Operational results for the 1H2019

BELUGA GROUP announces its operational results for the 1H2019

• The company’s overall sales are at the level of the previous year — 6,2 mln 9L cases.
• The sales of the company’s own brands amounted to 5,6 mln 9L cases.
• The sales of imported brands grew +19,4% up to 628 thousand 9L cases.
• The export sales are in line with the same period last year — 220 thousand 9L cases.

Chief Executive Officer of BELUGA GROUP Alexander Mechetin commented on the results for the 1H2019: "The company continued to diversify its business. The most important project of the period is the release of classic and reserve ranges of the premium Russian wine Golubitskoe Estate; the winemakers team keeps working on the sparkling wine Tete de Cheval, its launch is scheduled for late 2019. The portfolio of own brands of whiskey, comprised of Fox & Dogs Scotch whisky and Troublemaker Irish whiskey (the release of the 2018), was strengthened with Eagle’s Rock bourbon. The brandy range which is covering all segments accelerated and took the group to the leading positions in this category in Russia. The company performs well in vodka market, among the drivers there are brands of the super-premium and premium segments: Beluga, Arkhangelskaya, Snow Owl and Copper Horse; also the new product of this year ‘Myagkov with organic spirit’ holds promise.

Spirits import is boosting, led in particular by the William Grant & Sons range +6,1%, rum Barcelo +56%, cognac Camus +77%. Wine import grew +20%.

One of the main achievements of the period in the export market is the improvement in Kazakhstan, where the company’s brands demonstrated two-digit growth. The Beluga brand solidified its positions in Duty Free channel, especially in the USA, where doubled its sales compared to the same period last year. Our flagship brand was successfully relaunched in Vietnam; and well managed in Asia. The strong activation campaign took place in Africa: Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Congo. The growth of Beluga is skyrocketing in Israel, good results are in Poland, Germany and Italy. Italy also shows interest in the Belenkaya brand, which performs well in this market. The premium brands Copper Horse and Green Baboon were introduced to export markets.

The expansion of the company’s own retail chain WineLab continues: the number of outlets for the first half of the year increased on 78 and totaled to 545. By the end of the year the amount will approach 600 outlets.

The first half of the year saw the company showing solid performance; we will continue to develop premium segments and diversify our business to offer high-quality products to the admirers of spirits and wines".