Belvédére cuts to counter sales drop

Spirits producer Belvédére has revealed it cut its marketing budget by €6.5m and its workforce by around 500 people to help save money in the face of falling value sales.

The job losses helped to save €6m, but couldn’t fully counter the heavy restructuring costs blamed by the company for its -€13.9m operating profit in the year to December 31.

Net value sales dropped by €72.9m to €466.7m, a 16.4% loss, in the year that saw the company appoint a new CEO, Jean-Noël Reynaud, and a new chairman, Benoit Hérault.

The new executive team also recently announced its “Big 2018” strategic plan at the beginning of this year. The plan includes the selling-off of non-essential assets, beginning with its Galerie Alkoholi Polish liquor stores.

An overhaul in the company structure and the appointment of a new team and strategy will eventually pay dividends, according to CEO Jean-Noël Reynaud.

“2014 saw a total overhaul in the way our Group operates. The new management team, appointed following the change in our governance structure, has worked hard to put management best practices in place and define the Big 2018 strategic plan,” he said.

“We ended the year in a much healthier situation than we started it. The teams have sometimes had to work under difficult conditions, but have done so with unwavering devotion that I would like to acknowledge here.”

The first quarter of 2015 also saw a gradual return to growth, with a 4.4% boost in value sales.

This “confirms our belief in our ability to successfully carry out all the strategic work detailed in Big 2018 to enable us to accelerate this growth momentum,” Reynaud concluded.