Constellation upbeat despite sales fall

Operating income fell 6% on a like-for-like basis to $123 million on sales of $792 million.

Margins increased from 10.6 to 15.6% compared with a year earlier.

Rob Sands, president and chief operating officer, said he was "generally pleased" with the results, which met expectations.

He added: "To strengthen our position as an industry leader, especially in this challenging economy, we took steps over the past 18 months to shift the focus of our strategy to building must-have brands that return the greatest profits and that represent good value for consumers."

He said some wine brands, including Robert Mondavi, Woodbridge, Nobilo, Clos du Bois and Kim Crawford had performed well.

Net sales of branded wine fell 10% on a year earlier and spirits were down 43%. But spirits sales on an organic basis were 13% ahead at $60 million, led by a 33% gain for Svedka vodka.

Sands added: "We are striving to better align our business in the UK and Australia to provide opportunity for increased efficiencies and cost savings."

He added that net sales for the European region had benefited from timing impacts related to the UK duty increase.

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