- Three months to end of September see sales slide 14% to EUR1.51bn [US$1.6bn]
- H1’s -3% top-line showing worsens, resulting in nine-month sales down 7% – EUR4.69bn
The second quarter’s sales decrease appears to have merely set the 2023 scene for Moët Hennessy, with Q3’s top line tumbling by double digits.
Having posted a slight lift in sales at the start of this year, the Hennessy brand owner has delivered two consecutive quarterly falls, with the three months to the end of September slidng by 14%. Subsequently, year-to-date sales are down 7% on the corresponding period in 2022, a year in which the group was up 11%.
In commentary that focused on the nine-month period rather than quarterly, the company flagged a 14% fall from its spirits brands, including the Cognac flagship. as the ongoing "post-Covid demand normalisation" in the US coincides with high stock levels at the retail end of the chain. Combined Champagne & wine sales, meanwhile, inched up by 2% thanks to what Moët Hennessy called the division's value strategy and "firm price increase policy".
Figures from the US's Control States make for tough reading for brand Hennessy. The sales value declines for the Cognac & brandy category have been relentless this year, The most recent monthly data for the markets, for August, were the worst for 2023 so far, with sales by value down by almost 21%.
Moët Hennessy’s official Q3 & YTD results announcement.
Group presentation on recent performance.
How premium brown spirits can ride out the macroeconomic storm – Category Intel
