Chivas Brothers, Pernod Ricard’s Scotch whisky business, has announced a 17% rise in net sales to a ten-year high.

Trading in the year to the end of June demonstrated ongoing strong global demand for Scotch and reinforced the company’s long-term premiumisation strategy. 

Alongside this positive growth, Chivas Brothers announced more than £60 million in planned investment over the next three years to accelerate its energy and carbon reduction journeys to achieve carbon neutral distillation by the end of 2026.

It follows the company’s move to make its heat recovery technology learnings open source for the industry, after proving successful at Glentauchers distillery, with a 53% reduction in carbon emissions at this site alone.  

The growth of the company’s strategic brands has been enhanced by Chivas Brothers’ strong and balanced global footprint, underpinned by a demand for Prestige products, which have outpaced growth of the total brand portfolio over FY22 and FY23.  

Chivas Regal celebrated global growth of 25%, with particularly strong performance in markets such as India and Japan. The brand’s success was the leading contributor to Pernod Ricard Group growth in FY23.  Ballantine’s grew by 13% with the Asia region being a key market. 

Royal Salute recorded a significant +32%, growth as the brand continues to elevate through exclusive luxury releases such as the Royal Salute Coronation of King Charles III Edition. The Glenlivet was up 9% and was the best-selling single malt by volume in 2022.

Specialty brand Aberlour, part of the broader Chivas Brothers single malt brand portfolio, grew 11% in the highly competitive malts category. 

The Asia region has been particularly robust, with 21% growth in FY23, and the number one contributor to growth overall. India (+27%), South Korea (+19%), Japan (+28%) and Greater China (+7%) have also seen exceptionally strong performances and are driving demand with new Scotch audiences. 

The North American market has seen stellar growth in a highly saturated market, with +8% growth. The US and Canada saw 8% and 7% growth respectively. 

Chivas Brothers chairman and CEO, Jean-Etienne Gourgues, commented:  “The historic highs we’re seeing across our strategic brands signal the success of our premiumisation strategy which has enabled Chivas Brothers to outperform the market.

“Our highest growth of the last decade reinforces our position to shape the future of sustainable Scotch while continuing to meet demand.

“We have fast-tracked a number of sustainability initiatives to meet our own ambitious targets and remain committed to supporting the industry in ushering in this new era —as we demonstrated earlier this year by making our heat recovery findings open source.”