Pernod predicts wine market 'stagnation'

Wine and spirit giant Pernod Ricard has posted a 12.5% rise in profits but warned the drinks industry has a tough year ahead.

The French-owned company has predicted ‘an overall stagnation of the wines and spirits industry’ in the next 12 months, echoing the forecast made by rival Diageo just 10 days ago.

Its premium Champagne brand Perrier Jouët was worst affected, posting a 13% fall in volumes while its more affordable Champagne brand G H Mumm registered slight volume growth in all markets except the Americas.

New Zealand brand Montana was also hit by a 13% fall in shipments with severe ‘destocking’ blamed for a massive 25% decline to the US. Its major Australian brand Jacob’s Creek remained more stable with volumes down just 2% worldwide.

The figures follow Diageo’s annual results which showed its premium wine sales were experiencing hard times. CEO Paul Walsh issued a similar warning to Pernod Ricard for the year ahead. ‘While the global economy appears to be stabilising, there is still uncertainty as to the sustainability and pace of any recovery and 2010 will be challenging,’ he said.

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Written by Rebecca Gibb

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Rebecca Gibb MW is a wine journalist and editor who has also founded Bamboozled games, ‘the world’s first wine and spirit puzzle makers’. Having spent six years living in New Zealand, she has recently returned to her native north-east England. While in New Zealand, she became a Master of Wine, graduating top of her class and winning the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting. A former winner of both the UK’s young wine writer of the year and the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer, her first book The Wines of New Zealand was published in 2018. She also runs wine events and has her own consultancy business The Drinks Project. She was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).