Rémy Cointreau Exiting Champagne Due To Vulnerabilities Of Category

French drinks group Rémy Cointreau has revealed that it is considering selling its champagne unit and has instructed Crédit Agricole to initiate a tendering procedure. The unit includes the Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidseck brands, with the firm having sold off its secondary champagne brands in 2006. Sales at the champagne unit were heavily impacted by the economic downturn and the business was loss-making at the operating level during the company's 2009/10 financial year. Sales have partly recovered since the beginning of 2010, but the performance over the last three years highlights the particular vulnerabilities of the champagne sector, where individual

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