Towards a new controversy for Pernod Ricard? The world number two in spirits, criticized in Sweden for not having ceased all trade in Russia, told AFP on Thursday that it would continue to export bottles to the country for the time being. “We strongly condemn this absolutely appalling invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” Alexandre Ricard told AFP on Thursday, on the sidelines of the presentation of its quarterly results.
The group, however, intends “to continue” to ship alcohol to Russia “before seeing more clearly”, he added. A notable exception: the Swedish flagship Absolut. Shipments of this vodka were stopped following a controversy in the country. The French group has been criticized for quietly resuming exports to Russia after initially suspending them due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Beyond compliance with sanctions”
The group continues to ship other brands to the country to maintain a certain level of activity on site and “protect local teams” from possible accusations of “intentional bankruptcy”.
For Pernod Ricard, this is not necessarily “business as usual” in Russia, specified its CEO to AFP: “We go beyond compliance with sanctions [internationales]. We don’t sell at the levels we could sell to if we wanted to, we’ve discontinued a number of brands [locales], we have practically stopped our marketing investments. “We weren’t obliged to do all that and we are doing it,” he said, judging also “anecdotal” the impact of the cessation of sales of Absolut in Russia on its results.