Campari to streamline UK and Canada distribution

Gruppo Campari is to bring distribution of its brands, such as Wild Turkey and Aperol, in Canada and the UK under one roof as part of its strategy to strengthen routes to market in all key global markets.

Gruppo Campari, which owns Wild Turkey whiskey, will consolidate its distribution in Canada and the UK

Having purchased the Forty Creek Distillery business in Canada last year, Campari will transfer the distribution of its own brands in the market under the new business from 1 January 2015.

“The existing Forty Creek business combined with the additional focus on the group’s own brands enables us to reach the critical mass required to strengthen the group’s existing distribution capabilities in this attractive market,” the group said in a statement as part of its Q3 financial results presentation.

Meanwhile, the distribution of Campari, Aperol and Wild Turkey will fall under the remit of the group’s J. Wray and Nephew UK arm from 1 March 2015.

The announcement comes as Gruppo Campari revealed a pre-tax profit slide of -21.8% in the first nine months of 2014.

Sales for the period came in at €1.06 billion, up 0.8% on the same nine months in 2013.

Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO of Gruppo Campari, said the results showed “key indicators in line with expectations”.

“Looking at the year end, we believe that despite the persistent volatility in some of the group’s markets and the unfavorable macroeconomic scenario, the good momentum behind the key combinations of brands and markets will continue, driving the group’s outperformance of local trends in core markets. In particular, we expect that the good momentum of the aperitifs portfolio across all markets will continue, positively impacting the business in the last quarter,” he said.

“In particular, the positive effect of the good momentum of aperitifs business across all markets could be overall lessened by the relative outperformance of the lower margin markets (Latin America and Russia) and a persisting price competition in Australia and in Germany.

He added that the initiatives to consolidate the group’s distribution in the UK and Canada and the establishment of an in-market company in Spain, will “drive a temporary spike in organic growth of structure costs in the remainder of the year”.

Canada accounts for 2.5% of the group’s sales, which declined 5.2% in the first nine months of the year.