Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman ended its fiscal 2026 with better-than-anticipated quarterly sales, but warned consumer spending would continue to be challenged in the year ahead.
The US-based whiskey maker posted a 2% organic uplift in sales to $912m for the three months ended 30 April. Wall Street had expected fourth quarter sales to come in at $879.6m.
Earnings per share, however, dipped 62% to 12 cents, well below an analyst consensus of 32 cents compiled by LSEG.
For the full year, sales were flat at $3.9m, with whiskey sales up 1% organically, driven by the launch of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry and the growth of Woodford Reserve in the US, and partially offset by declines on core Jack Daniels and tequila.
The results were Brown-Forman’s first since it rejected a $15bn takeover approach from US peer Sazerac, and failed to agree to a mega-merger with Pernod Ricard.
Amid declining spirits sales globally, Brown-Forman is currently undertaking a global restructure expected to reduce the size of its workforce by 12%.
Flat net sales predicted
The operating environment in fiscal 2027 would “remain challenging”, with macroeconomic pressures and geopolitical instability continuing to “negatively impact consumer behaviour and beverage alcohol consumption, particularly within developed markets,” Brown-Forman said, adding it expected net sales to be flat next year, in line with fiscal 2026.
“We finished the fiscal year ahead of our expectations, driven by strong execution in our innovation portfolio, the early benefits of our US route-to-market transformation, and strategic cost-restructuring initiatives,” said Brown-Forman CEO Lawson Whiting. “While we expect continued market volatility and a challenging cost cycle in the year ahead, our performance this year proves we have the right people, brands, and strategy to navigate these challenges effectively.”
Brown-Forman shares climbed 1.6% to $25.18 in afternoon trading on Thursday (4 June). They remain below an intraday high of $28.46 in March when merger talks with Pernod Ricard first surfaced, however.
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