Good morning, and thank you for joining our FY 2026 Q3 net sales call. I'm Joelle Ferran, VP of Investors Relations, and I'm pleased to welcome Hélène de Tissot, our Global EVP Finance and Tech.

Hélène will begin with a brief overview of our Q3 performance, after which we'll open the call for questions. Please note, unless otherwise stated, all sales growth figures discussed today refer to organic net sales.

With that, I'll hand it over to you, Hélène.

Thank you, Joelle, and good morning, everyone. Before I begin discussion on our Q3 sales results, I will say a word regarding our press release of 27 of March, in which we confirmed discussions are taking place regarding a potential business combination with Brown-Forman.

As stated, we did not intend to communicate further until either an agreement is reached or discussions are terminated. Discussions are ongoing, at this stage, I have no further comments to make.

Returning to the topic for our call, our sales performance in Q3. Today, we report, as expected, a sequential improvement in organic net sales in Q3 compared to H1, with +0.1%.

Reported sales are down -14.6%, with negative FX at -7.0% and perimeter impact of -7.7%. The FX is mainly due to US dollar, Indian rupee, and Turkish lira, and the perimeter effect is due to the disposals of our wines, the Imperial Blue business, and Finnish brands.

Volumes in Q3 are back to growth, with +4%, within which, and important to note, we have strategic international brand volumes growing in Q3 at +3%. When excluding the US and China markets, which contracted -12% and -7% respectively, sales in the rest of the world are growing strongly at +5%.

Sales have improved in markets across all regions in Q3, with strong momentum in emerging markets and continued growth in several mature markets. Markets that have turned to growth in Q3 include Travel Retail at +11%, UK, mid-single-digit growth, Spain, double-digit growth, Korea, double-digit growth, and Brazil, low-single-digit growth.

Markets in which organic growth momentum is maintained or is accelerating include India, +11%, Japan, high-single-digit growth, and Turkey, double-digit growth. We are exploiting evolving consumer trends to capture growth.

This includes actions that address consumer trends and needs, including, for example, addressing affordability with revenue growth management, smaller formats, and standard and premium brands, experiences with music festival activations, convenience, including through RTD and through targeted store activations, and broadening the consumptions occasion with the launch of no and low alcohol products. Moving now to our year-to-date performance.

Year-to-date organic sales are down -4.4%, with the US -14% and China -24%. Reported sales are down -14.8%, with FX negative -5.9% and perimeter -4.5%.

Excluding the US and China, sales in the rest of the world are in growth, +1%. Volumes year-to-date down -1.6% in total, of which strategic international brands volumes are down -1.4%.

When excluding the US and China markets, strategic international brands volumes are up +1.4%. We are actively managing what is within our control, adapting our resources with agility, deploying our efficiency program, steering the organization to fuel our future growth, and optimize our cash generation.

The global environment remains volatile and uncertain, notably with the conflict in the Middle East. In these circumstances, along with our diversified premium brand portfolio, we benefit from our balanced and broad-based geographic footprint.

Our direct exposure to the Middle East is circa 2% of group sales. We expect full year sales to be impacted, though the scale will naturally be dependent on the duration of the conflict.

I will return to this in our updated outlook. We are monitoring this situation closely.

Turning now to take a closer look at sales in our markets and regions, beginning with our number one must-win market, the US. We have organic sales down -12% in Q3 and -14% year-to-date.

Market conditions in the US remain soft, with the spirits market, excluding RTD, down circa -5% compared to circa -3% one year ago. After a soft Q2 holiday season, Q3 bottle spirits market performance improved to -4%, slightly ahead of the year-to-date trend.

The on-trade channel is performing better than the off-trade, demonstrating that channel's relevance for consumers who are prioritizing experiences and social connections. Gains made over the past year in our sell-out gap to market were sustained in Q3, with that gap holding at circa two points.

Consumer sentiment in the US remains low, and affordability remains a key issue for some consumers. We see shoppers reduce spend on discretionary items.

We are adapting to these changing conditions, for example with small pack sizes and targeted promotional investment on key brands so our products remain relevant and affordable for consumers. We have as well launched significant innovation in FY 2026, recruiting new consumers and maintaining desirability and bringing incremental value to our customers.

Notable recent examples include Absolut Tabasco, targeting key evolving consumer occasions such as brunch, and expanding the Absolut drink strategy to were served such as the Bloody Mary or Spicy Lemonade, which particularly lean into daytime consumption occasions. Within the Jameson family, we launched Jameson Triple Triple, expanding our Jameson offer for whiskey enthusiasts and leveraging a more affordable [upsell?]

opportunity. As well Malibu Pink for fun, flavored recruitment of new consumers.

We believe that our broad portfolio is well positioned within the US market, and we continue to activate our brands to meet consumer needs across price points. We are maximizing the consumer impact and value creation of price promotions.

Our teams leverage our revenue growth management expertise and AI tools to plan and execute those promotions at the optimum depth and frequency. While the US market remains soft, we are convinced that the current challenges are primarily cyclical, linked to affordability issues.

However, we are not complacent, and we monitor with vigilance the changing consumer trends, adapting and flexing our brand strategies in response. We remain confident in the recovery of the spirits market.

Moving to India, our number two market by net sales, with double-digit organic sales growth in Q3, +11%, year-to-date +6%. When excluding Imperial Blue, year-to-date sales are growing by 9%.

I remind you that the Imperial Blue disposal closed end of November, sales are excluded from organic performance since December. The Indian market continued to enjoy dynamic consumer fundamentals, and sales benefit from strong underlying demand and continuing premiumization.

Growth in Q3 is broad-based across the portfolio, with imported spirits in strong double-digit growth, including Jameson, Absolut, and Scotch brands: The Glenlivet, Chivas, and Royal Salute, and with strong growth from local brands, especially Blender's Pride, and with the launch of the new Exclamation range of spirits. Moving to China, organic sales in Q3 contracted -7%, year-to-date is at -24%.

Q3 sales benefited from the later timing of Chinese New Year. However, underlying sell-out was soft, in line with the cautious sentiment of the trade ahead of the festive period.

The market is not yet stabilized. The macro context remains challenging, with weak consumer confidence and tightened regulatory environments.

Year-to-date sales of Martell and blended Scotch whiskies are declining, while premium brands enjoy positive sales momentum. Let's move now to Global Travel Retail.

Global Travel Retail Q3 organic sales are in growth, +11%, and +2% year-to-date. Global travelers numbers remain strong and continue to present positive dynamics, with all regions showing travelers numbers ahead of pre-COVID.

Within this positive environment, and as expected, sales in Global Travel Retail are rebounding, with a resumption of cognac sales in China duty free. Sales in Asia also benefited from an active, festive marketing program celebrating Chinese New Year, including Travel Retail limited editions, leading to strong double-digit sell-out growth for Martell over the period.

I am encouraged to see Chinese travelers demonstrating enduring strong attraction and consideration towards Martell and our ability to engage with them through impactful activations. Remaining in Asia with duty free, I also want to highlight that Korea duty free is now back to growth this quarter.

Elsewhere, Europe and the Americas continue to present positive momentum in sell-out, notably cruises in the Americas. As you can imagine, the Middle East faces travel disruptions as a result of conflict there, and full year sales in Global Travel Retail are now expected to be in slight decline.

In the rest of the world, and beginning with markets in Europe, we see conditions improving in a number of important markets there. Organic sales in Europe are back to growth in Q3 with +1%, including in Spain, which benefits from the earlier Easter, also back to growth in the UK, and with growth continuing in Ireland as well as in Eastern Europe.

France and Germany continue to decline in Q3. In Asia/Rest of the World region, Q3 organic sales are in growth at +6%.

Focusing on Asia, when we exclude India and China, sales grew strongly in Q3 with double-digit growth, benefiting from the timing of Chinese New Year in some of the Southeast Asia markets. Here, Japan continued its good momentum, and Korea, which was in decline in the first semester, is now back to growth, supported by the timing of the Lunar New Year.

In America, Brazil is back to growth this quarter, following the easing of the impacts from the methanol crisis. Canada continues to enjoy its good momentum.

Finally in Africa and Middle East, which is in mid-single-digit organic growth, Q3 sees organic growth continue notably in Turkey, and strong underlying momentum continues in South Africa. Now, moving to our outlook.

In a context that remains volatile and uncertain, we continue to see FY 2026 as a transition year, and in line with our expectations, organic net sales strongly improved in Q3. Given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, we now expect organic net sales to decline by -3% to -4% for the full year.

A&P investment ratio is expected to remain at circa 16%. We continue to invest to increase our brands' desirability with sharp allocation, efficiency, innovation, and experiences.

We continue to defend our organic operating margin to the fullest extent possible, supported by strict cost control and the implementation of our FY 2026 to FY 2029 €1 billion operational efficiency program, including the adaptation of our Fit for Future organization. I remind you that we are on track to deliver 1/3 of those efficiencies within this fiscal year.

Our focus on cash generation continues, with strategic investment FY 2026 now expected to be below €700 million and maintaining strong operating working capital management. We are aiming for cash conversion of circa 80% and above this fiscal year.

We expect FX impact to be significantly negative. In conclusion, we have two of our four must-win markets in strong growth in Q3, with growth in India accelerating and with a rebound in Global Travel Retail.

We have markets that are maintaining their already positive momentum, such as Canada, Ireland, Turkey, and Japan, and we have markets that are now coming back to growth having declined in H1, including the UK, Korea, and Brazil. I believe this demonstrates the resilience of our diversified model from both a portfolio and geographic footprint point of view, the key strength of the Pernod Ricard business model.

On that note, this now concludes my prepared remarks.

Thank you, Hélène. We will now take your questions, but please, I must ask you to respect that this call is to discuss Q3 sales results, and we won't be able to address any question regarding Brown-Forman.

No more than two questions each, please. Over to the operator.

Good morning, Hélène and Joelle. Thank you for taking my question.

My first question will be on the outlook. Can you try to help us understand, clearly you said that Travel Retail will be slightly negative for the full year.

It doesn't seem that you have had an impact in Q3, or maybe I'm mistaken. Can you explain, what you expect to be getting much weaker in the fourth quarter?

Beyond Travel Retail, can you give us a bit of a steer by regions on whether there are other impacts that we should be aware of? Maybe on the same vein, if you could tell whether in Q3, clearly there has been some benefit from Easter and the Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year, how much of that helped Q3 and could be a headwind for Q4?

That was my first question. Then my second question is on the US.

Clearly, you have had benefited as well from a bit better market. What is your sense for as we look into Q4 where we'll have less of an inventory impact, if you could comment on the situation there?

Then it seems that as well, there's been a bit more promotional environment. Could you give us a bit of a steer on what's happening on your pricing overall for that region?

Thank you. Or that country, rather.

Thank you.

Thank you. I will try to give you two answers to what I believe is more like five questions, but hopefully I will manage your expectations.

First, let me clarify what we are facing, especially I think your first question is mainly on the impact on the conflict in the Middle East. That's true that there was already some impact in Q3, especially obviously the month of March, which has been significantly disrupted, especially in the affected area.

It's not a big impact on the Q3 performance, but to give you some color, if there was no conflict in the Middle East, our Q3 would probably have been more close to let's say something like +0.5%, 0.6% growth. The impact obviously is again mainly in the affected area in March, both domestic market and Travel Retail.

When it comes to the distance to go and the Q4 in Travel Retail, it's fair to assume that as far as we speak today, the conflict is in place. It has some disruption, of course, in the affected areas.

There could be as well some limited, I would say, secondary impacts outside of the affected areas, especially when you think about logistics, limited disruption in terms of supply, probably as well some impact in terms of caution in willingness to travel. That's what we are taking into consideration to modestly, I would say, change the outlook for the year.

Your second question was, I think, in terms of technicalities in Q3. I would say when you take all those positive and negative elements, technical ones, it's probably more or less neutral.

You mentioned some of the favorable impact. You're absolutely right, with the earlier Easter.

This is for instance, definitely the reason why Spain is back to growth in Q3, where the market is still under pressure, and this will in a way reverse, at least normalize in Q4. Chinese New Year, of course, as well, you're right.

This is later timing compared to last year, but please keep in mind as well that last year, there was kind of significant impact of the tariff uncertainty, especially in the US, that has brought our shipments a bit higher than what would have happened without the, I would say, Liberation Day event. All in all, that's more or less neutral, and the improvement that we were expecting and that we have delivered in Q3 are absolutely not technical.

They are real. When you mention then Q4, I think in the US, obviously, our focus is to keep closing the gap versus the market.

I mentioned in my introduction that the gap now is at circa two points, and we are holding that gap. There is lots of excitement in the team when it comes to Q4 activation program.

Maybe let me name a few. We have more to come with the exciting partnership with Major League Soccer with Jameson.

There is as well a lot happening in terms of festivals, with Coachella and some other musical festivals in Q4 where our brands will be very, very well curated, especially Absolut, but not only Absolut. We have as well very strong innovation in our pipeline in the days and weeks to come.

We launched Absolut Tabasco, as well Malibu and Absolut Ocean Spray new flavors in the weeks to come. Lots of excitement and busy activation for our brands and our portfolio in the US in Q4.

You were, I think, asking as well questions on promotions. Obviously, this is an environment which is quite busy in terms of promotions, and we are actively leveraging our capability as well to make sure that all our promotion efforts are extremely efficient and I would say targeted.

This is as well, obviously, part of what keeps our team busy for the weeks to come in the US and elsewhere.

Excellent. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good morning, Hélène and Joelle. A couple from me, please.

Firstly, I think you highlighted 4% volume growth in the quarter. I think that would imply price/mix is running at -4%.

Can you just help us understand within that the composition between headline pricing and any product and geographic mix impacts? Clearly, I guess India is weighing a little bit on that, but really trying to get a sense of underlying pricing, please.

Then clearly, you highlighted today, Hélène, the demand impact from what's going on in the Middle East, but can you just help us understand a little bit what the implications are for your cost of sales? Just remind us perhaps on your hedging policy there, and maybe any early sensitivities on what that could mean for COGS, please.

Thank you.

Yes. Thank you.

Your first question, you are certainly right when you look at Q3, there is, with this very positive growth momentum for volumes, which means that price/mix is under pressure. I wouldn't consider that this is deteriorating when it comes to price.

It's quite subdued the price environment as we speak, but no deterioration to flag. The mix is obviously negative, especially when you think about the US and China net sales, which, as this is as well quite different from our underlying performance in both markets, with the inventory adjustments that we were flagging from the beginning of this fiscal year that are impacting our sell-in versus the underlying demand.

This has, I would say, an additional negative impact in terms of price/mix. Price is subdued, and negative mix is mainly due to market mix.

The second question in terms of the impacts on the conflict in the Middle East on our margin and a bit more specifically the exposure to the energy cost. First, let me say that for the FY 2026 operating margin outlook, which we are not changing, we want to protect it as much as we can, this conflict should not have a significant impact.

The reason for that is that, as you are alluding to, we have some hedging instruments in place that are protecting us from the exposure to the spot price volatility. On top of that, as the impact that could hit us in terms of wet goods would be, for a significant part, deferred in terms of P&L impact because of the aged portfolio that we have.

All in all, no significant impact for the margin protection by FY 2026.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Yes.

Good morning, Hélène and Joelle. My first question is on China.

I was hoping you could give a bit more color there. Are there been any signs of the crackdown easing?

It's been going on now for about nine months. Where do you reckon underlying performance is, stock levels?

Most of all, given all the above, how are you thinking about the outlook in China, Q4 and maybe next year? Then the second question is excluding US and China, and you've commented quite a bit on this already, but excluding the US and China, the group had a strong quarter.

It's a +5%, I think. In H1 ex-US and China, growth was around zero, and the same in fiscal '25, growth around zero.

You've given some color already, but besides phasing effects, besides comp effects, in what markets do you genuinely think or see that there is an improvement in the underlying performance? India's consistently strong, but other markets where you're seeing things get better?

Thank you.

Yes, thank you. First question, in China, it's true that the, to be fair, the environment is not evolving significantly.

The consumer confidence remained quite weak, and we don't see yet any tangible evidence of of an improvement. The underlying sell-out is running at quite similar rate in Q3 than they were in in H1, with no improvement in in in consumer in consumer demand.

For Chinese New Year, it's been, I would say, a bit contrasted because it it's been soft in China, as expected, very much in line with the trade sentiment that we were sharing in our H1 communication. It's been quite strong in duty free, it shows as well that Martell is a very strong brand.

When Chinese consumers are in, I would say, in a more confident mood when they especially when they travel, they have quite positive consideration towards Martell. To be fair, we've been as well quite quite busy in activating Martell in the in Asia duty free.

We had as well strong limited editions that have been quite successful. Globally, cognac category as a whole remain under pressure during Chinese New Year, especially in the South region, which is, as quite important for the for the cognac category.

When it comes to to Q4, Q4 is a is a is a quarter where the it's a it's a low quarter, and it's not a big quarter in terms of seasonality for for Martell. We're going to we expect Q4 to be in modest growth when it comes to China, with a strong positive momentum on our premium brands to to continue.

Your second question was, I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost.

The second question was markets ex-US and China where you're genuinely seeing sort of improving momentum, excluding phasing, comps, etc.

Yes. First, as I said in the first question, I don't think you should be distracted by those comps things because all in all, for Q3, it's almost neutral, because again US was having a very high comp.

There are definitely some improvements in the underlying trend that we were expecting. Let's start by our two must-win markets, Travel Retail and India.

Travel Retail, we are back to business, I would say, in the China duty free with Martell, which is obviously materializing in quite dynamic top-line growth. The other geographies are as well in very good momentum.

India, acceleration in India, which was as well expected, both because the change in demand's policy impact is easing, and secondly, we have an acceleration of our portfolio, both imported one and local one, which is, as exactly the reason why as well we were quite happy to sell Imperial Blue business so that we can really focus on accelerating those, I would say, two beautiful legs of our portfolio in India. Exclamation is a strong innovation.

Still early days, but we're quite happy with the dynamic there. It's not the only regions where things are improving.

Maybe let's stay in Asia for a while. Korea is improving, this is good news.

Q3 is back to growth. Japan is still growing quite strongly.

If I move now to maybe Africa, Africa, I would say, except the Middle East conflict, we have a strong momentum, which is quite in line with the H1 performance. In Americas, Brazil, back to growth this quarter, and this was as well expected post the recovery as well of the methanol crisis, and Canada is in a good momentum, as you know.

When it comes to Europe, I would say, I put aside Spain because of the Easter impact, but UK is back to growth, and we have as well a continued good momentum in many other markets in Europe, such as Ireland, Nordic, and Eastern Europe.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

morning, Hélène and Joelle. Thanks very much for the questions.

Two from me, please. Firstly, in the US, you changed your route to market at the end of the summer, and just wondering how that change has performed versus your expectations, and whether there's been any disruption in the US market as a result of that change.

Usually, you would comment on route-to-market changes as leading to disruption, but we've not seen any comments to that effect in the US. Then secondly, you pay the same interim dividend as you've paid for the last couple of years.

Just wondering what would you need to see in changing circumstances, to force you to change that policy? Of course, your net debt to EBITDA level is slightly higher than your target range.

Just wondering if there's anything that could happen that would cause you to change your dividend payout levels. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Maybe I start by your second question. Let's be very direct.

We have confirmed the intention to maintain the dividend in February, and we are announcing the payment of the dividend installment, the first installment of the dividend, in July as usual. I think it's quite consistent in terms of message, which is no change.

Your first question in terms of route to market, you're totally right. By the way, the route to market in many countries, but starting with the US, is obviously a key element to make sure that we have a very strong partnership with our wholesalers to really focus on excellence in execution.

A new route to market relationship, I would say, have been put in place over last summer, and they were as well some additional changes very recently with the sales of the RNDC's business to Reyes in 10 states. Our team have been working hand in hand with wholesalers to really make sure that this evolution of our distributor ecosystem, I would say, is happening in a very smooth and focus on excellence in execution way on both fronts for our teams and for the wholesalers.

That's exactly what's happening right now, even with the recent evolution, so that obviously we can limit very significantly any type of disruption that could happen.

Thank you. Just to confirm, you've seen no disruption at all from the US route-to-market changes?

That's our top priority to make sure that there's no disruption. This is a focus on the team.

We are confident that they're going to manage to have a smooth transition, if I can use this word.

Super, thank you very much.

Thanks. Morning, Hélène.

Morning, Joelle. My first question is just going back to the Middle East impact in the quarter and looking forward.

Hélène, you indicated that without the Middle East impact, perhaps group organic sales would be up about 50 bps better. Can you just drill down a little bit more into what you saw in terms of the impact of the conflict in March?

Am I right to assume that basically the Middle East Travel Retail business was basically closed in March, we should think about that being down pretty well 100%? What about the performance you saw in some of the markets around the region, I'm thinking particularly like Turkey?

Just be interested in some more color there. Just associated with that, have you seen any supply disruption issues yet around some of the fuel rationing restrictions we're starting to hear around in some of the Southeast Asian markets?

That's my first question. Then secondly, briefly on the US, you talked about a better performance in the on-premise that you're seeing.

Can you give a bit more color there about the on-premise versus off-premise growth rates you're seeing, and is your growth gap versus the market the same in both channels?

Yes, thank you. Let's start with your first question.

Your assumptions are basically right. March has been almost zero for this affected areas for obvious reason and obviously the same thing for the duty-free business, with everything that happened in terms of airspace closure and so on.

This is perfectly what you were assuming, and this started, as very early March. The month of March has been impacted by that.

No negative impact in Turkey. You were referring to Turkey.

No, this is not something that we are facing as we speak. Your question about supply disruptions, it's true that there is some pressure on that and some, let's say, potential threats.

Our teams are extremely engaged to make sure that they can get the right supply for the weeks to come. I would say we are very closely monitoring that as we speak.

For the US, a question on-trade versus off-trade. Yes, the on-trade is a bit better.

What I think is very positive about it is that, as we have a kind of overexposure to the on-trade in the US when you think about our portfolio. We've been as well very much accelerating the activation in the on-trade recently, for I would say very good reason, because our brands can really, I would say, showcase and recruit consumers in the on-trade, and there was a need to reinforce that a bit.

It shows as well in terms of consumer behaviors and willingness to socialize and to celebrate the fact that the on-trade is quite dynamic, that this I would say consumer need is there and remains quite powerful. No significant difference, I would say, in terms of our gap to the market in the on-trade versus the off-trade.

Again, you can expect us to be really in acceleration mode in terms of activation in the on-trade.

Got it. Thank you.

Hi, Hélène and Joelle. Two questions from my side, please.

The first one, Hélène, you've very kindly told us about the direct impact of the conflict on your sales in the Middle East, but particularly in the United States, are you starting to see any second-order impact of the very weak consumer confidence? Is that feeding through into consumption trends in March in the US, or maybe it's too early to say?

The second question, you've explained a lot about the moving parts in Q4, Hélène. Clearly, your guidance implies a little bit of a further acceleration in Q4, and that sounds as if that's partly because China is going to be a little bit less worse, and then the momentum you've seen in many other countries is going to be sustained.

Is that a fair summary?

Thank you, Trevor. Your first question, I would say I don't think there's right now significant or tangible impact in terms of consumer confidence because of the conflict.

Obviously, I don't think it's helping anyone in terms of optimism. Let's not be extrapolating of what we are not seeing today.

The impact of the conflict for us is really what I was describing before, which is obviously affected areas and some limited impact outside of the affected areas in terms of probably limited supply disruptions and probably as well caution in the willingness to travel. Nothing more than that as we speak.

When it comes to Q4, to be fair, when you look at the modest change we are bringing in term of outlook, this is more flagging to a kind of modest decline in Q4 due to the Middle East conflict. As you mentioned, and I think I was as well alluding to that, Q4 in China is expected to be better than Q3, again because it's a low season for cognac, and we expect improving sales momentum on our premium brands to drive that growth in Q4.

In the other geographies, I think it's probably a continuation of the improving trends that we are delivering in Q3 and positive momentum for the markets that are already in a good place in H1. When it comes to the US, again the full year net sales is very likely to be much worse than the underlying trend because of the inventory adjustments and the high comp last year linked to the tariff uncertainty.

Super. Thank you very much, Hélène.

Thank you, Trevor, and thank you all. We will now end the call.

Have a great rest of the day.

Thank you.