Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is a French company that produces alcoholic beverages. The company's eponymous products, Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis, are both anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs and are often referred to simply as Pernod or Ricard. The company also produces several other types of pastis. It is the world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller.[2]

Pernod Ricard S.A.
Public Société Anonyme
Traded asEuronext: RI
CAC 40 Component
ISINFR0000120693 
IndustryAlcohol industry
PredecessorSeagram Company Ltd., Allied Domecq 
Founded1975 (1975)
FounderPaul Ricard
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Alexandre Ricard (Chairman & Chief Executive Officer)[1]
ProductsAlcoholic beverages
Revenue€8.987 billion (2018)
€1.577 billion (2018)
Number of employees
18,914 (2018)
Websitepernod-ricard.com

After the banning of absinthe, Pernod Ricard was created from the Pernod Fils company, which had produced absinthe. Pernod Ricard owned the distilled beverage division of the former corporation Seagram (including brands like Chivas Regal) until 2006, along with many other holdings. In 2005, the company acquired a British-based competitor, Allied Domecq PLC.

In 2008, Pernod Ricard announced its acquisition of Swedish-based V&S Group, which produces Absolut Vodka. In 2013, Pernod Ricard joined leading alcohol producers as part of a producers' commitments to reducing harmful drinking.[3] As of 2015, India is the company's third largest market by value.[4]

In December 2018, Elliott Management Corporation purchased a 2.5% stake in Pernod Ricard.[5]

History
Pernod in a glass with water and ice

Pernod
Main article: Pernod Fils
  • 1797 – Henri-Louis Pernod, a Swiss distiller, opens his first absinthe distillery in Switzerland.
  • 1805 – Maison Pernod Fils (simply known as Pernod Fils) is founded in Pontarlier, Franche-Comté, eastern France, by Henri-Louis Pernod and begins production of the anise-flavored liquor known as absinthe.
  • 1850 – Henri-Louis Pernod dies.
  • 1871 – Distillerie Hémard is founded near Paris.
  • 1872 – Société Pernod Père & Fils opens in Avignon.
  • 1915 – Production and consumption of absinthe is prohibited in France.
  • 1926 – All 3 distilleries merge to form Les Établissements Pernod.
  • 1951 – Pastis 51 is launched.
  • 1965 – Takeover of Distillerie Rousseau, Laurens et Moureaux, producer of Suze liquor since 1889.

Ricard
Main article: Ricard (drink)
  • 1932 – Ricard, which soon becomes France's favourite long drink, is founded in Marseille by Paul Ricard.
  • 1940 – Production of pastis is prohibited by the Vichy regime.
  • 1944 – Production of pastis becomes legal again.
  • 1968 – Paul Ricard retires; his son Patrick becomes CEO in 1978.

Pernod Ricard
Head office of Pernod Ricard, 12 place des États-Unis, Paris, 16th arr.

Subsidiaries
  • Chivas Brothers Ltd - whisky and gin branch of Pernod Ricard. Owner of 13 Scotch malt distilleries, 1 grain distillery and 2 gin distilleries.
  • Pernod Ricard Winemakers – owner of Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo, Ysios, Tarsus, Aura, Azpilicueta, and Siglo
  • Corby Distilleries - Canadian subsidiary; owner of Wiser's whisky, Lamb's rum; Hiram Walker & Sons Limited is majority shareholder of Corby and itself unit of Pernod Ricard
  • Pernod Ricard Rouss - subsidiary in the Russian Federation
  • Irish Distillers - Irish subsidiary
  • Pernod Ricard Armenia - Armenian subsidiary and owner of Yerevan Brandy Company
  • Pernaud Ricard Hellas – subsidiary in Greece[7]
  • Pernod Ricard India - Indian subsidiary

Brands

Pernod Ricard owns a wide variety of beverage brands worldwide. These include:

Whisky
Vodkas
Other

As of 26 July 2005, the brand portfolio expanded to include former Allied Domecq products:

  • Ballantine's blended Scotch whisky
  • Kahlúa coffee liqueur
  • Malibu coconut-flavored rum
  • Beefeater gin
  • Tia Maria liqueur
  • Stolichnaya vodka (which is now under William Grant & Sons)
  • Mumm champagne
  • Perrier-Jouët champagne
  • Campo Viejo wine
  • Ysios wine
  • Aura wine
  • Azpilicueta wine
  • Tarsus wine
  • Siglo wine

Pernod Ricard previously owned the non-alcoholic chocolate beverage Yoo-hoo, which was acquired from a group of private investors in 1989. Pernod Ricard also previously owned the carbonated citrus drink Orangina. Both brands were sold in 2001 to Cadbury Schweppes.[8]

Controversies

Havana Club trademark conflict

The Havana Club brand was lost to its founders, the Arechabala family, due to the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and an ongoing legal battle opposes the claimed trademark owners in the US to the joint venture between Pernod Ricard and the Cuban State-owned company Corporación Cuba Ron. The Havana Club trademark remains unchallenged elsewhere in the world, having been validated by court decisions in a number of countries other than the US.[9][10][11]

Support of bullfighting in France

According to the NGO Alliance anticorrida, Pernod Ricard is the major funder of bullfighting in France,[12][13] financing bullfighting clubs and sponsoring corridas despite the opposition of a majority of French citizens to blood sports. There are few corridas in France where the bulls are killed in the Spanish type. Most native bull fights do not harm the animals: rosettes attached between the horns are plucked with a claw instrument, and the animals are returned to the pasture.

See also
  • Companies portal

References
  1. "Registration Document (with AMF) 2011/2012" (PDF). Pernod Ricard. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  2. "The bosses of two famous French firms struggle to keep customers". The Economist. 5 October 2017.
  3. "Home | Producers' Commitments". Producers' Commitments. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  4. "India third-largest market for spirit giant Pernod Ricard, sales cross Rs 10,000 crores". Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  5. "Activist investor takes stake in Pernod Ricard".
  6. "Pernod wins auction for Vin & Sprit". The Local. 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  7. "Pernod Ricard Hellas - The world's co-leader in wines and spirits". www.pernod-ricard-hellas.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  8. Hays, Constance L. (2000-01-26). "Orangina's owner still wants to sell brand, if the price is right". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  9. "Bacardi Havana Club trademark - bad US politics makes for bad US business". Havana Journal. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  10. Decker, Susan (2011-03-29). "Pernod Ricard Loses Appeals Court Ruling in Bacardi 'Havana Club Fight". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  11. "STATEMENT FROM BACARDI U.S.A., INC. ON THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS RULING REGARDING HAVANA CLUB RUM REGISTRATION". Bacardí Limited. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  12. "Alliance anti-corrida (Anti-Bullfighting Alliance)". Alliance anti-corrida. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
  13. "Pernod Ricard, le plus gros sponsor [Pernod Ricard, bullfighting's major sponsor]". Alliance anti-corrida. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
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