Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has booked a fall in first-half sales but the company did report a brighter picture emerging in France.

First-half revenues fell 3% to €84m ($96.6m), dragged down by a near-6% decline from the group’s international business. Like-for-like revenues dropped 4.4%.

In the second quarter, group revenues grew 2.2% to €45.3m, as sales in France jumped 6%. Like-for-like second-quarter revenues increased 0.5%.

Sales in France’s on-trade increased 16% in the second quarter, helped by sales of its namesake brand and a rum distribution deal. First-half on-trade sales were 10.1% higher.

Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits’ sales to off-trade customers in France fell 4% in the first half but increased 3.8% in the second quarter.

The company said sales of the Marie Brizard and Sobieski brands were boosted by new products.

A Cognac deal for Marie Brizard's industrial-services division, which includes bottling sub-contracts, also helped the numbers.

Revenue from Marie Brizard’s International division dropped 5.8% in the first half, although the decline was less steep in the second quarter at 0.3%.

The company said a slowdown in European sales “eased” in the second quarter.

Sales “held up well” in the US, thanks to the Marie Brizard and Gautier brands, which helped offset a second-quarter decline in Sobieski sales.

The division's export revenues were down 15.3% for the first half and 2.3% lower for the second quarter. Sales of Sobieski in the UK and of William Peel Scotch in Belgium and Luxembourg declined.

Meanwhile, in Martinique and Guadeloupe, the Gautier Cognac brand was boosted by more favourable order phasing in the second quarter.