Campari posts strong results in Q1

Gruppo Campari has announced “very positive results” in the first quarter of the year with €327.4 million in sales.

The sales result was described as “stable” although the group did note that the organic growth of 7.2% was offset -3.8% by the exchange rate, as the group had to devaluate certain currencies such as the Argentine peso and Brazilian real due to current situations in those markets.

Gross profit increased by 7.8% to €179.2m, while advertising expenditure rose 8.5% to €52.4m.

CEO, Bob Kunze-Concewitz, said: “In the first quarter of 2016 we delivered very positive results across all organic operating performance indicators. These results reflect the consistent execution of our growth strategy which is delivering a continuous improvement of the sales mix by brand and market.

“In particular, the positive momentum on the high-margin global priority brands continued, driving their outperformance of the group’s overall organic growth, as well as the operating margin accretion. Moreover, we achieved a positive organic growth in all regions, particularly in the high margin developed markets, such as North America and Western Europe.”

He noted also that while the group’s overall outlook for the year remained largely unchanged, “we expect that the volatility in some emerging markets and the recent devaluation of the group’s key foreign currencies will continue during 2016.

“At the same time, we remain confident that the group will deliver a positive and profitable performance driven, on the one hand, by the growth of high-margin global priority brands, particularly aperitifs, American whiskies and Jamaican rums and, on the other hand, by the positive performance of the group’s core strategic markets.”