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Pernod Ricard UK MD departs as company hits another year of good growth

Published:  06 September, 2016

Pernod Ricard's UK managing director Denis O'Flynn, who has been with company for 16 years leaves at the end of the month following another good year of growth.

Pernod Ricard's UK managing director Denis O'Flynn, who has been with the company for 16 years leaves at the end of the month following another good year of growth.

FY16's results remain positive. Pernod Ricard saw sales climb 2% for fiscal year 2016 compared to FY15, saw organic growth rise 2% and reported net profit soared 43%. Free cash flow hit €1.061m, which is a jump of 31%.

Pernod Ricard ledership attributed much of the growth for the fiscal year 2016 to the success of organisational changes, a refocus on the US market and progress made on the operational experience roadmap, which includes up to a 30% reduction in the number of SKUs.  

The organisational changes included building a more comprehensive and dedicated team in North America and the US specifically.  The US was up 4% and it is by far the biggest market they are focusing on. 

The company also is now embarking on a more active management of their portfolio, which is helping to free up cash that can be used to reinvest in building equity in their current brands or potentially acquiring new brands that fit well with the company's much larger product portfolio. It does mean though the company is looking at reducing SKUs of non-core assets and brands by up to 30% by 2020, much in the way that it had disposed of the Paddy whiskey brand.  But using that capital to then enter into partnerships with brands like premium gin Monkey 47 brand.

Premium spirits for PRUK saw volume rise 9% and value was up 16%. Light wines also thrived under O'Flynn and his team with PRUK volume up 7% and PRUK value was up 6% for FY16.

For O'Flynn the business is in a better place following the new organisational changes and the refocus on the end customer that he helped develop and drive.

"I think that the portfolio and the brands at Pernod Ricard have been really excellent. I think on the whole Pernod Ricard's decentralised model has worked really well.  If I were to reference two things in the context of my time here it was to get clarity around the strategy which is 'shaping the nations drinking experiences' and the whole idea around drinking experiences. That is now the market place that we want to play in.   The other area that I think works is to ask for forgiveness and not permission. I think sometimes we can take life a little too seriously and we have to remember we are in the leisure business,"  said O'Flynn.

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