Gruppo Campari eyes future acquisitions

There is “always scope” for acquisitions for Gruppo Campari as the “financial capability” for future deals is in place, CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz has told The Spirits Business.

Following the recent acquisition of Bulldog Gin, Gruppo Campari has “the financial capability” for future activity

The Italian drinks firm, which bought Bulldog Gin for US$58.4 million in February, has acquisition “expertise”, said Kunze-Concewitz, who added that there is “always scope” for further activity.

“We’ve started the year with the Bulldog acquisition, so you can’t really time these things. You have to be very pragmatic and seize the opportunities as they arrive,” Kunze-Concewitz said. “But we’ve developed an expertise in that field, we have the financial capability – so let’s wait and see.”

Bulldog Gin reported high double-digit growth in Gruppo Campari’s Q1 results, with strong performances in Belgium, the US, Germany and UK.

The brand is set to “gain a lot of tread” in the on-trade as the firm rolls out an image campaign in the second half of the year, according to Kunze-Concewitz, who added that the global travel retail channel is a “very strategic” opportunity.

“Clearly within the new generation of new gins it’s performing quite well, but before it becomes one of the worlds best-performing gins there’s still quite a while to go,” he said. “I’m happy to settle with the strong double-digit growth rate for the years to come and I think that the brand has the opportunity to grow at that rate for many more years.”