PARIS (Reuters) – French spirits maker Pernod Ricard said on Thursday it expected sales to flatline this year after the first six months were tough, banking on improving demand in the key Chinese and U.S. markets.
Pernod Ricard, which owns Martell cognac, Mumm champagne and Absolut vodka, said strict control over costs would drive margin expansion, with full-year organic operating profit set to grow at a low single-digit rate.
Profit from current operations in the first six months of its fiscal year to Dec. 31 reached 2.144 billion euros ($2.30 billion), an organic decline of 3%, but slightly better than analysts’ expectations of a 5.1% decline.
Sales at Pernod – the world’s second-largest spirits maker after Diageo – amounted to 6.59 billion euros in the first half, down 3% organically and on par with analysts’ expectations.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, editing by Tassilo Hummel)
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