Corby Spirit and Wine has secured another term distributing Pernod Ricard’s brands in Canada.
Pernod, home to brands including Jameson whiskey, owns a 46% stake in the Toronto-listed business.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
In a statement, Corby said it had “achieved the performance criteria” set out in the current contract, which was due to expire at the end of September.
The tie-up between the two companies will continue for another three years, with the potential for two more, Corby said.
Florence Tresarrieu, Corby’s president and CEO, said: “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.”
In a statement, Conor McQuaid, the CEO of Pernod’s business in North America, added: “This renewal reflects our confidence in Corby and our ambition to continue growing our iconic brands together in this important market.”
The agreement with Pernod provided Corby with C$29.4m (US$21.2m) in revenue in its financial year to the end of June.
Corby released its full-year results on Wednesday, a set of accounts that included a 10% increase in revenue to C$271.6m. Without the impact of the disposal of “non-core” brands, organic revenue was up 11%.
The company offloaded its Lamb’s rum brand and “certain assets” to Dandurand and La Martiniquaise at the beginning of August.
The JP 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. The company said 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’s portfolio in Canada.
In an earnings call this week, 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.
