By Dominique Vidalon and Emma Rumney
PARIS/LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Pernod Ricard reported weaker sales across all five of its priority markets in the first half of its fiscal year on Thursday and group profits dropped as foreign exchange swings and rising costs compounded turmoil in its U.S. and Chinese businesses.
The French spirits company's first-half performance was, however, broadly in line with expectations, and showed an improvement in the second quarter as markets like India and global duty
free sales improved. Pernod expects to deliver better second-half results.
The maker of Martell cognac and Absolut vodka reaffirmed guidance of between 3% and 6% sales growth between 2027 and 2029 despite an industry-wide slump in demand.
CEO Alexandre Ricard said that Pernod can meet this range even if the U.S. and China, where sales have dropped amid strain on U.S. consumer wallets, destocking and a sluggish Chinese economy, grow less than 3%.
"Beyond the U.S. and China, we have the rest of the world," he told Reuters by phone.
The company's shares were 0.32% higher at 0931 GMT, having fallen over 22% in the past 12 months.
SMALLER PACKS, LOWER INVENTORIES
Spirits companies are battling a multi-year slump in sales that has prompted valuations to slide, CEOs to exit and companies to sell assets and cut costs.
Pernod has launched a restructuring plan targeting 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) in savings between 2026 and 2029, which included job losses in the first half.
Ricard told Reuters that there were no plans to launch an initial public offering of its Indian business following media reports on Wednesday that said it was reviewing a possible listing.
The company is taking other steps to protect profits and drive sales, including reducing its inventories of finished goods and increasing launches targeting affordability such as smaller pack sizes.
Pernod's organic operating profit fell 7.5%, slightly ahead of forecasts, but that deepened to 18.7% on a reported basis when factors like foreign exchange were included.
Chris Beckett, analyst at Pernod investor Quilter Cheviot, said even this "strikingly negative" performance did not drive a decline in the share price because of how low expectations are for the sector.
"It says quite a lot about where we are," he said.
($1 = 0.8579 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Inti Landauro, Kevin Buckland and Elaine Hardcastle)
