Strong sales in China, India drive spirits maker Pernod Ricard profit growth

Pernod Ricard forecast underlying profit growth from recurring operations of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent for the full year ending June 30, 2019.

Bottles of Chivas Regal blended Scotch whisky, produced by Pernod Ricard SA, are displayed on the campus of the HEC School of Management in Jouy-en-Josas, near Paris. (Photo: Reuters)

PARIS: French spirits maker Pernod Ricard on Wednesday said sales and profit growth accelerated in full year 2017/18, driven by strong demand in China and India, as well as robust sales in the United States, its top market.

Pernod Ricard handed investors a 17 per cent dividend hike.

For the year ahead, Pernod - the world's second-biggest spirits group behind Britain's Diageo - forecast further profit growth in spite of an uncertain geopolitical and monetary climate. It gave no further details.

Pernod Ricard forecast underlying profit growth from recurring operations of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent for the full year ending June 30, 2019.

This would compare with the 6.3 per cent rise achieved in the 2017/2018 financial year, when profits came in at 2.358 billion euros ($2.70 billion), - in line with an average forecast of 2.36 billion euros in an Inquiry Financial poll for ThomsonReuters.