- Three-month sales to end of January decline by 2% to US$1.07bn
- Financial year to date flat on same nine months a year earlier at $3.21bn
- Jack Daniel’s sees YTD sales dip 5%
- US sales slip 2%
- Fiscal 2024 sales now forecast to come in flat
The three months to the end of January – the group’s fiscal third quarter – delivered a sales decrease of 2% on the corresponding period a year ago. Combined with Q2’s -1% showing, which was announced in December, the Jack Daniel’s owner’s year-to-date top line came in flat.
Consequently, Brown-Forman has revised its expectations once again for fiscal 2024, which is now estimated to match the previous year after “slower than anticipated growth” over the first nine months.
The 2% sales dip in the group’s US heartland, where like its spirits peers, Brown-Forman has witnessed destocking thanks to high interest rates, was tempered by a “sequential improvement” on the six months to the end of October. Elsewhere on a geographical basis, the group’s transition to owned distribution in a raft of its ‘developed’ markets – including Italy earlier this month – affected its sales thanks to inventory purchases from previous distributors.
Turning to brands and Jack Daniel’s was down over the nine months by 5%, signifying a tough third quarter as H1 showed a 2% decline. On the plus side, the American whiskey’s apple-flavoured extension soared in the three months thanks in part to its launch in South Korea.
Other positives were scant, with El Jimador tequila up in value on negative volumes “led by higher prices, particularly in the US”.
“The operating environment continues to be challenging following two years of double-digit … sales growth,” the company said today. “With the evolving global macroeconomic conditions and normalising industry trends, we are tempering our expectations.”
Separately, the divestment of vodka brand Finlandia to Coca-Cola HBC, which was lined up in June, was confirmed to have completed at the start of the third quarter.
