Skip to main content

Asian comeback spurs growth for spirits maker Pernod Ricard

By The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Rising Asian sales and a strong U.S. dollar have helped return Pernod Ricard to growth, after a slack period the French spirits maker says it expects will come to a gradual end.

The maker of Absolut vodka and Jameson Irish whiskey posted sales of 1.9 billion euros ($2.03 billion) for the January through March period, with a total so far for the year of 6.5 billion euros ($6.96 billion), up 2 percent from the same nine-month period last year.

In a statement Thursday, Alexandre Ricard, the CEO and grandson of founder Paul Ricard, predicted annual growth of between 1 and 3 percent for the full year. Jameson saw double-digit growth in sales in the United States, while The Glenlivet and Ballantine’s Finest expanded in emerging markets, the company said.

Business Journal reporter to run for cancer as he battles it

By WTOP Staff
WASHINGTON - It is a race in more ways than one for one of our own at WTOP. And you can help. Tucker Echols, the Washington Business Journal's reporter normally heard on WTOP every morning, is battling diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that was discovered after he found a lump on his neck. "The very good news here is that it's very treatable," says Echols. "There is a chemotherapy regimen that has worked more than 10 years, almost 15 now, to give lots of folks like me, who catch it early, a good chance of survival." When the cancer is caught early, patients have an 80 percent chance of survival. But Echols, who is 51, has lost his hair to chemotherapy. And he has had a few difficult moments, like telling his two kids, who are 6 and 8. They asked him if he was going to die. "I said, 'No, I'm not going to die. That is the good news here.'" Now after consulting his oncologist, and despite the side effects that often accompany his treatment, Echols is preparing for the EagleMan Triathlon competition, a 70.3-mile race held in Cambridge, Md., June 9. "The key with chemotherapy is that you listen to your body and if you think you can do it, go ahead and do it," Echols says. Echols will run to raise money for three charities that are trying to cure cancer, and his goal is to raise $30,000. Click on the links below to donate: American Cancer Society; Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; Cure Starts Now Foundation. Follow @WTOP and @WTOPliving on Twitter.
Read Next Story

Related News

Stocks rise…Diet Pepsi switches sweeteners…Harleys recalled

3 Idaho quakes rattle residents from Washington to Montana

US oil and natural gas rig count drops by 22 to 932