Campari Group has revealed its fastest growing brands in Australia following the release of its HY21 results. It confirmed “strong business momentum”, driven by the consumption bounce back in the on-premise channel, plus sustained home consumption continuing to boost off-premise channel.

Reported net sales were €1,000.8 million, +37.1% organic growth versus the first half of 2020 (+30.2% on a reported
basis), and +22.3% organic growth versus the first half of 2019. Group net profit adjusted of €156.8 million, up +101.9% excluding the net positive adjustments of €2.8 million.

“We have strong momentum across all of our key markets and brands, and this is thanks to a combination of a sustained home consumption as well as the benefits of the gradual reopening of the on-premise across markets,” said Bob Kunze-Concewitz, Chief Executive Officer.

“If you look at our core markets, the US is up 29%; Italy, 55.8%; Germany, 11.9%; and Australia 11.5%. All of our priority brand clusters are up double digits. Global Priorities are up 35.7%, driven by very strong Aperol, Campari and Grand Marnier. Regional priorities are up 44.3% mostly driven by Espolòn. and local priorities are up 39%, driven by our RTDs. Our overall organic growth was 22.3% versus the first half of 2019.”

Australian off-premise sell-out value growth in HY21 versus HY20 in Australia was up 9.5%, with Aperol, Espolòn and Campari all growing double-digits in the second quarter. However, Wild Turkey was slightly down due to tough comparison base (+36.6% in H1 2020).

RTDs have always been big for Campari in Australia and HY21 was no different.

“Our RTDs in Australia continued to perform very nicely, up 14% versus a year ago, 40% versus 2 years ago,” said Kunze-Concewitz.

Fastest growing brands globally

Key brands such as Aperol, Campari, Wild Turkey, Grand Marnier, Jamaican rums as well as Espolòn all grew by double digits globally.

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There was strong acceleration in high-margin aperitifs in Q2, driven by on-premise reopening and favourable comparable base. Aperol was up 42.1% and Campari was up 39.5% (+25.7% and +24.6% respectively vs. H1 2019).

“Aperol has become the symbol of the reopening, be it in the UK, in Italy or even France, where we saw the French President celebrating the reopening of the terraces with a wonderful Aperol Spritz in his hand,” Kunze-Concewitz said. “But more important than that is the fact that we’re back to recruiting new consumers quite aggressively with a lot of activation and a lot of events throughout the world. So the world continues to be turned orange.”

There was also strong double-digit growth across the rest of portfolio, including Grand Marnier (+52.4%, Espolòn (+56.4%), the sparkling wines (+73.3%), the Cinzano portfolio (+32.4%), The GlenGrant (+43.6%) and Bulldog (+50.9%)

Positive growth was also seen in the RTD portfolio including Campari Soda (+78.6%) and Aperol Spritz ready-to-enjoy (+95.4%).

Kunze-Concewitz noted: “In the first half 2021 we achieved double-digit growth across key markets and brand clusters as well as across all performance indicators. These positive trends accelerated in the peak second quarter, thanks to sustained home consumption trends combined with the gradual on-premise reopening as well as the amplification by an easy comparison base. Whilst uncertainty linked to the spread of COVID variants and the possible reintroduction of new restrictive measures persists, we remain confident about the continued strong brand momentum, fuelled by sustained marketing investments, accelerating in aperitifs peak season.

“This July we are proudly celebrating our 20th anniversary as a listed company on the stock exchange. Looking back at the last 20 years of success, the strength of Campari Group’s business and its financial performance have been reflected in the company’s value, which since IPO has increased by 15 times to €13 billion today. With an annualized Total Shareholder Return of 16%, we outperformed our key spirits peers and market index. For this we would like to thank our shareholders and all Camparistas for their continued support to our Group.”

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