Loss of Lipton fails to hold Campari back in H1

Campari's wine division performed particularly well, bringing in a 19.7% lift in sales, hitting EUR56.9m. Group net profit rose by 2.5%.

The Italian drinks company said today that operating profit
for the six months to the end of June rose by 7.9% on the corresponding period
a year earlier, hitting EUR92.7m (US$127.8m). Net sales for the period were up
by 5.4% to EUR440.6m.
While the spirits unit saw sales increase by 8.7% to EUR318.7m,
soft drink sales took a pounding, sliding by 20.2% to EUR57.4m. The company
highlighted the loss of distribution rights for Lipton Ice Tea in Italy late
last year as a contributing factor to this fall.