French alcoholic beverage company Rémy Cointreau has had its credit rating downgraded to "negative" by Fitch Ratings, following recent two high-profile departures at the company.
Global ratings agency Fitch said that following the departure of Rémy Countreau's CEO Frédéric Planz and and Rémy Martin Cognac’s CEO Patrick Piana, the French group’s ability to handle an unstable market in China is now unclear.
At the beginning of January Frederic Pflanz stepped down from his position as CEO of French Spirits Group Rémy Cointreau, citing personal reasons. Pflanz only took office in June of 2013, replacing Jean-Marie Laborde, after three years spent in the group. He served as Chief Financial Officer in 2010 before becoming executive director in 2012.
Piana followed suit by leaving Rémy's cognac arm only twenty days later.
To compound all of this, the company then revealed 18.3% global organic sales decline for its Rémy Martin brand in the first nine months of the year. This is a fall which many drinks company's have experienced, attributed to China’s crackdown on luxury gifting.
A statement by Fitch read: “We are concerned that the departure of key management may impair the company’s effectiveness in coping with the current challenges in cognac and in implementing its plans to strengthen the non-cognac operations.”
The company's year end balance sheet shows that turnover for 2013 decreased by 6.3% to €558 million from €595.8 million the previous year.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
