Pernod Ricard-Slowdown in Q1 sales with China and India

In August, the second largest group of spirits in the world behind Britain's Diageo, said it was expecting a sluggish first quarter, because of a very high base of comparison in Asia compared to the previous year.

For the first quarter ended September 30, the French group, targeted by the activist fund Elliott, which claims more margins and a change in its governance, recorded a turnover of 2.483 billion euros, a growth 1.3%, compared with a rate of 10.4% in Q1 2018-2019.

The owner of Mumm champagne, Absolut vodka and Martell brandy said that, despite a particularly uncertain environment, he maintained his expectation of 5-7% organic growth in current operating income for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, after + 8.7% in 2018-2019. (Dominique Vidalon, Jean-Philippe Lefief for French service, edited by Jean-Stephane Brosse)