Italy: Campari nine-month profit down by a fifth

Italy: Campari nine-month profit down by a fifth

The Italian beverage company Campari has closes its third financial period ending 30th September 2014, reporting a decline in group profit before tax of 21.8% but marginal growth in revenues.

For the first nine months of the year, Campari reported that group net sales reached € 1,060.5 million ($1,321.7 million), up 0.8%, with organic growth of 3.1% (1.7% in the third quarter). The company attributed this top line growth to  the “positive development” of its top six international franchises, driven by Campari, Aperol and SKYY .

In the same period group pre-tax profits fell by over a fifth to €116.9 million ($145.6 million), a result Campari attributed to one-off costs, including  provisions for restructuring initiatives in connection with the recently acquired Gruppo Averna, still wine business and Jamaican non-core businesses, and goodwill write-down resulting from the restructuring of its still wine business.

Commenting on the results, CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz  said: "The main performance indicators in the first nine months of 2014 were in line with expectations. In the third quarter, despite the adverse conditions in Europe and the very unfavorable comparison base in Italy, the organic sales growth was positive and led, in particular, from the expected recovery in the United States”.

Source: Campari