Spirits group Rémy Cointreau has eked out a return to sales growth in FY26, thanks to a last-minute recovery in China.
“Very strong” growth in the Asia-Pacific region in the last three months of Rémy Cointreau’s financial year helped propel group sales up 0.2% on an organic basis for the year.
Cognac sales were a key growth driver in Q4, climbing 15.5% on an organic basis as China benefited from soft comparables and resilient new year trading. This was still lower than the 17.5% growth predicted by analysts, however.
Group organic revenues climbed 8.9% for the quarter, though this was also shy of the 10.1% growth expected by analysts.
Performance was “broadly in line with expectations with good recovery in China (vs easy comps) in 4Q and some signs of underlying improvement in the US,” Jefferies analyst Ed Mundy said.
The final quarter’s “strong acceleration” was also welcomed by Barclays analyst Laurence Whyatt.
But he warned the outcome “fell short of expectations” and had come about largely thanks to timing effects – such as the unusually late Chinese New Year on 17 February.
“The results do little to change the broader narrative of timing driven volatility and still challenging underlying demand conditions,” he added.
In early April, Rémy Cointreau unveiled a new plan for growth under new CEO Franck Marilly.
The plan, dubbed RC Forward Plan, will seek to strengthen Rémy’s distribution network and “refine route-to-market strategies in order to expand reach and capture untapped growth”, while also looking to create value by refining the group’s approach to “product, pricing, formats and promotions”.
Rémy Cointreau shares fell by 1.5% in morning trading.
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