A strong third quarter showing from its vodka and Champagne brands helped French spirits group Rémy Cointreau to a 5.7 per cent increase in sales for the nine months to 31 December.
Turnover for the period was €799.1 million at constant exchange rates, with third quarter sales increasing by a strong 8.6 per cent in the run up to the important Christmas period.
Cognac sales were up 1.5 per cent at constant rates over the nine months at €304.5 million, but Rémy said that this did not include wholesale depletions in the US, which were up 7 per cent in the third quarter. Sales of Cognac through the Maxxium distribution venture (which includes Rémy's brands as well as those from Highland Distillers and Vin & Sprit) in China were "very encouraging", the company said.
Liqueur sales (mostly under the Bols brand) showed excellent growth during the nine month period, with a 9.2 per cent rise in value (to €142.3 million) and a 6.6 per cent increase in volume sales. This performance was all the more encouraging, the company said, as it came at a time of major change in the way the Bols unit operates: the quarter saw significant stock reductions in Spain, new distribution agreements with Asahi in Japan and the transfer of production of the Ponche Kuba brand to Barbados.
The group's spirit business was helped by a major upturn in vodka sales in Poland during the quarter, as a result, the company claims, of a new commercial policy implemented in September. All other spirit brands performed in line with expectations during the quarter the company said. Total sales for the division were up 1. 5 per cent for the year-to-date period at €162.3 million.
Champagne sales, which finally recovered in the first quarter of the year after a difficult two years related to overstocking for the millennium, continued to improve steadily into the third quarter, the company said. Sales during the nine-month period rose by 23.6 per cent to €114 million, well ahead of the market as a whole according to Rémy, while early orders for January suggest that the final quarter of the year will also be good.
Sales of other products also improved during the first three quarters of the year, rising 4.2 per cent to €111.5 million compared to the same period a year earlier. Scotch whisky and Italian wines (under the Antinori brand) in particular showed excellent growth in the US, the company said.