Remy Cointreau and Pernod Ricard at a fast pace after changes at the top

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Cognac was effervescent on the Paris Stock Exchange as announcements of changes at the top of the industry's leading producers followed. Pernod Ricard's share rose more than a point after announcing that the group's vice-president of cognac operations, Philippe Neusch, will leave his post. The share price of the other French big name, Remy Cointreau, rose at the same pace after announcing the appointment of Franck Marilly as the group's new CEO to replace Eric Vallat. Both stocks are down about 15% and 18% respectively since 1 January.

As traders note, the top replacements come against the backdrop of falling sales in the sector and international trade tensions, which threaten to worsen the downturn in demand. At Pernod Ricard, Neusch, who led the Martell cognac brand for less than two years, will be replaced by François-Xavier Morizot, head of the champagne business, whose role will therefore be expanded. In Remy Cointreau Marilly will take up the position on 25 June, after 'a rich professional career spanning more than 30 years spent within renowned luxury and cosmetics groups such as Chanel, Unilever and the Japanese Shiseido group,' reads the note released by the company.

The new CEO 'will also bring his solid experience in international management and his perfect knowledge of key markets, having lived in several European countries and the United States,' Remy Cointreau points out. With the new appointments, all three of the world's leading cognac brands changed top managers. On 1 May Charles Delapalme, a former Dior executive, took over as the new CEO for the Lvmh group's cognac brand Hennessy, after Bernard Arnault's son Alexandre Arnault arrived at Moët-Hennessy to take over the struggling wine and spirits division.

The company announced at the end of April its intention to reduce its workforce by almost 13%. The cognac sector, which has China and the United States among its main markets, is also under the crossfire of falling global consumption and tariffs. In China, where sales have fallen against the backdrop of the country's weakening economy, there is a risk that new tariffs will be triggered at the end of the anti-trust investigation against European brandies, launched by Beijing in January 2024 and extended by three months at the beginning of last April. The US market, already slowing down, is itself at high risk for the introduction of tariffs that could be triggered in July if no agreement is reached between the Trump administration and the EU.