Campari Group sales in Asia Pacific surged 30% in the first nine months of 2021, driven by Aperol, Campari, Espolòn and the launch of Aperol Spritz RTDs.

Sales in Asia Pacific – 8% of total Group sales – grew organically by 30.4% (+36.5% vs. the first nine months of 2019).

CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz said: “Australia – on an organic basis – was up 5.7%, quite a solid performance against quite a tough comp base. We were up 21% last year. This was helped by a strong start to the year. Q3, on the other hand, was down by low single digits due to a combination of snap lockdowns, which impacted particularly in our two largest states, as well as the beginning of supply constraints linked to ocean shipments. The underlying trends in Aperol, Campari and Espolon remained very strong. And the launch of Aperol Spritz-ready-to-enjoy was also a success in this market.”

Other markets in the region showed a very positive result (+120.2%), as both China and South Korea were positively impacted from a strong shipment recovery post route-to-market changes with double-digit growth across all sales and profit indicators vs both 2020 and 2019 unaffected by COVID-19.

Overall, Campari Group noted that solid business momentum continued in the peak summer season, driven by the on-premise bounce back, combined with the home-made premium cocktails trend

Kunze-Concewitz said: “In the first nine months of 2021, our strong performance generated double-digit growth across key markets and brands as well as across all key sales and profit indicators. The positive trends
from earlier in the year have continued into the key summer season, thanks to a recovery in the on-premise driven by
‘revenge conviviality’ combined with sustained home consumption trends.

“Regarding the outlook for the rest of the year, we expect the positive brand momentum and favourable sales mix to continue in the last quarter, helping to partially offset the intensifying input cost pressure, particularly logistics costs, accelerated brand building investments, as well as structure costs phasing. Looking beyond the current year, whilst uncertainty remains in connection with the evolution of the pandemic and its induced effects such as logistic constraints and intensified input cost pressure, albeit mitigated by the improving outlook for agave, we remain confident of our solid business momentum.’.

The top performing brands

Aperol registered a strong performance (+29.9%) across core markets as the brand renewed its recruitment of consumers in the on-premise channel and continued to benefit from sustained home consumption. Core markets such as Italy, the US, France, the UK, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria grew by double-digits, while seeding markets grew even faster. The positive momentum continued into the third quarter with the brand up by +15.5% despite the tough comparison base, particularly in Italy.

Campari also delivered strong growth of +28.4% thanks to positive trends across all major markets benefitting from the at-home mixology consumption as well as on-premise momentum.

Wild Turkey showed strong growth (+20.9%), driven by the core US market, while SKYY grew overall (+11.0%) driven by the international markets, while the core US market delivered a positive result after full brand relaunch earlier in the year. Grand Marnier was up +43.3%, registering strong growth in the core US market thanks to the positive cocktail home consumption trends, particularly the success of the Grand Margarita.

“Wild Turkey RTDs in Australia were up only 4.9% this year,” Kunze-Concewitz said. “This is clearly against a very tough comp base last year, but up 33.4% versus two years ago. 

The growth in the Jamaican rum portfolio (+28.2%) was driven by the favourable category trends in premium rum, particularly in the core US, Canada, Jamaica and the UK; while Espolòn was up 41.1%.

Campari is bringing Truly Hard Seltzer to Australia

Campari will be counting on sales in its RTD portfolio continuing to surge, following the announcement it’s launching America’s second biggest selling hard seltzer – Truly – in Australia next year.

Representing almost a third of the US hard seltzer market, Truly Hard Seltzer will join other Campari brands in the Australian market including Aperol, Wild Turkey, Campari, Skyy, The Glen Grant, Espolòn, Bulldog and Baron Samedi.

Campari will manufacture the hard seltzer locally in Victoria and is looking to replicate the runaway success of Australia’s biggest selling hard seltzer, White Claw. Lion scored the Australian distribution rights to White Claw 12 months ago and the brand snared a 30.9% volume share of the hard seltzer market during the last quarter.

Simon Durrant, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand at Campari Group, said Truly Hard Seltzer brand will increase the exceptional growth the seltzer category has experienced in Australia when it launches in February.

“The industry is constantly evolving,” he said. “Seltzer RTDs really have exploded in this market and are now the sixth biggest player in the ready-to-drink category, with growth driven by consumers looking for flavour-forward drinking experiences and choice. The introduction of Truly Hard Seltzer in Australia, through our partnership with the Boston Beer Company, will enable us to seriously play in this category.”