The French drinks and spirits group Pernod Ricard, which owns Irish Distillers and is headed up by Irishman Richard Burrows, today posted an increase of 22% in sales for 2000 at 4.4 billion euros. This was up from 3.6 billion euros in 1999.
The company said it expects profit growth before tax and exceptional items in 2000 to be 'around 7%' compared to one year earlier, but warned in a statement that net return would be lower, due to one-off charges.
