- Diageo reported a sales increase of 1.7% from the 12 months to the end of June
- For the same period, Pernod Ricard finished down by 3%
Within a month of each other, rivals Diageo and Pernod Ricard posted the results from their latest fiscal full years, which for both of them run to the end of June. Brand comparisons provide indicators not only of how each company has performed of late, but also of the health – or otherwise – of the brands’ respective categories.
Despite their different sizes – Diageo’s 12-month sales totalled US$20.25bn to Pernod Ricard’s $12.73bn – these two brand owners are fierce rivals across several spirits categories. Over the last ten years, their performances have – give or take – been in line with each other’s, culminating in near-parity 12 months ago (Diageo at -0.6%, Pernod Ricard at -1%).
For fiscal 2025, however, a clear gap developed, made more notable by the two brand owners finishing on different sides of the 0% line.
A marked revision of the trademarks deemed by Diageo to be on its ‘key brands’ list – out went Cîroc and Ketel One on the vodka front, joined by Tanqueray in gin – means that this by-category comparison exercise has narrowed somewhat.
(An aside, but the new additions for the last fiscal year of baijiu Shui Jing Fang, blended whisky McDowell’s and Crown Royal Canadian whisky – none of which could realistically be described as particularly premium-plus in their respective pricing positions – provide a hint of Diageo’s revised strategy of looking down the price ladder for future growth.)
Looking first at the two groups’ rum brands, and Diageo’s Captain Morgan was down mid single digits for the second consecutive year; fiscal 2025’s 6% sales decline followed 2024’s -5%. The performances imply that challenges remain for rum in its more-mainstream price bracket.
Further up the price ladder, however, isn’t particularly sunkissed either right now; A standout 2024 for Havana Club, when sales jumped by 8%, was followed by a deceleration last year for the Cuban rum to +1%.
Pernod Ricard’s overall slip in sales, however, positions Havana Club as one of its better performers – of its 13 ‘strategic international brands’, only six (including Havana Club) registered growth.
Blended scotch is where the biggest battle is fought between the pair; it’s also where Pernod Ricard edged things last year.
As was the case with Captain Morgan, Diageo bemoaned a second year of mid-single-digit negativity for Johnnie Walker. Indeed, the only difference between the two brands was the order of their declines (Walker dipped by 5% in fiscal ’25 and by 6% in ’24).
Pernod Ricard’s blended stable was considerably more stable, with Ballantine’s flat and Chivas Regal at +2%. Chivas will no doubt have been the poster boy/girl for the group, flipping from a decline (-1%) in the year prior.
The results for the French company’s ultra-premium Royal Salute are more an indication of the situation in the global travel retail channel than a category bellwether. The slump to -18% more than undid the brand’s 5% sales rise in fiscal 2024, when GTR bounced back strongly.
Finally, the vodka category saw stark disparity between Diageo and Pernod Ricard’s brands. The former’s Smirnoff flagship finished the 12 months down by 5%, a deterioration compared to fiscal ’24’s -3%.
Absolut, on the other hand, put a smile on Pernod Ricard’s face, up 2% after having dipped by 1% a year ago. The group worked hard on Absolut in fiscal ’25, most notably with a high level of activity around Absolut Warhol – last year’s bottling from the brand’s annual limited-edition series.
While these comparisons frame Diageo as having been outshone by its peer, the opposite was actually the case. For the London-headquartered group, its standout brands came from elsewhere, namely from beer – Guinness had a stellar fiscal ’25, posting a 13% increase in year-on-year sales – and from tequila, where Don Julio’s barnstorming 38% leap more than offset Casamigo’s 16% slide.
With Pernod Ricard having nothing to offer on the brewing side and the absence of either Olmeca, Olmeca Altos, Avión or Código 1530 from its headline brands – not to mention Diageo’s apparent appetite for exploring spirits’ sub-premium price bracket – maybe comparisons between the two will be even less of an exact science in the future.
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Corporate subscribers: AB InBev, Bacardi, Campari Group, Diageo, Moët Hennessy, Pernod Ricard, Proximo Spirits, Suntory Spirits Group, William Grant and Sons.
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