Pernod Ricard creates independent gin unit

Pernod Ricard has launched a stand-alone business to spear the growth of its three largest gin brands, called The Gin Hub.

Seagram’s, Beefeater and Plymouth will operate under The Gin Hub

The French group’s gin brands previously sat under the Chivas Brothers umbrella, which is also the brand company for its Scotch whiskies.

Chivas Brothers’s “core central functions” will provide the “backbone” of The Gin Hub, according to Pernod, but the new business will operate independently in order to “drive further growth” in the gin category.

The Gin Hub will act as an umbrella for Pernod’s largest gin brands: Beefeater, Plymouth and Seagram’s. German gin brand Monkey 47, acquired by Pernod in 2016, will not operate under The Gin Hub.

Sophie Gallois, previously global marketing director for Chivas Brothers, will lead The Gin Hub as its managing director, reporting the Chivas Brothers CEO Laurent Lacassagne.

“Aptly named The Gin Hub, we are creating a foundation from which our world class expertise, innovation and ideas can truly thrive,” commented Gallois. “It will be an axis around which revolves gin thinking, appreciation, imagination and of course, brands.

“Each of our gin brands has an entrepreneurial spirit at its very core – we’ll bring this to life in everything we do, and in how we work, with an agile approach that builds on our successes to date.”

In 2016/17, Pernod Ricard’s international brands bolstered its sales performance by 3.6% to  €9.01bn (US$10.7bn).

Sophie Gallois is managing director of The Gin Hub