Bacardí has reported a sales slide of nearly 7% in the UK, with lower sell-out driven by “various macroeconomic factors and industry conditions” including rising booze duty.
Revenues at Bacardí-Martini Limited – the company responsible for marketing and distribution of brands including Bombay Sapphire and Martini in the UK – declined by 6.9% to £262.4m in the year ended 31 March 2025, newly filed accounts at Companies House showed. Brand volumes, meanwhile, fell by 9.0%.
It means Bacardí’s sales have slumped at a greater rate than last year, when revenues declined by just 1.2%, on volumes up 0.5%.
“The decrease in revenue and brand volume has arisen due to lower sell-out versus the previous year,” said Bacardí-Martini director Vincent Morel. “The sell-out volume reduction was a result of various macroeconomic factors and industry conditions including the excise duty increase and higher cost-to-serve.”
Spirits duty in the UK increased by 3.6% in line with inflation in February 2025, having been frozen since a 10.1% hike in August 2023. A further inflation-linked rise is set to take effect next month.
The Bacardí-Martini portfolio had “performed in line with the market trend” but it had been necessary to “mitigate the effects of macroeconomic conditions” with “structure investment savings in other areas of the business”, Morel said.
Sales and marketing headcount at Bacardí-Martini fell by 17.9% to 119, the business’ annual financial report showed.
This was partially offset by an increase in staff in ‘management’ roles, however, meaning the number of staff employed by the business fell by just 6.6% to 211.
As a result operating profits at Bacardí-Martini declined by just £200k to £3.7m. Profit before tax, meanwhile, grew 8.1% to £5.2m owing to “an increase in interest receivable” from treasury arrangements at a group level, according to Morel.
In the UK and Ireland, Bacardí is led by business unit director Steve Young.
Young was appointed to the newly created role in April 2024, having previously been the company’s senior director for on-trade growth in western Europe.
Last April, Bacardí announced the return of its 90s alcopop Breezer in response to “strong demand from a new generation of consumers”.
No comments yet