Rémy Cointreau suffered a 22.2% fall in organic sales to €636.7 million compared with the same six months in 2022.       Its current operating profit was down 43% on an organic basis to €169.1 million.

The cause of the sales slump was wholesaler destocking in the United States and a more muted recovery from the pandemic than predicted in China.

Like its competitors, Rémy Cointreau enjoyed a buoyant start to 2022 as US consumers in particular celebrated the end of the pandemic, so it was always facing difficult comparisons as consumption returned to more normal patterns.

With that in mind, the company pointed out that it had made solid progress compared with the final period before Coronavirus swept the globe.   Organic sales were up by 20.1% compared with the first six months of 2019/20 and current organic operating profit was 16.1% ahead.

Chief executive Eric Vallat told journalists that Rémy Cointreau has five months’ worth of stock in the United States, and while demand was improving, it was unclear when depletions to retailers would recover.

In China, Vallat said sales were picking up “very fast”.   But he added that he expected sharp destocking in the third quarter, before a recovery in the fourth.       In China, where Rémy Cointreau heads the market for Cognac, however, sales were picking up “very fast”, Vallat said.

Rémy reiterated its full-year forecast, saying the US would not see growth in sales before the next financial year, while Europe, Middle East and Africa and China would deliver only moderate sales.