The departing head of Rémy Cointreau, Eric Vallat, has admitted that the brand owner “may have made mistakes” in the years since the Covid pandemic.
In a “farewell message” posted on LinkedIn today (4 July), the executive, who announced his departure after almost six years as CEO in April, provided a review of his tenure with the group. While noting booming sales in what he called the “Roaring Twenties”, Vallat (below) also flagged a turn in fortunes from around the end of 2022.
“[After the Covid years] came the Roaring Twenties,” he wrote. “Sales exploded, resources were significant, and everything was possible – subject to product availability. At the end of 2022 we began to experience the more difficult years. Certainly, our exposure to cognac and the two major markets, China and the US, hasn’t made this an easy task.
“The crisis facing the spirits world is not over,” Vallat added. “We may have made mistakes, but the group has done what was necessary to emerge stronger in the long run.”
Franck Marilly has taken over from Vallat as CEO in recent days. The French national has joined Rémy Cointreau from Shiseido, where he spent the last seven-and-a-half years heading up the Japanese company’s EMEA & global fragrances division.
The group’s sales have struggled markedly over its last two fiscal years (to the end of March). In results for fiscal 2025 reported in late-April, the brand owner’s top line came in down by 18% on the corresponding period a year earlier, when sales slumped by 19.2% on fiscal 2023.
