Jameson Whiskey upbeat despite annual sales slipping

Despite Covid-19, Jameson still grew sales in 50 countries. File picture: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

Irish Distillers has said it remains confident of Jameson Irish Whiskey’s growth prospects, despite the brand suffering a 1% fall in sales in the year to the end of June.

Parent group Pernod Ricard — the second-largest spirits maker in the world, behind Diageo — reported a 77% drop in net profit for the year and took a €1bn write-down of its asset value as Covid-19 restrictions on restaurants, bars, and travel and duty free sales decimated its performance.

One bright spot for the group was strong spirit sales in supermarkets across Europe and the US. The writedown, however, was largely linked to lost sales of Absolut vodka through travel and duty free outlets.

Despite a strong start to the year for Jameson — which included its busiest December on record, during which it sold 940,000 cases globally — the second half was blighted by the effect of the wide-reaching Covid-19 restrictions.

However, Jameson still recorded sales growth in key markets such as Ireland, the UK, Germany, Australia, Russia, and South Africa. On top of that, it saw either double or triple-digit percentage growth in key emerging markets such as Nigeria, China, India, and Japan.

“Like many others around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted our business,” said Irish Distillers chairman and CEO Conor McQuaid. 

“We saw growth slow in some markets —  and in cases like global travel retail, come to a relative halt in the second half of the year. However, despite that, Jameson achieved growth in over 50 markets,” he said.

“There is no doubt that this is a challenging business environment, however, we know from history that the Irish whiskey industry has proven itself to be very resilient. Having experienced a remarkable decade of export-led growth, we remain confident in Jameson’s ability to bounce back and continue its growth trajectory,” Mr McQuaid said.

“The priority over the coming months will be the health and safety of our employees as we look to effectively navigate the current environment. We continue to be positive about the future and the undoubted better times ahead” he said.

Pernod Ricard did not give specific guidance for the year that started on July 1, aside from pointing to the resilient home consumption trends and also predicting sales in China would sequentially improve.

Duty free travel retail, which has been hit hard by restrictions on air travel, makes 6% of group sales, while Pernod has also been hobbled by lockdown restaurant closures.

Travel retail was expected to stay under pressure this year.

“For fiscal year 2021 Pernod Ricard expects continued uncertainty and volatility, in particular relating to sanitary conditions and their impact on social gatherings, as well as challenging economic conditions,” group chairman and CEO Alexandre Ricard said.

Additional reporting Reuters