Distiller Pernod Ricard SA, whose brands include Absolut vodka and Martell cognac, is raising prices on its spirits and wines in the UK to offset the depreciation of the pound after Britons voted to leave the European Union.
Prices were increased in March by an unspecified amount as inflation is expected to accelerate, according to slides prepared for an investor presentation by Christian Porta, who manages Pernod Ricard’s business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
The increases, disclosed Wednesday as Prime Minister Theresa May moved to trigger formal Brexit negotiations, underline inflationary pressure in the UK economy from the weaker currency.
Prices in the UK rose 2.3% in February, the Bank of England said last week, increasing at a more rapid clip than the bank’s target for the first time in three years. Any tariffs that result from Brexit could lift prices further on goods imported from the EU.
Paul Polman, chief executive officer of Unilever, which became embroiled in a public dispute with UK retailer Tesco Plc after seeking to increase prices on its Dove soap and Marmite spread, said in January that Britons should get used to higher prices. Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc and other retailers have warned of price increases but say they can’t pass along the full effect of higher costs because of tough competition.
Others, including Mondelez International Inc., have shrunk sizes of products like Toblerone chocolate bars in order to hold costs steady.
Pernod Ricard Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Ricard said at a media event in London in February that profit margins in the UK, where imported brands such as Perrier-Jouet champagne generate 90% of the distiller’s sales, are not sustainable in the long term without price increases. The company wants the UK government to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the EU as early as possible, Ricard has said.
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
