Dive Brief:
- Remy Cointreau reported a 13.4% decline in organic sales in the most recent quarter for its flagship Remy Martin brand. After accounting for currency valuations, overall sales fell 15.4% in real terms.
- The maker of Remy Martin cognac, Cointreau liqueur, and other champagne and spirits blamed the poor performance on ongoing collapse of its market in China. Bottles of cognac had been common "gifts" for bureaucrats in that nation prior to the start of an anti-corruption campaign.
- Things weren't much better in the U.S. market. Remy recently lost a U.S. distribution contract with the maker Brugal rum and The Macallan Scotch. That pushed revenue in the quarter lower by about $72 million versus a year earlier.
Dive Insight:
It probably wasn't fair to do so, but many industry watchers expected some good news from what was Remy's first quarter under the command of new CEO Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet. But so far, about the best that can be said is that Chapoulaud-Floquet didn't quit after three months, unlike predecessor Thierry Pflanz.