By Martinne Geller
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brown-Forman Corp
Spirits sales have held up in the current recession, though several companies have said consumers are going out less and drinking at home more. This has hurt sales of Brown-Forman's Southern Comfort, which people more commonly drink at bars, the company said.
"Thus far we are doing fine," said Chief Executive Paul Varga on a conference call, referring to the impact of the financial crisis on Brown-Forman's business. "These results also reinforce our belief that premium wines and spirits are an affordable luxury in both good times and bad."
In the first half of the fiscal year, worldwide shipments of Jack Daniel's rose in the mid-single digits in percentage terms, as declines in Germany, Britain and Spain partially offset gains in the United States, Eastern Europe, Australia and Latin America.
Finlandia's worldwide shipments rose at a high-single-digit rate, driven by strength in Eastern Europe.
Net income at Brown-Forman, which also makes Herradura tequila, rose to $143.2 million, or 94 cents per share, in the fiscal second quarter ended October 31, from $129.4 million, or 83 cents per share, a year ago.
Analysts, on average, expected 93 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Net sales rose about 5 percent to $934.7 million.
Net sales for Southern Comfort fell at a low-single-digit rate, though shipment trends improved slightly in the second quarter, the company said.
Despite the overall increase, one analyst expressed caution about the future.
"We continue to believe Brown-Forman will face challenges from the difficult macro-environment globally," wrote UBS analyst Kaumil Gajrawala in a research note. "We expect trends to worsen in Western & Eastern Europe, and despite easy comps (comparisons) are likely to soften in the U.S."
The company raised its full-year earnings outlook, citing a gain of 12 cents per share on the expected sale of its Bolla and Fontana Candida wine brands to Italy's Gruppo Italiano Vini.
Brown-Forman, based in Louisville, Kentucky, announced earlier this week it intends to sell the Italian wine brands. Terms were not disclosed.
Brown-Forman said it now expects fiscal 2009 earnings of $3.00 to $3.20 per share, representing growth of 6 percent to 13 percent from year-ago earnings of $2.84 per share.
In August, the company said it expected earnings to rise 1 percent to 7 percent. Excluding the gain from the sale, and a charge from writing down the value of dying agave plants, used to make tequila, the full-year outlook is unchanged.
Brown-Forman stock rose $3.43, or 7.8 percent, to $47.31 in Friday morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares had fallen nearly 22 percent in the last three months through Thursday. The Dow Jones U.S. Beverages Index <.DJUSBV> fell 17 percent over the same period.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Dave Zimmerman)
