USA: Beam Suntory expects better sales in second half of 2020
Beam Suntory, maker of Jim Beam bourbon and Courvoisier cognac, expects sales in the second half of this year to be better than in the first, when pandemic lockdowns curbed drinking around the world, its chief executive told Reuters.
Beam is hoping sales will be flat, if not slightly positive in the second half potentially, Albert Baladi said, while cautioning its early days and its a very, very volatile environment.
The company, a unit of Japans Suntory Holdings, posted a 3% sales decline in the first half. Baladi said July sales were up by a high single-digit rate, with gradual improvements in various parts of the world.
Baladis comments followed a company announcement that it had acquired On The Rocks, a U.S. brand of ready-made cocktails, and results from rivals Brown-Forman and Pernod Ricard on September 2.