Pernod Ricard calls Japan its bright spot as profit falls 26% and China slumps 19%

Pernod Ricard's year to June 2026 was rough almost everywhere the French drinks group operates — organic sales down 3.9%, net profit down 26% to €1,203m — except Japan, which the company singled out in its full-year results, released 27 August, as "in strong growth, gaining share."

According to the release, earnings per share fell 19% to €5.85. Pernod Ricard pinned most of the year's weakness on China, where organic sales fell 19%, pointing to soft consumer sentiment and pressure on its cognac business, Martell chief among the brands named, though it said trade sentiment was turning cautiously more upbeat ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Japan moved in the opposite direction entirely. Pernod Ricard described the market as "in strong growth, gaining share," attributing the gain specifically to strong growth of Perrier-Jouët, its champagne house — the only brand the release names in describing Japan's performance.

The split is a reminder that a spirits group's fortunes don't move in lockstep with a single macro headline. Champagne has stayed a comparatively resilient category in Japan through a period when overall drinking-out spend has been patchy, used for hotel bars, wedding banquets and gifting — a bet on one prestige label rather than the whole category, and on this release, it is paying off in exactly the market where the group's China business is struggling to get the same customer to spend at all. What isn't yet clear is whether the Japan run is durable or a favourable comparison against a soft prior year: Pernod Ricard's release gives no Japan sales figure, so for now investors have only the company's own characterisation to go on.