The Rémy Cointreau Group has reported total sales of €836.7m ($892.6m) in its first nine months, with reported growth of 4.7% in its 2016 to 2017 financial year.

 

The drinks company said that sales growth was driven mainly by group brands (+9.1%/organic basis).

 

However, it experienced a fall in sales by its partner brands (-15.3%/organic) as its ongoing performance continues to be compared with last year when it still had the distribution contract for the Charles Heidsieck and Piper Heidsieck Champagne brands.

 

GREATER CHINA RECOVERY IN SOLID CONSUMPTION

Nevertheless, the strong 9-month performance was helped by sales upturns in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions, with the latter recording a much needed ‘solid recovery’ in private consumption in Greater China — as well as some improvement in Travel Retail trends.

 

The company added that a more contrasting performance played out in Europe, the Middle East and in African regions, with Russia, Central Europe, the UK and South Africa all contributing to the group’s ‘strong momentum’.

 

More specifically, the company pointed to ‘an excellent performance’ from the House of Rémy Martin over the nine months, with organic growth of 11.2%.

 

RUSSIAN MARKET IS ALSO GROWING WELL AGAIN

The drinks company added positively: “Performance was underpinned by strong momentum in the Americas, a step-up in private consumption growth in Greater China and Travel Retail and anticipated shipments in the third quarter for the Chinese New Year celebrations. Sales have also returned to robust growth in Russia since the start of the financial year.

 

“The division also benefited from remarkable mix effects over the period, the result of investments in the highest-range categories in the Rémy Martin portfolio: the launch of LOUIS XIII Le Mathusalem, L’Odyssée d’un Roi project, the opening of a LOUIS XIII store in Beijing and the launch of the new Rémy Martin XO.”

 

Turning to liqueurs and spirits, this division (+4.1%) was said to have been driven by a solid increase in the company’s main brands. The group said that the Cointreau brand ‘posted satisfying growth over the period’, thanks to the US and French markets, plus ‘new high-potential markets such as Greater China and Russia.’

 

The Metaxa brandy line apparently performed ‘robustly’ throughout the 9m period with the resumption of growth in it popular markets of Russia/CIS and Greece, along with ‘continued strong momentum in Central Europe’. This was most notable due to the launch of the new ’12 Stars’ bottle.

 

ISLAY SPIRITS CONTINUES TO PERFORM STRONGLY

A good 9m performance was also recorded for Mount Gay rum in the US, Barbados and the UK, while St-Rémy experienced a small decrease due to a voluntary reduction in low-end volumes by the company.

 

Meanwhile, the company’s Islay Spirits (Bruichladdich/Port Charlotte/Octomore/The Botanist) all continued to deliver strong double-digit growth in the first 9m – especially in their main markets of popularity, including the US, Europe and Travel Retail.