Pernod Ricard had a "
historic
" year 2021/22 which allowed it to cross 10 billion euros in turnover, but the group already knows that the crisis in energy prices will weigh on its activities.
It is first of all a full box for the French multinational wine and spirits company which saw its net profit increase by 53% to 2 billion euros at the end of its staggered financial year ended in June, according to a press release published Thursday. .
The group, owner of Jameson whiskey, Martell cognac and Mumm champagne, generated 10.7 billion euros in turnover, up 17% over one year.
"
2021/22 is a record year in several respects: the symbolic threshold of 10 billion euros in turnover was crossed with the strongest growth rate in 30 years, a current operating profit of more than 3 billion euros and a record operating margin of 28.3%
,” commented the CEO of the group.
“
Growth is driven by all regions, by all categories, price segments and distribution channels, and equally between mature and emerging markets,
” continued Alexandre Ricard.
So, despite "
a difficult and unstable economic environment
", Alexandre Ricard says he is "
confident
" in achieving the "
medium-term financial objectives 2023-2025
", i.e. annual organic growth in turnover of between +4 and +7%.
To stay the course despite inflation, “
prices have been increased in all markets
”, indicates the group without quantifying the increases, and they will continue to be so in 2022/23.
“
High energy prices will impact us for the 2022/2023 annual financial year
,” explained Hélène de Tissot, the chief financial officer.
Energy price explosion
Because of very high and volatile prices, Pernod Ricard expects consequences on production, packaging, or even the cost of transport.
The prices of gas, which is massively used in the process of treating glasses used for alcohol bottles in particular, have soared since Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine.
Russia has several times reduced its gas supplies to Europe.
In recent weeks gas prices have exploded on the Old Continent, approaching historic records due to the expected suspensions of Russian supplies.
But "
some countries are less exposed to Russian gas, which is a good thing for us when we know the importance of our activities in England and Scotland
",
Read alsoPernod Ricard regains its pre-crisis level of activity
Pernod Ricard, which believes it has good capacity to increase its prices without losing its customers ("
pricing power
") will again increase its prices in the United States and China, where the Mid-Autumn Festival will take place in a few days. (or moon festival), the second in importance in the lunar calendar in China after that of the New Year. Investors welcomed these results with moderate enthusiasm: the share price fell by 0.84% to 182 euros around 11:30 a.m., in a market more strongly in the red, by 1.75%.
Since the start of the year, the stock has lost nearly 14% of its value, also a little better than the flagship CAC 40 index.