Chivas Brothers, the Pernod Ricard business dedicated to Scotch whisky, has announced its FY23 (July 2022 – June 2023) full-year performance, and they show net sales up +17%, taking total sales to a ten-year high, once again demonstrating the ongoing strong global demand for Scotch and, say Chivas, reinforcing the company’s long-term premiumisation strategy that has enabled the business to outperform the market.
In terms of brands, there were historic highs for the strategic brands Chivas Regal (+25%), Ballantine’s (+13%) and Royal Salute (+32%), who all enjoyed double digit growth. The Glenlivet continues its upward trend with +9% growth and was the best-selling single malt by volume in 2022, according to the IWSR, and Aberlour, part of the broader Chivas Brothers single malt brand portfolio, also grew +11% in the highly competitive malts category. In terms of markets, Asia was the biggest contributor to growth, up +21%, with the North American market up +8%.
Chivas Brothers has also announced more than £60 million in planned investment over the next three years to accelerate its energy and carbon reduction journeys to achieve carbon neutral distillation by the end of 2026. This follows the company’s move to make its heat recovery technology learnings open source for the industry, after proving successful at Glentauchers distillery, with a 53% reduction in carbon emissions at this site alone.
Chivas Brothers Chairman and CEO, Jean-Etienne Gourgues, commented, “The historic highs we’re seeing across our strategic brands signal the success of our premiumisation strategy which has enabled Chivas Brothers to outperform the market. Our highest growth of the last decade reinforces our position to shape the future of sustainable Scotch while continuing to meet demand. We have fast-tracked a number of sustainability initiatives to meet our own ambitious targets and remain committed to supporting the industry in ushering in this new era —as we demonstrated earlier this year by making our heat recovery findings open source.”