Irish Distillers has announced a new chairman and chief executive as sales of Jameson Irish whiskey broke the four million cases milestone in first half of the year.
Irish Distillers said its chairman and CEO Jean-Christophe Coutures will leave his current role to take up a new position as chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers, the scotch whisky business of Pernod Ricard.
He will be replaced by Conor McQuaid, who currently serves as EVP Global Business Development at Pernod Ricard.
Conor McQuaid has worked across the Pernod Ricard group for almost 20 years and will take up the new role on July 1, 2018.
The company also said today that its premium spirits brands recorded strong net sales growth during the six months to the end of December amid the backdrop of a challenging market.
Sales of Jameson were up 5%, while Powers sales rose 11%, Prestige Irish whiskeys sales jumped 30%, premium vodka sales were up 5% and premium gin sales gained 29%.
Jean-Christophe Coutures said that Jameson, which has been driving the growth of the Irish whiskey category for the past 28 years, continues to thrive and is now in double or triple digit growth in 80 markets across the world.
"In the six months to the end of December 2017 we are growing value (12%) ahead of volume (11%) with all regions contributing to this success," he noted.
"While the growth has been driven by the USA, Europe, Africa and the Middle East we have also seen a particularly strong growth coming in the Asian and Latin American markets," the outgoing CEO added.
Mr Coutures also said that Irish whiskey tourism is another important part of the Irish whiskey story.
The number of tourists travelling to Ireland to visit Irish whiskey distillery centres increased by 11% last year.
"The reopening of Jameson Distillery Bow St - the original home of Jameson - in March 2017, undoubtedly played a role in this growth," Mr Coutures said.
"Our brand homes in Bow St, Dublin and Midleton, Cork will continue to support the Irish Whiskey tourism strategy target of trebling the number of Irish whiskey tourists visiting Ireland annually, to 1.9 million by 2025," he added.
Meanwhile, Pernod Ricard raised its annual profit growth outlook after delivering a forecast-beating rise in first-half earnings, driven by stronger demand in China, India and at its travel retail division.
Pernod, the world's second-biggest spirits group behind Britain's Diageo, said it was now targeting an organic rise of between 4-6% in profit from recurring operations for the year ending June 30, 2018.
This compared to a previous forecast for 3-5% growth. Those forecasts were based on constant exchange rates.
Similar to its rival Remy Cointreau, Pernod cautioned against headwinds due to foreign exchange hits.
The owner of Jameson, Absolut vodka, Martell cognac and Mumm champagne, said the euro's rise against the dollar would knock €180m off full year operating profit, a bigger hit than the €125m impact previously forecast.
First-half group sales reached €5.082 billion, an organic rise of 5.1%, while profit from recurring operations reached €1.496 billion, an organic rise of 5.7%.
This compared with analysts' forecasts for a 4.6% organic sales rise and a 4% rise for profit from recurring operations.
Pernod Ricard said the impact from a ban on alcohol sales near highways in India, its second largest market, was now easing off and sales in India rose 8% in the first-half.
In China, it achieved robust sales growth of 8% in the first-half, driven by demand for Martell cognac but also Chivas whisky, even though demand decelerated from the first quarter due to the later timing of the Chinese New Year in February.
In the US, its largest market, sales rose 3% with Jameson continuing its strong growth with successful price increases.
