Rémy Cointreau’s heavy involvement in a slowing Chinese market, along with its continual dependence on cognac sales, have hurt its financial performance, resulting in a 14.6 per cent like-for-like fall in half-year operating profit.
The Paris-based producer of Rémy Martin cognac said its operating profit in the six months to 30 September was €102.1 million, down from the €132.7 million earned during the same period of last year.
Bernstein Research's prediction of €104 million was, therefore, very accurate. At a group level, Remy’s operating margin was 21.6 per cent (in comparison with 23.8 per cent a year earlier).
The firm's seminal Rémy Martin division's operating profits fell 27.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis to €78 million over the half-year period. The operating margin was also down to 28.2 per cent on a reported basis, compared with 35.5 per cent during the period a year earlier.
The group stated on today the margin decline was "impacted mainly by the destocking effort in Greater China."
