French drinks group Rémy Cointreau has predicted that its operating profit will fall by 25% to 30% in the 2019/20 fiscal year due to the impact of coronavirus.
The company released initial details of the impact of coronavirus yesterday on 2 April. It revealed that its revenue for the 2019/20 fiscal year ending March 2020 was down by 12% in organic terms, caused by a 26% downturn in sales in the fourth quarter of the year despite “excellent” performance at the start of the Chinese New Year.
While the figures are stark, the group said it was witnessing some improvement in greater China, with most shops reopening as well as some restaurants and bars.
However, it said that it would take several months for Chinese wholesalers to de-stock before they need to start replenishing once more.
As a result of this, and the collapse of the global travel retail market and the on-trade in other countries, Rémy Cointreau estimates that its organic sales will fall by a greater margin in the first quarter of the 2020/21 fiscal year, than they did in the fourth quarter of 2019/20.
Despite this, the drinks group said it remained “confident” about its ability to survive the crisis and that it would “emerge from it even stronger, overtime”.
The drinks group has been active in helping to fight the spread of coronavirus. In China, it donated 1 million yuan to the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling foundation for the purchase of protective medical equipment in February. It then donated a further 200,000 yuan, sourced from donations by its Chinese collaborators and a matching amount paid by the group.
In France it has converted production sites in Cognac (Rémy Martin), Angers (Cointreau) and Triève (Distillery of the Domaine des Hautes Glaces) into neutral alcohol producing plants for health organisations, with the output to be used in sanitisers. It also gave 8,000 surgical and FFP2 masks to hospitals in Cognac and Saintes.
Other sites around the world including its Bruichladdich distillery on Islay, Westland distillery in Seattle, and Mount Gay Rum in Barbados are also helping the hand sanitiser production effort.
The news follows similar predictions from fellow French drinks company Pernod Ricard, which also said that the Covid-19 outbreak would have “widespread repercussions” on its business. Pernod Ricard expects its operating profit to fall by 20% in FY20, having initially predicted that the virus could cause just a 2% fall in its FY2020 sales.
疫情致人頭馬君度利潤下滑三成
法國酒飲巨頭人頭馬君度集團預測,由于新冠疫情的影響,其2019/20財年的營業利潤將下降25%至30%。
人頭馬君度集團近日發布了有關新冠病毒影響的初步估計。該集團透露,盡管年初受中國春節的推動表現出色,但由于第四財季銷售額下降了26%,導致其截至2020年3月的2019/20財年的自然收入下降了12%。
該集團表示,雖然這些數字很不理想,但其在大中華區的情況已有所改善,大多數店鋪都已經恢復開業,一些餐館和酒吧也重新開業。
但是它也表示,中國批發商需要幾個月的時間才能去庫存,然后才會再次開始補貨。
總體而言,加上全球旅游零售市場的崩潰和其他國家的交易,人頭馬君度估計其有機銷售額在2020/21財年第一季度的下降幅度將大于2019/20財年第四季度。
盡管如此,該集團表示,對自身在危機中的生存能力仍然“充滿信心”,并將“從危機中脫穎而出,變得更加強大,持久”。
自疫情爆發以來,該集團一直在積極幫助抵抗病毒的傳播。在中國,它于2月份向上海宋慶齡基金會捐贈了100萬元人民幣,用于新冠疫情的防治醫療物資采購以及一線醫務工作者“心理撫慰”項目等。同時,還從全球范圍的公司內部籌集捐款20萬元人民幣,以進一步幫助中國戰勝新冠疫情。
在法國,該集團已將位于干邑(人頭馬)、昂熱(君度)和特里夫(Domaine des Hautes Glaces威士忌釀酒廠)的生產基地改建為中性酒精生產廠,用于消毒劑的生產。此外,還向干邑和桑特的醫院提供了8,000個手術口罩和FFP2口罩。
該集團在世界各地的其他生產基地,包括艾萊島上的Bruichladdich釀酒廠,西雅圖的Westland蒸餾廠和巴巴多斯的Gay Rum朗姆酒廠,均已投入手部消毒劑的生產工作。
在此之前,另一大法國酒飲巨頭保樂力加也做出了類似的預測。保樂力加表示,新冠疫情爆發將對其業務產生“廣泛影響”,預計2020財年的運營利潤將下降20%。
徐菲遠 譯自The Drinks Business