The Americas represented 42.8% of total group net sales in the first nine months, posting an overall growth of 15.5%. Gruppo Campari said this was driven by the termination of some distribution agreements and the sale of non-core businesses in Jamaica, partially compensated by the Forty Creek acquisition.
In the US, which represents 22.3% of total group sales and 52.0% of the region, sales registered a positive organic performance of 3.8% in the first nine months of 2015. Key drivers were the positive performance of Wild Turkey and of the Jamaican rums. The company also pointed to the positive development of the aperitifs for this growth.
Bob Kunze-Concewitz, chief executive officer: “We achieved positive growth across all key performance indicators in the first nine months of 2015. In particular, notwithstanding the increased weakness in some emerging markets (particularly Russia, Brazil and Nigeria), key profitability indicators, organic growth and margin expansion, showed very positive performance and accelerated in the third quarter.
“This result was achieved thanks to the continuous improvement of the sales mix by brand, driven by the Global priorities, which grew by 7.1% in the first nine months and gained traction in the third quarter, and by region, thanks to the outperformance of core high-margin developed markets in comparison with emerging markets, having lower than Group average margin.”
Sales decreased 1.7% in North, Central and Eastern Europe during this time. Sales in Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa, which made up 32.7% of total group sales in the first nine months 2015, posted an overall growth of 5.4%, mainly driven by the Averna acquisition.
In Germany, sales recorded an overall organic growth of 6.5%, thanks to an acceleration in the third quarter, driven by Aperol and Campari, which benefitted from a very positive summer.
In Asia Pacific, which made up 6.7% of total group sales in the first nine months 2015, sales increased by 3.8% overall.
China registered a "soft performance" as a result of the temporary weakness of sparkling wines almost entirely offset by the very positive results of SKYY ready-to-drink, the company said.
Kunze-Concewitz, added: “Looking forward, we are on track to achieve a positive full year performance. We expect the improvement in operating margins achieved in the first nine months 2015 to continue for the remainder of the year. Overall, notwithstanding the increased weakness in some emerging markets, we expect risks and opportunities to be evenly balanced for the remainder of the year.”
