Sales woe for Marie Brizard at home and abroad

Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has reported another decline in quarterly sales.

The France-based group booked first-quarter revenue of €38.7m ($45.6m), down 9.6% on a like-for-like basis and 8.4% on a reported basis.

Revenue in France declined 3.6% to €17m, while international sales dropped 13.8% on a like-for-like basis and 11.9% on a reported basis to €21.7m.

Sales in the French off-trade channel fell 11.6% in the quarter, which Marie Brizard mainly pinned on William Peel, the Scotch whisky brand hit by retailer de-listings last year after “challenging trade negotiations”.

Marie Brizard said in-store sales of Scotch whisky brand William Peel “picked up again slowly” during the period.

The on-trade channel “continues to perform well”, with sales up 5.5%, driven mainly by the Marie Brizard brand.

A new B2B contract also gave its domestic business a one-off boost in the quarter, the company said.

Internationally, the decline was spread across most regions, with some markets also affected by the timing of orders. Marie Brizard pointed to weaker sales in western and eastern Europe, especially Lithuania, Bulgaria and Spain.

The company’s industrial services division – which covers bottling sub-contracts for third-party brand owners and private-label clients – and the on-trade channel remained bright spots.

In Spain, the company’s industrial services division – which covers bottling sub-contracts for third-party brand owners and private-label clients – saw its revenue fall amid production stoppages as the group replaced replacement. The company expects activity to “return to normal levels in the second quarter”.

The group also cited a 29.2% drop in revenue from its export unit, reflecting slower business in Belgium, Poland and border markets near Luxembourg and France after what it described as a “particularly busy” fourth quarter of last year.

Canada was also weaker in what the company said was a “shrinking market overall”.

The US was one of the few brighter spots. First-quarter revenue there rose 59.1%, supported by Sobieski vodka as well as Marie Brizard and Gautier Cognac.

However, the company said the increase was largely cyclical, tied to forward orders from its distributor and a low comparison base.

In 2025, Marie Brizard generated net sales of €172m, down 8.6%, with EBITDA falling to €13.6m from €15.2m and net profit edging down to €9.1m from €9.6m.

Revenue in France dropped 17.6% to €69.1m, while international sales slipped 1.4% to €102.9m.

"Sales woe for Marie Brizard at home and abroad" was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand.

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