Amid all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanies a global economic outlook that threatens to cause one of the most rapid declines in standards of living since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it is heartening to spot a drop of good news from none other than giant booze group Pernod Ricard.
While the beloved country reacted to the pandemic with alcohol bans, anecdotal reports from the rest of the world suggest that the lockdown led to the drinks trolley getting wheeled out earlier and earlier, particularly by those who had months of furlough to enjoy.
This may well prove to be good news for liver specialists and the likes of Pernod Ricard, which reported a record year as it passed annual sales of $10bn for the first time, racking up its fastest growth rate in 30 years and reporting profits from continuing operations of more than $3bn. The company grew across the board, with excellent results across all regions, price points and sales channels, while there was evidence of topers trading up to enjoy premium and super-premium brands.
Pernod Ricard owns 17 of the top 100 global spirits brands, but its line-up is pretty tame compared with its history. The Ricard side of the company was firmly steeped in pastis, but Pernod kicked off as a distiller of absinthe, the allegedly psychoactive rocket fuel associated with 19th-century artists and a state of absolute dissolution.
Absinthe was banned in France in 1914, Pernod moved into making its celebrated pastis, and the companies merged in 1975. Judicious acquisitions over the years have given the company a powerful stable of brands.
EDF: An Eskom of their own
Tempting though it might be to turn the crosshairs on Gazprom after the announcement that it is indefinitely suspending the supply of gas to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the company is clearly taking orders directly from the Kremlin that it had little option but to follow.
Gazprom is still rolling out a line about faults found during maintenance, an oil leak in a compressor station in Portovaya and a missing gas turbine sent by Siemens to get repaired and then impounded, but nobody’s believing a word of it.
All European politicians can do is pray for a mild winter, as the doom-mongers predict the worst winter since 1947, with the elderly dropping like flies due to energy rationing that could make Eskom’s load-shedding look like a minor blip, and what energy is available being so expensive that many won’t be able to afford to turn the heating on anyway.
Under these apocalyptic scenarios, you might expect the French to be even more smug than usual, due to that country’s remarkably forward-thinking approach of generating about 70% of its needs from nuclear.
But a quick peep at the status of EDF, France’s leading energy generator, shows that 32 of its 56 reactors are out of action because of maintenance and corrosion issues. Filings with the grid operator show the reactors are due to come online again between September and February. This might be cutting things mighty fine to keep the ovens on and the baguettes piping hot every morning, and the government is taking out minorities to regain full control of the operation.
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