Pernod Ricard India sales grow 9% in July-December 2017

Bengaluru: French liquor company Pernod Ricard SA reported 9% sales growth in its India business from July to December 2017, driven by double-digit growth in its strategic international brands and strategic wines product portfolios.

The company follows a July to June calendar.

Pernod’s India business clocked a much slower 3% growth during the same six-month period in the previous year.

Its strategic international brands include Jameson whiskies and Martell cognac, while it sells wines under labels such as Jacob’s Creek, Nine Hills and Brancott Estate in the country.

“H1 FY18 (July to December 2017) was a very good semester with an acceleration versus FY17, in particular in China, India and global travel retail,” Alexandre Ricard, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement on the company’s website on Thursday.

But the faster pace of growth in India in the current reporting year is also enhanced by a low base, the company said. In November 2016, demonetisation affected all businesses, and it is that hit that created a low base and improved growth rate in July-December 2017.

Pernod, India’s second largest liquor firm, also said it has increased prices of its Seagram’s whiskies with the goal of offsetting an increase in input costs after the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST). GST does not include the alcoholic beverage industry under its remit, but raw materials used by the industry fall under the tax’s ambit and, thus, have pushed up input costs for the industry.

Pernod’s India business was resilient through the impact of Supreme Court’s ban on all liquor sales along highways. But the regulatory environment in India is still uncertain and has led to a slowdown, notably in Punjab and Haryana, the company said on Thursday.

“For full-year FY18 (July 2017 to June 2018), we will maintain our focus on digital, innovation and operational excellence (including pricing). We expect sustained and diversified growth to continue across our regions and brands. We are therefore increasing our guidance for full-year FY18 organic growth in profit from recurring operations to between 4% and 6%,” Ricard said.