Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. I'm speaking to you from this amazing place, surrounded on one side by the Eiffel Tower, on the other side by Montmartre. This is the Sky Bar at The Island, our group and regional headquarters in Paris. I'm very happy to give an update on Pernod Ricard EMEA LATAM strategy, key initiatives, and business performance. At a time when health constraints are starting to ease, even if not everywhere, when our consumers can bond together again, when conviviality has made a strong comeback in most of the markets of the region. First, let me remind you of the diversity of our region. EMEA LATAM region is composed of 11 management cities over three continents and 59 affiliates in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, Middle East. Travel Retail, France, and Ireland are excluded.
With its 5,562 employees, it is a very diverse and inclusive region, where 31 nationalities collaborate and work together to deliver 29% of group Pernod Ricard net sales. Last but not least, we have a highly committed team. The latest employee survey, released at the beginning of October this year, showed a very positive engagement rates of 82%, seven points above benchmark. Now, let's move on to our outstanding performance throughout COVID and how our roadmap performs. The Transform and Accelerate roadmap we shared with you three years ago is more valid than ever. We were inspired to launch it ahead of the COVID-19 crisis, and this crisis has been a catalyst to further accelerate the deployments or prioritization of some of our initiatives, such as digital transformation or our Sustainability and Responsibility roadmap.
I believe it allows us to exit the crisis stronger than before. We were agile enough to adjust and reallocate resources quickly between channels, between touch points, between brands, and between countries, and adapt to new consumer trends. The first post-COVID quarter, Q4 fiscal year 2020, was very negatively hit, -35%, but the following two quarters showed strong resilience. Q1 -2%, Q2 flat. Rebound has been sharp since January 2020. Q3 +17%, Q4 +65%, leading to 12% top line growth in fiscal year 2021 and +33% in Q1 fiscal year 2022. We were agile enough to adapt to these new trends, and our transform and accelerate roadmap has been fully delivered beyond COVID. We have been gaining share in most of our markets continuously in the last two years.
Our top line growth has been very resilient and then accelerating. Our operating margin has been continuously improved, close to 400 basis points organically from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2021, through stronger price and mix, smart marketing resource allocation, structural cost discipline, and optimized organization. Our transversal business battlegrounds have been key value growth drivers. Win the whiskey battle, 21% net sales growth in fiscal year 2021, 47% in Q1 fiscal year 2022. Leverage our diversified gin portfolio, 21% net sales growth in fiscal year 2021, excluding Spain, 42% in Q1. Seize the aperitif moment with Lillet, 42% in fiscal year 2021. Accelerate on prestige, 26% in fiscal year 2021, 65% growth in Q1. Share of innovation has increased, now delivering incremental sales close to 3% in fiscal year 2021.
On top of brand extension initiatives, the great developments of recently acquired brands, Lillet, Malfy, St. Petroni, Italicus, has clearly contributed to the improved growth profile of EMEA LATAM. It highlights the relevance of our dynamic portfolio management to meet new moments of consumption and complement existing brands. Now let's take a look at some of our new innovations. Yes, our strategy is working and delivering very good results. We had to adapt, and we will continue to do so with different initiatives. Now, as you know, we are consumer-centric, therefore it is crucial to adapt to new consumer trends, particularly in a post-COVID-19 context. Firstly, through local leaning. Consumers are more connected to their local communities, making localized brand campaigns all the more relevant. Such as the Absolut It's In Our Spirits campaign in Brazil.
Local celebrities are playing a bigger role too, such as the Davido partnership with Martell in Nigeria. Next are future-proof flavors. Indeed, the attitudes towards food and drink are definitely changing. As the health and wellness trend gathers further momentum, the no and low alcohol offering being also a clear opportunity. I'd like to highlight the work that has been done in Spain with the launch of two innovations, Ballantine's Light and Beefeater Light. Third, sustainability. Sustainability is more than ever at the heart of consumer preoccupations. We see there is a strong desire to reconnect with nature and to preserve it for tomorrow. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding and have higher expectations. I'd like to mention the work we are doing with our bartender community on the Bar World of Tomorrow project.
Gamification has become a key part of digital acceleration, which some of our brands have started to explore, such as Absolut in Italy as part of the It's In Our Spirit campaign, organized in partnership with Twitch. Some clever activations from brands such as Wyborowa, combining gaming and activation at last receipts. Finally, domestic connoisseurs. Consumers want to learn more about food and drink at home, and there is an opportunity to tap into this with augmented at-home experiences. For example, people became interested in cocktailing during lockdown, which has continued as on-premise reopens. Brands like Malibu and Kahlúa, for example, have directly benefited from this in the U.K.
In other markets, such as Brazil, we have seen this positively impact premium spirits, and Pernod Ricard Brazil is now in the second season of its Bar Aberto initiative, a TV show which is similar to MasterChef for cooking, but dedicated to cocktailing and mixology. Now that we've seen how we perform during the health crisis and how we adapted to these new trends, let's take a look at what helped us to succeed. Our group and regional transformation has been and will continue to be a powerful enabler of that strong performance. We are transforming the marketing function to bring more consumer centricity. A good example of this is a new setup for innovation with the recent creation of regional innovation hub. Let's have a look. Now, you know all about our new innovation hub. What other areas are we focusing on?
Digital acceleration is key, and we have therefore created a digital center of excellence to reinforce our expertise. Beyond marketing, leveraging the power of data to bring business and functional capabilities to the next level. Data-driven sales force, e-commerce acceleration, which by the way, represents now 5% of our total net sales. Revenue growth and promotional effectiveness, optimization of marketing resources allocation by touch points, Finance 4.0, and collaborative business planning with upgraded S&OP. Fit-for-purpose organization, adjusting ways of working and profiles to foster data-driven performance in all areas. Mutualizing IT, uniting four business solution hubs and two centers of excellence, front office and back office. Leveraging expertise sharing and synergies among management entities. Last but not least, we decided to further accelerate our sustainability and responsibility roadmap.
Good Times from a Good Place, and its four pillars and be bolder on terroir with biodiversity and regenerative agriculture to make a positive impact on environment or on circular economy. Let's take a closer look at our people and responsible sourcing pillars. First on people, being bolder on our diversity and inclusion agenda. As a matter of fact, for what we call band C and above, top management on gender, over the last three years, we moved from 19% of women in 2018 to 30% in 2021, plus 11 points, with an objective by 2030 to achieve between 40% and 60% of women in the top management. We've also developed strong partnerships in this area, such as with UN Women, launched on 15th of March 2019 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay to comply with the Women's Empowerment Principles, WEP.
Second, being bolder on our global and regional initiatives to promote responsible consumption. This is a central topic at Pernod Ricard which is not new and which we continue to work on over the last 18 months with Pernod Ricard initiatives and at industry level. Let me say a few words about our new Drink More Water digital campaign targeting young adults, the Gen Z. The first of its kind. It is all about promoting responsible consumption and therefore protecting conviviality. Let's take a look at this video to find out more. As you can see, this is bold, this is courageous, this is simply true. A campaign that speaks to its audience. Launched in 18 markets so far with more than 30 expected and 42 million young adults reached already.
This successful campaign brings a simple and universal message against binge drinking at the time of the reopening of the on-trade. Talking about rebound, let's take a closer look at our main initiatives and results by geographical area. Western Europe was very dynamic in fiscal year 2021. In the northern parts, mainly Germany, +13%, U.K. +15%, Benelux +15%. Whereas it was still down in Southern Europe, Spain to Greece, due to stronger on-trade exposure. Q1 is up double digits, with strong rebound of Spain, +22%, thanks to the on-trade recovery. Pernod Ricard Deutschland is one of the best performing markets in the last two years, including in terms of market share gains, leveraging the very strong growth of new brands like Lillet, +40% in fiscal 2021, or Malfy.
Around the operative moments is the acceleration of Jameson and the success of innovations like Ramazzotti Crema or Havana Club Verde. Pernod Ricard UK jumped from number five to number three market position with strong off-trade momentum and very dynamic on-trade rebound post April 2021. Jameson, Absolut, the Mumm portfolio, Malfy, and innovations have driven the spirits portfolio growth. To be noted also, a very good performance on e-commerce in the UK. The Spanish spirit market was heavily impacted by COVID because of the strong on-trade, bar, and tourism exposure and the more limited transfer to home consumption as compared to other European countries. In this context, we slightly grew our market share by channel, consolidating our leadership. Q1 is back to double-digit growth, thanks to health conditions easing despite supply chain tensions.
The integration of the fast-growing Galicia vermouth brand, St. Petroni, and the numerous innovations, Beefeater Light, Ballantine's Light, Frapiera, are improving our growth profile. Winning the gin and whiskey battles remain our top priorities there. Eastern and Central Europe had an outstanding performance in fiscal year 2021, confirmed in Q1, and we consolidated our leadership there, not only in Russia and Poland, but also in the numerous smaller markets where we have direct presence there. Pernod Ricard Rouss gained significant share in fiscal year 2021 with double-digit growth across the portfolio, mainly driven by whiskeys, Jameson, Ballantine's in particular. We leverage the most premium portfolio of the industry, sustained by the strong route to market and strong innovation. Ararat favored Jameson, for instance. Pernod Ricard Polska also demonstrated continued strong top-line growth momentum, leveraging the whiskey portfolio and gaining market shares.
Ballantine's has reached the threshold of 1 million cases in fiscal year 2021, becoming the second-largest market in the group in volume. Africa and Middle East enjoyed continuous strong growth in fiscal year 2021, leveraging, in particular, our whiskey portfolio, Q1 further accelerating. Turkey has continued to post amazing growth and consolidate its premium brand leadership, beating the respective thresholds of 400,000 cases on Chivas and 200,000 cases on Ballantine's. It is now the leading market for Chivas in the world. All this despite the collapse of tourism and on-trade. Sub-Saharan Africa, a long-term top priority for the group, was back to strong growth thanks to the dynamism of West Africa, in particular, the very promising Nigerian business, Jameson, Martell. Thanks to the resilience of South Africa, despite the sharp impact of three successive alcohol bans.
Latin America, +27% net sales in FY 2021, has experienced a strong rebound driven by Scotch brands, Chivas, Ballantine's, Absolut, and the fast-growing Beefeater gin brand. Brazil and Colombia are accelerating, and Mexico has now been gaining shares in premium plus imported spirits for 18 months, which validates the deep transformation done there over the last few years. Overall, very good and dynamic business performance. Well, as we say, it's always best to keep conclusions short and sweet, so let me briefly summarize. In a word, best in class. This has indeed been a remarkable year where we come out of this crisis stronger. It has also demonstrated the resilience and the relevancy of our strategic model, transform and accelerate. More than ever, I'd like to keep my final words for our EMEA LATAM teams first for their incredible commitments and performance over the last 18 months.
Thank you. Naturally for our purpose, Créateurs de Convivialité, creators of conviviality. Let's not forget that the roots of our society are based on human contact, togetherness, and this is what our purpose is all about.