Beam Suntory delivered strong first-half results with mid-single-digit sales growth, Albert Balducci, president and ceo, said. Growth was broad-based and global, including mid-single-digit growth in the US and Japan, the company’s largest markets, plus high-single-digit growth in EMEA and Asia Pacific, and double-digit gains in key emerging markets like China and India where the company has big growth ambitions.
Beam Suntory’s Global Icon brands – Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Courvoisier and Kakubin – each delivered high-single-digit gains. Balducci said the U.S. unit of Suntory is determined to drive a higher proportion of sales from premium products. “Our strategy helped deliver double-digit growth for our super-premium bourbons, Hornitos, Sipsmith and the House of Suntory brands Toki, Roku and Haku,” he added.
“We delivered these results against strong headwinds that will continue to challenge us in the balance of the year. Specifically, the ongoing trade war has impacted our bourbon sales in the EU and China, and the rapidly escalating costs of agave have created share pressure as we’ve taken price on core tequila products,” Balducci said.