FDBusiness.com

Campari, the Italian drinks group, has reported solid organic growth across net sales and all profit indicators in the first half of 2018. Sales at €778.2 million showed organic growth of 5.4%. However, on a reported basis, sales fell by 4.7% after the exchange rate and perimeter effects.

A favourable sales mix was driven by the Aperol, Campari, Wild Turkey and Grand Marnier brands as well as Espolòn. All geographical regions contributed to organic growth, with the US, Western Europe and Australian markets outperforming.

Bob Kunze-Concewitz, chief executive of Gruppo Campari.

Campari achieved adjusted EBIT of €160.5 million, reflecting organic growth of 9.5% – clearly ahead of organic sales growth, resulting in an organic margin accretion of 80 basis points, as higher advertising and promotion investments were more than offset by the solid gross margin expansion. Group net profit was up 35.5% to €147.2 million and on an adjusted basis rose by 11.6% to €104.4 million.

Bob Kunze-Concewitz, chief executive of Campari, comments: “In the first half 2018 we achieved a solid organic growth, reflecting an accelerated top line growth in the second quarter, broadly recovering the first quarter phasing issues, as well as a normalisation of trends across profit indicators. The favourable sales mix continued to benefit from the outperformance of the key high-margin combinations of global and regional brands, driving organic growth across profit indicators and margin expansion. Concomitantly, on a reported basis, the overall growth rates were impacted by the adverse forex effect as well as the divestments of non-core businesses. Looking into the second half of the year, our outlook remains broadly balanced in terms of risks and opportunities. We remain confident in achieving a positive performance across key underlying business indicators, driven by the continued positive development of the key high-margin combinations by brand and market.”