Belvédère to ‘accelerate’ growth despite job cuts

Despite cutting 500 people from its workforce, Belvédère is keen to “accelerate the growth momentum” after recording 4.4% sales growth in its first quarter of 2014/15.

The group recorded a 4.4% growth in sales for the first quarter of 2015

Jean-Noël Reynaud, CEO of the French drinks group, said: “The first quarter of 2015 saw a gradual return to growth for our activities, which confirms our belief in our ability to successfully carry out all the strategic work detailed in BiG 2018 to enable us to accelerate this growth momentum.”

The growth comes after the producer revealed it had cut its marketing budget by €6.5m, reducing staff levels by around 500 people in a bid to save money after it was hit by a drop in sales last year.

During the first quarter of the year, Belvédère recorded net sales of €95.6 million in key market France, recording a “healthy growth” in market share to 22.5% for William Peel Scotch, pushing the category into a “positive dynamic”.

The company continued to close in on second position in the vodka market with Sobieski vodka, which has 11.5% market share in France.

In Poland, the brand saw “buoyant sales growth” with net sales totalling €38.1 million – a growth of 13.9% compared with 2014.

The first quarter of the year in Lithuania yielded net sales of €5.2 million, with growth of 5.1% compared with 2014 – which company said “reaffirms the fine business performance in this country.”

However, in the US net sales for the quarter to 31 March 2015 dropped 6.8% to €3.3 million, which Belvédère blamed on “a particularly strong first quarter of 2014, in anticipation of the increase in Sobieski’s selling price from 1 April 2014″.

For the group’s other key markets, Spain and Brazil, sales were down 5.5% and 11.6% respectively, while in Bulgaria the group “regained operational control” as sales totalled €1.3 million.

The executive Belvédère team recently announced its “Big 2018″ strategic plan at the beginning of the year.

The strategy, which the company is starting to execute, includes the selling-off of non-essential assets – beginning with its Galerie Alkoholi stores.