Rémy Cointreau (EU:RCO) reported better-than-expected third-quarter sales, exceeding market forecasts on organic growth and prompting an early rally of around 8% in its share price in Paris trading, while management left full-year guidance unchanged.
Organic sales in the third quarter increased by 2.8%, comfortably ahead of consensus expectations of 1.6%. Reported revenue reached €245.8m, surpassing the €242.7m anticipated by the market. Performance was driven primarily by the cognac division, where organic sales rose 3.2%, well above consensus forecasts of 1.3%.
Liqueurs and spirits delivered organic growth of 2.8%, broadly in line with market expectations of around 3%. Partner Brands remained the weakest area of the portfolio, with organic sales declining 9.3%, although this was marginally better than consensus estimates, which had pointed to a 10% drop.
The group reiterated its fiscal 2026 (F26) outlook, continuing to guide for organic sales to be stable to down at a low single-digit rate and for EBIT to decline by low double digits to the mid-teens percentage range. This guidance was unchanged from the first-half update, despite consensus expectations for organic sales growth of roughly 0.4% and an EBIT decline of 12.8%.
Commenting on the update, Jefferies analyst Edward Mundy highlighted early signs of stabilization in China during the quarter. He noted that mainland China sales were down at a low double-digit rate in Q3, but that, once adjusted for timing effects, performance was “almost stable,” supported by a normalization in duty-free activity.
“Unchanged guidance was expected but should be enough, in particular given technical benefit to 4Q from shift in CNY,” he said in a note.
“Whilst recent weakening of US$ vs EUR could lead to some pressure on F27 given U.S. is 1/3rd of sales, reiteration of F26 guidance and a sense that China, whilst tough, is finding a bottom should be positive for sentiment,” he added.
Looking further ahead, the analyst said transformation planning is underway and is expected to be rolled out from April, marking the start of the next financial year.
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