That worldwide slip was dwarfed by a 24.9% plunge in 1st quarter net sales in the company’s Americas cluster.
The net sales decrease is mostly attributable to the launch of a new bottle for Sobieski scheduled for the end of Q2 2018. In anticipation of this change, the distributors are depleting their stocks and waiting for the launch of the new Sobieski bottle before they place new orders. Nevertheless, Sobieski depletions have continued to improve in a vodka market that remains highly competitive.