Remy Cointreau : Pernod Ricard ups outlook on more resilient supermarket sales

French spirits maker Pernod Ricard said on Thursday the coronavirus pandemic would not hit its full year profit as strongly as initially feared, citing more resilient sales in U.S and Western European supermarkets and strong cost control.

Pernod Ricard, which owns Mumm champagne, Absolut vodka and Martell cognac, said it was now expecting full fiscal year 2020 profit from recurring operations to fall 15% organically, instead of the 20% forecast in March.

The rosier outlook echoed that of smaller French peer Remy Cointreau, which said earlier this week first-half earnings would fall less than feared as a rise in cocktail drinking at home helped offset a collapse in demand from travel retail and events in the coronavirus pandemic.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Alex Richardson)