A senior executive – and family member – at Bacardi has reportedly distanced the brand owner from the reactions of the group’s spirits peers to the current market downturn.
Three years ago, Ignacio del Valle, who is a sixth-generation member of the Bacardi family, was given regional presidency responsibilities for ‘Western Europe’ alongside his ‘Latin America & Caribbean’ role. Over the weekend, he was quoted in an article on FT.com, in which he discussed the spirits industry’s current performance and admitted “there’s a bad cycle today”.
“Consumer trends do change but [the] data that is out there does not validate that we are adjusting [to anything] other than a cycle,” del Valle told the news service.
Asked about consolidatory moves on a brands basis, del Valle said this was not on Bacardi’s agenda. “I’ve now been [at Bacardi] for 29 years, and I’ve never had the conversation on selling,” he was cited as saying.
“We won’t do anything wrong today to survive until tomorrow.”
Among the notable brand offloads by international spirits companies have been Brown-Forman’s sale of vodka Finlandia two years ago and Constellation Brand’s divestment of another vodka, Svekda, late last year. Similarly, Pernod Ricard sold virtually all of its wine assets two months ago, while last week closed with Campari Group agreeing the sale of the Cinzano and Frattina marks.
Just over a month ago, Diageo CFO Nik Jhangiani re-emphasised his earlier use of the adjective “substantial” to describe the group’s current pursuit of disposals that “are not strategic or core to our business”.
