Pernod Ricard buys full control of St Petroni vermouth owner

Pernod Ricard has acquired the remaining shares in St Petroni vermouth owner Vermutería de Galicia.

The French giant first invested in Vermutería de Galicia in 2020, buying a majority stake in the Spanish business for an undisclosed sum. Similarly, the terms of the latest transaction were not revealed.

St Petroni was created in 2014 in the north-western Spanish town of Padrón.

In the year to 30 June, Pernod Ricard’s sales fell 3% in Spain, which the Beefeater gin owner described in its annual report as “a softer result cycling last year’s very strong summer season”.

When the group reported its results for the first half of its current financial year in February, it said its business in Spain was “in slight decline” but was “growing share” in the country’s off-trade.

Alongside the half-year results, Pernod Ricard cut its sales forecast for the full 12 months. The company pointed to an “ongoing challenging macroeconomic environment” and “intense geopolitical uncertainties” that it said were hitting the spirits sector.

The Jameson and Martell owner, which had forecast its full-year organic net sales would return to growth, said at the time it saw its organic net sales declining at a “low-single-digit” rate during its 2024/25 financial year, which runs to the end of June.

The same month, it emerged Pernod Ricard was weighing up the idea of offloading Champagne brand Mumm.

A source familiar with the matter said at the time the deliberations centred only on the Mumm brand and did not include Perrier-Jouët, another Champagne label in the Pernod Ricard portfolio.

February also saw Pernod Ricard buy the remaining shares in South African gin distiller Inverroche it did not own for an undisclosed sum. The group initially acquired a majority stake in Inverroche in 2019.

Last month, Pernod Ricard launched the non-alcoholic aperitif Ramazzotti Aperitivo Arancia 0.0%.

The product is being sold in retail and restaurants in Germany and Austria this month.