The growth was driven by continued strength in aperitifs led by Campari and Aperol, especially in the Americas and Germany, while the rest of EMEA was impacted by very poor weather, as well as double digit growth in Espolòn and Grand Marnier in the US.
Overall the company said that sales in EMEA, which represented 49% of group sales, grew by +3.3% driven by Germany, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands. However, the UK is trailing behind other countries, due to poor weather and a challenging trading environment, down -7.2% with France, also hit be poor weather, down a marginal -0.2%.
Sales in the Americas (45% of total Group sales) were up by +6.8%. with the core US market up by +3.5% with acceleration in the second quarter (+7.2%). The solid performance was mainly due to continuing double digit growth from Espolòn as well as growth in Aperol and Grand Marnier.
Matteo Fantacchiotti, Chief Executive Officer said, “We recorded a solid performance in the first half of the year with acceleration in the second quarter, yet again outperforming the industry.
“In the remainder of the year, we expect to continue to outperform the industry leveraging our strong brands playing in growing categories in an environment currently showing softer market dynamics and increased price competition in core markets, while the macro remains volatile. On a full year basis, our ability to expand gross margin is expected to be impacted by some temporary headwinds (such as poor weather affecting high-margin aperitifs and agave supply contract renewals) guiding both unfavorable sales mix and shifting some of the related expected COGS benefits into next year. However, for the medium-term, we remain confident in the continued growth momentum and our ability to deliver profitable growth with consistent operating margin expansion.
“We have palpable excitement in the organization around Courvoisier. In parallel to the first-time brand consolidation in the last two months of the semester, we started to enhance our capabilities to compete in this category and build this brand unleashing its long-term great potential.’.
Picture: Matteo Fantacchiotti
