current and comparable period, organic revenue was up 11%.
Corby offloaded its Lamb’s rum brand and “certain assets” to Dandurand and La Martiniquaise at the beginning of August.
The J.P Wiser brand owner saw adjusted EBITDA in the year rise 5% to C$67.5m. It said it saw “a slower growth rate” in the measure compared to adjusted earnings from operations, as a “wine representation agreement” with Australian wine group Vinarchy brought about “lower amortisation of upfront fees relative to when the brands were owned by Pernod in the same period last year”.
Its net earnings rose 22% in the 12 months to C$33.4m, while the adjusted metric was up 15% to C$15.1m.
Revenue growth was driven by a 13% increase in “domestic case goods revenue”, which was attributed to “continued expansion” of RTDs.
It was also supported by exports and “commissions revenue”, which comes from selling non-owned brands, like Pernod Ricard’s portfolio in Canada.
In an earnings call this week, CEO Tresarrieu said RTDs now make up around 40% of the company’s revenue. “We continue to outpace category growth while capitalizing on route-to-market expansion opportunities,” she said in prepared remarks.
