Pernod Ricard will report its quarter four and full-year numbers on Thursday (29 August). Here, just-drinks takes a look at what the Paris-headquartered group has been up to in the three months to the end of June:
- Pernod started its final fiscal quarter of 2012-13 with the announcement that it had completed the purchase of Cognac producer Le Maine au Bois. The transaction, which was initially reported in February, highlighted Pernod’s desire to increase its production capacity in Cognac, with the namesake spirits category continuing to boom in Asia.
- Also in April, Pernod’s Chivas Brothers division launched Beefeater Burrough’s Reserve, a brand extension of Beefeater gin. Burrough’s Reserve marks an innovative step for the gin category: The product has been designed to be sipped neat rather than mixed or used as a base for cocktails.
- Following the company’s YTD results in late-April, one analyst warned that Pernod could see its China travails continue for a few months more. The country’s economic slowdown has hit Pernod’s performance in the country, which has been a powerhouse for international brown spirits in recent years.
- In late-May, the company hosted members of the media and the analyst community in Beijing for its annual ‘Capital Market Day’. During the visit to the Chinese capital, just-drinks spoke exclusively to Pernod’s next CEO, Alex Ricard.
- Staying in Asia, Pernod used the presentations in China to highlight its hopes for the region. The company is aiming to lift its share of the “premium-plus western-style” spirits market in Asia from 35% to 40% by 2015, it said.
- In June, there was yet more chatter suggesting that Beam Inc would be a takeover target for the multi-national spirits producers in the coming months. Could Pernod be the front-runner?
- Finally, at the end of June, Hughes Le Marié, Pernod’s Americas and Western Europe director for GH Mumm, exclusively told just-drinks of his concerns for the Champagne category as deep discounting in Europe is “destroying the dream”.