Good morning, this is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Pernod Ricard Third Quarter Sales Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions by pressing star and one. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Florence Tresarrieu, Global SVP Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead, madam.
Thanks, Edda. Welcome, everyone, and good morning. We're very pleased with Hélène to welcome you to our Q3 FY24 sales calls. Hélène is going to start with a few opening remarks, and then we're going to jump straight into Q&A. For the Q&A, I would remind you that we would like to take only two questions per caller so that you're all going to have an opportunity to ask your questions. Hélène, over to you.
Thank you, Florence. Good morning. Good morning, all, and thanks for joining this Q3 sales call today. So I guess you've been reading the press release published on our website this morning. Today, we are reporting a robust performance for the first nine months. We've been improving momentum at Q3 with organic net sales stable. Organic net sales for the first nine months are at -2%. I'm pleased to highlight that volumes in Q3 are back in growth at circa +1%, which is a strong positive signal after four consecutive trimesters of decline. This includes, by the way, growth on our strategic international brands also at +1%. The strength of our diversified premium international portfolio and our broad geographical footprint, balanced across regions and between mature and emerging markets, enabled us to largely offset contraction, albeit for very different reasons, in the U.S. and in China.
Our performance year-to-date is robust as we have now exited post-COVID supercycle in most markets, with normalization now largely completed outside the U.S. So please allow me to first highlight strong performance in some of our key markets, beginning with India, one of our most winning markets, as you know. So as indicated at H1, we expected to see an acceleration in momentum, and that is what we report today, with India growth of +8% in Q3, leading to +5% year-to-date. So growth is strong, growth-based, and accelerating with a consumer demand for spirits, with continued and sustainable trends towards premiumization, and an overall strong performance of our strategic international brands like Jameson, Absolut, and The Glenlivet, but as well on our Indian whiskies.
Moving now to our second most winning market, global travel retail, which is also improving with a strong growth across the portfolio, notably Jameson, Martell, and our Scotch repertoire, sustained by an improving sellout momentum. So global travel retail is growing 5% year-to-date and enjoyed a very strong Q3 at +39%, with this Q3 growth amplified by phasing, which is both a catch-up from H1 - you remember we were highlighting negative phasing in H1 - and setting ahead of Q4. So Q4 will be as well lapping the quite elevated comparison basis. We have as well enjoyed strong growth year-to-date in a number of other markets, notably Japan, Germany, and Turkey, and an accelerating performance in Q3 in Spain, Brazil, and South Africa. Europe is proving particularly resilient at +1% to date and +4% in Q3 if we exclude Russia.
This is driven by strong growth in Germany, Poland, and as well broadly stable in markets like Spain and France. Asia and the rest of the world, excluding China, is particularly dynamic, very strong growth in India and global travel retail, as I just mentioned, and in Japan and Taiwan. Africa Middle East continues to deliver a very good performance, notably Turkey where the performance of Chivas, Ballantine's, but as well Olmeca is outstanding, and South Africa and Nigeria in particular with Martell and Jameson. So let's move now to US and China, two of our most winning markets that have contracted this year, albeit for very different reasons, I must say. So the US first. We have reported a net sales of -8%. Starting with our sellout performance, the nine-month sellout performance is rather stable versus the H1 sellout at circa -3%.
Our ambition to accelerate sequentially is taking a bit longer in the current context, and this is because the market is experiencing very aggressive price promotions after the soft OND. We are addressing this through our agile and data-led revenue growth management supported by our key digital program, Vista Revert, ensuring that we protect the long-term strong equity of our brands. We have as well accelerated our activations, notably on Jameson, which has enjoyed the highest marketing investment ever made by Pernod Ricard USA ahead of St. Patrick's Day, but as well strong activation on our newly acquired brands, namely Jefferson's, Código, and Skrewball. The market continues to normalize with the consumer demand remaining resilient, currently at circa +1% to +2%, though below its normal long-term growth rate.
So with regard to our net sales in the US, they continue to be impacted by ongoing inventory adjustments, as you know, mainly at retailer level in H1 and starting in H2 more so at the wholesaler level. We are closely monitoring inventory levels together with our wholesalers, and we expect inventory adjustments to continue over the coming months and into fiscal year 2025. In China, where we enjoy a strong leadership position, our performance both to date and in Q3 reflects the challenging macro environment, which is negatively impacting consumer sentiment. This has led to a weak CNY with some downtrading, although depletion volumes move. The performance of Martell and Noblige is solid, and our premium brands Jameson, Absolut, Olmeca, and Beefeater are as well enjoying strong growth.
Given Q4 is traditionally a small quarter, and in addition, we are facing elevated comps this year in Q4, performance in China for the full year can be expected to be quite similar to the year-to-date performance. Looking at the full year for fiscal year 2024 and why the environment remains challenging, we are confident in delivering dynamic Q4 net sales, improving versus nine months, and leading to net sales growth broadly stable for the full year, as already mentioned in February for our H1 presentation. We have confidence in the positive momentum for Q4 as in most markets, we have exited the post-COVID supercycle, which provided a difficult comparison basis. Normalization is largely completed outside the U.S., and our return to volume growth in Q3 is an encouraging signal.
We are lapping last year's price increases with those new prices now anchored in the marketplace and in the mind of the consumer. This accelerating momentum is visible already in Q3 in many markets, and I mentioned them a minute ago, and is expected to continue. Let me as well highlight the efforts on brand activation in our markets supported by consistent A&P investments and leveraging our key digital programs for improving effectiveness. So we expect to deliver organic operating margin expansion in fiscal year 2024 as we continue to focus on revenue growth management and operational efficiencies with A&P at circa 16% of net sales and disciplined investments in structure. I use the opportunity of our quarterly sales updates to precise our organic profit from recurring operations guidance at circa +1%.
We remain very confident in the attractiveness of the global premium international spirits market and in the long-term demographic and consumer trend tailwinds that sustain demand. That concludes my opening comments, and now, Florence, I think we can open the line for questions.
Indeed. Thank you. This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone wishing to ask a question may press star and one on their telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone with a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Andrea Pistacchi with Bank of America.
Yes. Good morning, Hélène. Good morning, Florence. Two questions, please. The first one, if I may, on your operating profit guidance. Well, to deliver 1% for the full year, I think you need something like about 10% in the second half organic EBIT growth, which implies quite meaningful margin expansion. Now, you just touched on some of the factors: revenue growth management, obviously tight cost control, but considering also the headwinds that you have from the soft performance in the U.S. and China, which are high-margin business, could you maybe give a bit more color on the confidence you have in delivering this margin expansion and really what the drivers are? And my second question, please, is on China. I was hoping that you could put a bit more color on the 12% decline in China, given also the easy comp that you were up against.
Is this a reflection of soft underlying demand, which, of course, is soft? Was the decline compounded by some distributor destocking after the Chinese New Year? And sort of connected to China, if I may, your premium international brands are growing strongly, actually, in China: Jameson, Absolut, etc. What do you think explains the very different performance versus Cognac? Is it the channels they're exposed to, the smaller base of these brands, or is there anything else? Thank you.
So good morning, Andrea. I think you have probably almost 10 questions in your two, I would say, themes, but let me try to be efficient here. So first question on the guidance and what it means for the distance to go. I'm sure you will understand. I'm not going to detail for you what could be the P&L in Q4 to achieve the guidance. What matters is what has been the strength of the performance so far, and the visibility can as well give us our ability then to precise the guidance for the full year. So first, I will start with the first line of the P&L, and then I will stop.
Obviously, to deliver our guidance, we will have some acceleration from the top line in this Q4, which I guess I will have the opportunity to come back to, but which is the, I would say, continuation of strong acceleration, which is already happening in quite a few markets that I listed in my opening remarks. For instance, just to name, India with a strong acceleration expected in Q4 after a strong nine-month performance. But it's not only going to be India's story. There are many other markets in a good top line trajectory as we speak. We're going to face more favorable comps as well because, as you remember, last year in H2, our volume started to be impacted by the full implementation of price increase, and now this is already well anchored into the markets. And so we are cycling, to an extent, more favorable comps.
For the rest of the P&L, I mean, we've been, as you know, protecting value, protecting gross margin quite consistently in the recent past. So you could expect that to materialize for the full year. And this is thanks to premiumization strategy, to the sizable price increase that we put in place and so carry over this year's last year price increases, many operational efficiencies that were helping to limit the impact on our COGS of the inflationary pressure coming from different drivers. A&P, there's always some phasing from one quarter to the other. What matters is that we have and we continue to have strong ambition in terms of brand activation. And when it comes to discipline in structure costs, obviously, this is something which is as well going to support the bottom line delivery for the year. So moving to China.
So maybe let me use that question to say that I guess there could have been some different assessments of the comp in Q3 or Q4 in China. It's not always very easy to read. First comment, I think, and we were clarifying that, I suppose, in the Q3 call, there is no phasing impact, timing impact of later CNY in Q3 because there was already sales happening in December. So this, in a way, to some extent, is not supporting growth in Q3 numbers. Then if you think about what was last year's situation in China, Q3 was made of very different things. Beginning of Q3, meaning January to mid-February, as you remember, this was the peak of COVID contamination, so very low performance and consumer demand everywhere.
But then the quite dynamic post-CNY and post-COVID, I would say, rebound, especially when it comes to weddings and banquets, that supported good brand momentum plus the recovery of the on-trade. We are cycling that this year into Q3. So I would suggest that what matters is what is the situation in China for the year and for the first nine months and what to expect in Q4 rather than focusing on the quarter because anyway, as we were expecting, the consumer demand is impacted by the weak macroeconomic environment. We were cycling quite high comps, and that the main driver, the H1 performance. This time, we are cycling a lower CNY for sure, but as I just said, quite a dynamic post-CNY last year, which is not happening, to be very clear. So CNY this year is weak.
It was expected, and it's not better than our expectation. And post-CNY is soft. So your last question, I think, was related to trade inventory in China. So as you know, we are not commenting trade inventory on a quarterly basis. But to be fair, we were expecting, as I just said, quite soft CNY. So the trade inventory right now, I would say, are okay. And what matters is that, as usual, we're going to focus on landing the year with a healthy level of trade inventory. So when you think about the distance to go in China, Q4 is always a kind of low quarter. As I was mentioning in my opening remarks, we expect the full year to be quite similar to the year-to-date performance.
Yes, I think there was a final question on premium brands versus Cognac because that's something which is growing quite strongly in China. Premium brands, meaning mainly Absolut as well, Jameson, particularly the Olmeca brand, is performing well. So it's true that it's quite different in terms of moments of consumption. We are recruiting new consumers, the new generation with those brands that are as well more affordable, quite dynamic in as well, I would say, dynamic channels like, for instance, Western style bars, lighthouse, and so on, and obviously as well much less exposed to festive seasons. So great performance of those premium brands. By the way, this is something that, as you know, we identified as a strong opportunity already a few years back.
We had a specific team supporting the ambition of those brands that had been built already more than five years ago and which is doing a great job.
Great. Thank you.
The next question is from Simon Hales with Citi.
Thank you. Good morning, Hélène. Good morning, Florence. So two for me then. Florence, can I start off just on the US? I wonder if you could just give us a little bit more color around the inventory adjustments you've seen in Q3. And I think you said in your remarks you expect that to continue into Q4 and possibly fiscal 2025 as well. Is that right? And how do I think about the scale of ongoing wholesaler inventory adjustments as we move through Q4 and beyond? So that was the first question. And then maybe coming back to, secondly, the guidance overall for the full year in terms of top line. Clearly, you're still going to broadly flat organic sales growth. I think that probably means you need to do mid- to high single-digit group sales growth in Q4.
If I take what you've said on China trends continuing for the full year at the similar rate we've seen for the nine months or around down 10%, shall we say, probably still a double-digit decline in the US, that's probably a third of your markets that are still declining, double-digits in Q4. That means the rest of the business probably needs to be growing mid-teens-plus to get you to flat for the year. I'm just trying to reconcile that given you've still got the drag of Russia in Q4. You've got tough comps in Europe. What markets are really going to massively accelerate in the fourth quarter to get you to that flat full-year organic sales growth delivery?
Okay. Thank you. I was about to say I'm going to try to answer faster, but your questions are quite long as well, but very relevant, of course. Let me try to answer them. I start with the first one, which is about the U.S. inventory. Obviously, a hot topic. We were expecting inventory adjustment to continue in H2. This was already quite sizable in H1, mainly at retail level. For all the reasons you know, but that I can remind you, which is first, the good news is that there's no more supply chain tensions. I would say no need to build a higher level of inventory to face whatever supply chain disruption that we had in the past. And second, which is obviously a key driver of the inventory adjustment, the high interest rate environment.
I'm sure it will not be a surprise for you to know that we are probably now in a, I'd call, higher-for-longer interest rate environment compared to where we were a few weeks ago. So this is as well, I would say, supporting our expectations for inventory adjustment to keep happening. So we are focusing strongly on the inventory levels. Obviously, we are working quite closely with our wholesalers and distributors to adjust their inventory level to the new reality of the market that I just described.
When you look at our numbers in these nine months, just mentioning, for instance, the gap between the net sales and the sellout, which is roughly 5 points for our portfolio, this is obviously largely linked to trade inventory reductions, even if there's probably as well some phasing from one month to the other, especially because of, I would say, some technicalities in March. So trade inventory adjustments are occurring at wholesalers and retailer level. Again, retailer level, notably in H1. And we expect the conditions that are leading to those inventory management, including as well wholesalers, to persist, as I just said, meaning cost to carry and reduce supply chain risks. So that's why I was mentioning in my opening remarks that you should expect inventory adjustments at wholesaler level to materialize in H2 and as well in the fiscal year 2025. Second question.
Yes, guidance, distance to go, especially on top line. So this was a very detailed question. I think I covered already China. When it comes to comparable basis, I think you mentioned tough comps in Q4 in Europe or in other geographies. Globally, and without giving you a guidance on every market, we are cycling favorable comps in Q4, obviously not in China, but in many other markets, this is beginning to be more favorable because of the volume slowdown last year that was materializing post-price increase implementation. And it's not only technicalities. As I said, the nine-month performance is made of quite a different trajectory in many markets that are growing with acceleration in Q3. And by the way, the volume growth in Q3 is not anecdotal. I think it's a very good sign of what to expect in the coming weeks.
So as I mentioned already, India accelerating in nine months. We expect a strong Q4 in India. Global travel retail is improving with a very strong Q3. So there will be some adjustments in Q4, but that will not change the trajectory, which is a good momentum, improving in travel retail. Again, if you want me, I'm happy to list all the markets that are performing strongly and that will continue to perform strongly in Q4, for instance, Africa, Middle East, but as well Asia, excluding China, Central and Eastern Europe, and as well improvements in some Latin markets like Brazil. And maybe the last market I didn't cover is the US, but I did it in a way with your first question.
But please keep in mind as well that the comp, which could look high because of growth last year in Q4, was a growth, but there's just a quite low Q4 in fiscal year 2022, which, as you know, was quite disrupted by supply chain tensions. So very different picture from Q3 to Q4 in fiscal year 2022. So confidence in our ability to deliver that performance for the full year, which I believe makes a lot of sense when you look at our performance in the nine months.
Brilliant. Very helpful, Hélène. Thank you.
The next question is from Sanjeet A ujila with UBS.
Hi, Hélène, Florence. A couple from me, please. I was wondering if you could just elaborate a little bit more on your prepared comments around the pricing and promotional environment in the U.S. Can you just talk a little bit more about which categories and price points you're seeing that more aggressive activity and just give us a little bit more context on how you're adapting to that? So that's my first question. My second question is on India. You called out growth acceleration in Q3, a beat expectations into Q4. Can you just clarify that you're now lapping the loss of the Delhi license and perhaps give us an update on where you are with that situation as well? Thank you.
Yes. Thank you. So pricing promotion in the US, so that's true that this is something which has increased in the recent weeks after what was a soft OND that we were already highlighting in our H1 numbers. As you know, we've been quite, I would say, bold in our price increase that we took in the recent past everywhere, but as well in the US. We are as well improved quite significantly in terms of our ability to implement very efficient promotion, and we are tracking that with our key digital program. But the context is, I would say, a bit more aggressive than it was at the end of the year. So we are adjusting our promotional intensity to make sure that our brands are well positioned to attract, obviously, consumer choices.
So we do that with, I would say, agility, of course, but as well discipline and effectiveness thanks to our key digital program. So what you can expect from our brands in the coming weeks is, first and foremost, strong activation, both in terms of, I would say, marketing investment, but as well revenue growth management initiatives. Second question on India. So maybe let me clarify. India acceleration is really, I would say, the translation of very strong fundamentals in that market where we've been, as you know, performing quite strongly for more than 20 years. We have a very strong portfolio, both in terms of Indian whisky brands and international spirits that are both performing quite strongly. And this is why we are confident in our ability to accelerate as well in Q4 in that market.
The route-to-market impact of Delhi is not anymore in our comparable basis starting in Q2 this fiscal year. No more as well, obviously, in Q4.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Sarah Simon with Morgan Stanley.
Yes. I just had a question on marketing. You've obviously said you're going to maintain A&P at 16% for this year. Given you've lost share in the U.S., and it is still a large market even if less important for you than some others, and just thinking more broadly, do you still think you can hold A&P at 16% for fiscal 2025 and beyond, or do you see any need to actually increase spending? Thanks.
Thank you. First, let me clarify. 16% is an average number at group level just to help you guys having some visibility on what to expect in terms of investment and as well, obviously, which for us is very critical to demonstrate that we have strong ambitions to build very strong equity across the world to, obviously, I would say, support great ambition in the future. 16%, again, it's at group level. It's higher in the U.S. If you remember, we were close to 20% in H1 in the U.S., which materialized a strong acceleration of our activation in that market, which, as you just said, obviously, is a key market for us, number one market for the sector and number one market as well for us. You can expect this acceleration of activation in the U.S. to continue in the coming weeks, in the coming months.
So without taking too much risk, I think that's a fair statement as well for fiscal year 2025. So maybe just to elaborate on that, we are very, I would say, dynamically allocating our resources across the world, meaning there's a strong focus and prioritization of the U.S. market, not only, but of the U.S. market. And we are as well, obviously, seizing any opportunity depending on the current dynamics of the markets to reallocate our money behind the right strategic priorities. So it's not, I would say, a static picture with which we start the year and then we stick to the initial plan. We are adjusting that continuously, especially in an environment which is as volatile as it is right now.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you.
The next question is from Edward Mundy with Jefferies.
Morning, Hélène. Morning, Florence. I appreciate it's probably a little bit too soon to be talking about fiscal 2025, but just coming back to some of the commentary from the H1 conference call about potentially being within the range of that guidance, not guidance, that framework of 4%-7% range. What do you think are the building blocks to get there? Perhaps the Russia headwind fading off, maybe some of the destocking coming to an end. How do you think about getting towards that range and really building on that inflectional thing in the third quarter into fiscal 2025? It's the first question. And then second of all, I mean, historically, you've delivered margin expansion, 50 to 60 basis points. When you're delivering within that range of 4 to 7, yet this year, you're still getting some margin expansion despite more flat-ish revenue growth.
Do you think into fiscal 2025, you need to be within that 4-7 range to deliver margin expansion, or do you think if you were slightly below that range, you'd still be able to get margin expansion as you've done within fiscal 2024?
Okay. Good morning, Edward. I'm a bit embarrassed because it's very difficult for me not to tell you sorry, but I can't answer any of those questions. So let me try to help. But first, and I'm sure you're not surprised, we are not going to guide on fiscal year 2025. This is Q3 call for fiscal year 2024, and we have a chance to talk to you guys soon enough to give you as well more visibility on what to expect in fiscal year 2025. So I'm sure you will understand. But your question, which are basically, I would suggest, more around midterm framework trajectory, both in terms of top line and operating leverage, is something that I'm sure you noticed we are reiterating again today.
We did that already in the H1 communication, which means that we believe that, I would say, the dynamism of the sector, but on top of that, the relevance of our strategy and the consistency in the execution of that strategy everywhere is giving us strong confidence in our ability to deliver the midterm framework, which is, as you said, top line between 4% and 7%, aiming at the top of the range with some operating leverage of circa 50-60 basis points. So this is a midterm trajectory. It's not trying to guide for fiscal year 2025, but as you were rightly highlighting, I think that when you look at our performance in the recent past, post-COVID with the super cycle, but very high inflation, and now in this normalization environment, it's giving us confidence in the ability to deliver that midterm framework in the near future.
Brilliant. Thank you. As it's difficult for me if you'd answer the first one, but perhaps can I ask a different first question just around global travel retail, which was very strong in the third quarter. To what extent can that continue into the fourth quarter?
So yeah, travel retail. I'm sorry, the sound is very bad, but I hope that I got this question right. The question is on Q4 in travel retail, right?
Yeah. It was very strong in the third quarter. Does that continue into the fourth quarter? Yeah.
Yes, yes. Okay. So there will be some, I would say, moderation because, obviously, Q3 is super strong. And again, there was in Q3 some catch-up of negative phasing in H1 and probably some as well positive phasing that happened in Q3 versus what would have been Q4 sales. But as you know, in travel retail, this is largely depending on the timing of the orders coming from our customers. So that would mean that there will be some negative impact in Q4 of this positive phasing in Q3. But what matters, because I don't think we should spend too much time on what's happening from one quarter to the other, is that the performance in travel retail is improving. By the way, when we look at the consumer demand momentum, it is improving, even if, obviously, this is only a slow but gradual recovery of Chinese travelers so far.
But as you know, we were already back to pre-COVID in all the other geographies at the end of last fiscal year. Key market for us, our brands are very well exposed to that channel. This is quite a dynamic one, a very profitable one, a swing market. So we have strong ambition for travel retail in the near future, but there will be some negative phasing in Q4.
Thank you.
The next question is from Trevor Stirling with Bernstein.
Good morning, Hélène and Florence. Two questions from my side. Hélène, one is you very kindly gave us the split between shipments, depletions, and sellouts for the nine months in the US. Could you just confirm what that was in Q3? And secondly, perhaps more importantly, is coming back to the sellout trends in the US, do you see any inflection at all in either the market sellout or your own sellout trends in the US as you got to the end of Q3 and so far in April?
Yes. Thank you. So I'm not going to give you the zoom on Q3 numbers for sell-in, sellout, and depletion in the US. I hope you understand. I think we are already very transparent on those numbers. But what I would like to highlight is that, first, there is some impact in the month of March. I mean, everyone has noticed this difference of delivery days between March this year and March next year. I don't think we should spend too much time on that because, anyway, there will be the positive impact in April. But to the fundamentals of the market, as I was alluding to, this more aggressive promotion context is not helping to materialize the improvement in the sellout performance that we are aiming at for our brands.
This is, obviously, the ambition, and we are working hard to make it happen, not only from a firepower point of view, as I was mentioning, with a stronger A&P activation, but as well in terms of focus of the execution of our strategy that Conor McQuaid, our new CEO in North America, had the opportunity to elaborate on a few weeks ago. So focus on execution, more activation, newly acquired brands that are now going to contribute to our organic performance as we speak. So there's a lot happening in the U.S. that are strengthening our confidence in our ability to improve the performance of our brands in the near future. So I think that was the only question.
Yeah. Then we're going to take two more callers, please.
The next question is from Lawrence Watt with Barclays.
Morning, Hélène and Florence. Thanks very much for your time.
Good morning.
Couple of questions from me, please, both on China. Just wanted to understand how dynamic you can be with your eaux-de-vie purchases. Just sort of in a scenario, I think you continue to believe that China is going to deliver close to double-digit growth for the next 15 years. At least that's what Alex said on the first half conference call. In the event that that didn't happen and we sort of saw a continuation of this weakness for slightly longer or perhaps tariffs were to come in that could potentially impact the market, how dynamic can you be with your eaux-de-vie purchases? Of course, I assume that you need to make decisions on brands like Noblige, Cordon Bleu, XO, these sorts of things many years out in order to be able to produce the product.
In the event that China was slower, does that cause an issue for your purchasing of eaux-de-vie and those contracts long-term? Can you get out of them any earlier? And then secondly, of course, we've all seen the news of flooding in Guangdong over the past week or so. Have you seen any direct impact of that on any of your operations or any consumer confidence in that area? Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you. So first, I think, obviously, it's not a good year in China, as I was saying to you. And then that's a reason that everyone understands, which is that there is a weak consumer confidence that is directly linked to the weak macroeconomic environment. So the performance of Martell in that context is, I would suggest, quite understandable, especially because, as you know, this is a brand which is very strongly exposed to festive season. And this is, by the way, something that we are very proud of because this is linked to the very strong position of Martell in a very, I would say, dynamic and exciting category, which is cognac in China.
So for us, when it comes to eaux-de-vie strategy, the only thing I'm happy to share with you is that, and I'm sure you know that, this is for us a very strong competitive advantage, having been able to build a strong inventory thanks to a very strong relationship with our partners in cognac. This is a key barrier to entry and a competitive advantage for the coming years to support the strong ambition of Martell, again, which is in a very strong leadership position in China. I would suggest to stop there. By the way, this is a Q3 call, so I'm not sure I have the time to elaborate if that can be a supply strategy. But again, Martell is a great brand, and the supply we have behind Martell is, for us, a key competitive advantage.
Can we take the next question?
The next question is from Jeremy Fialko with HSBC.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for squeezing me in. So just a couple of questions from me. So the first one is this quite difficult question of pantry or cocktail cabinet inventories in the U.S. I know it's something where, kind of anecdotally, we hear about it, but I wanted to know whether you've been able to do any more detailed work as to whether consumers are still sitting on kind of excess spirit inventories at home and whether you have a particular view on this topic and the extent to which it is holding the market back. And then the second question is on the price mix element of your growth and how you see that evolving. Obviously, that was slightly negative in Q3. You'll be lapping more price rises in Q4.
Just when one looks at the sort of mixed components of your business in terms of China being weak, travel retail will be strong but not as strong as Q3. How would you see the price mix element of your growth evolving and whether you think that's likely to stay negative over the balance of the year and potentially into 2025? Thanks.
Okay. So I'll start with your second question. And first, again, sorry, I'm not going to comment what could be price mix for our fiscal year 2025. So the negative mix that we have right now in our numbers is, I believe, exactly what you were mentioning in terms of the key drivers, which is market mix. Because, obviously, China and the US are very profitable markets. So when those markets are under contraction and when India is growing strongly, this has a negative impact when it comes to mix, even if we are, again, very happy to see India growing, which is a key market for us. And when it comes to your first question about US consumers and what about stock at home, obviously, we don't have full visibility on that.
But I guess the pantry loads you were referring to were already, if I'm not wrong, four years ago. So there's some limits to what people are stocking at home. So I would suggest that probably means that there's no impact to expect on that front in the near future because it's probably over with, again, low visibility. Thank you very much.
Thank you so much. Speak soon.
Bye-bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephone.