Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining me. Over the past year, Pernod Ricard USA has been on a deliberate journey to strengthen our business in what has been a challenging and fast-moving market. Our priority remains unchanged, closing the gap to market. We have been clear-eyed about the headwinds facing our category, from affordability pressures to shifting consumer behaviour, and we recognise that this market continues to evolve at pace. Our strategy remains consistent, but we are getting sharper about how we turn insight into action using data, AI, and technology to improve the speed of decision-making. Let me take you through how we see the U.S. market, what we've changed, and importantly, how we are building momentum for the future.
Compared to last year, the U.S. market has softened with bottled Spirits, excluding RTDs, year-to-date at around -5% in value. We are seeing that affordability pressure has become the most persistent challenge. Our view remains that the current pressures on the U.S. market are primarily cyclical, but not exclusively so. Economic moderation, inflation, and consumer apprehension are the dominant drivers of softness today. At the same time, we recognize that consumer behavior is evolving and that health and wellness, moderation, GLP-1, and generational shifts are also having an impact on Spirit consumption. Consumers are not disengaging with Spirits, but they are drinking differently. Overall Spirit consumption and household penetration remain broadly stable. Spirits continue to hold share against beer, supported in part by the growth of RTDs. We are adapting to this context and addressing six key consumer insights.
We are bringing bold brand activation and recruitment to maintain that spirits relevance. Sharper RGM affordability and smaller formats to address economic pressures. RTDs and convenience formats to meet the search for ease and convenience. Experience-led activation and cultural partnerships to satisfy a growing desire for connection. Innovation continues to play a critical role in creating genuine newness and retail theatre, while wellness and moderation trends reinforce the importance of no and low-alcohol options and appropriate formats. Against this backdrop, we believe Pernod Ricard is well-equipped with a premium diversified portfolio and the execution capabilities to meet consumers where and how they want to drink today. Let's look at the Pernod Ricard picture across the U.S. As I said at the top, our priorities have not shifted, but we are adapting with greater speed and clarity to an evolving market.
We continue to focus on three critical areas: sharper portfolio prioritization, stronger execution, and a more focused organization. Now, adapting these around a changing market at pace and with decisiveness is pivotal to our goal of closing the gap to market. Let's start with the portfolio. We've been clear about the role each brand plays and where we lean in. This means concentrating resources behind our power and explode brands.
Across our priority brands, we're responding to the clear set of consumer trends previously mentioned with focused execution. The levers we're operating with include bold activation to support relevance, RGM effectiveness to support economic pressure, RTDs to support convenience, cultural partnerships and on-premise focus to support the desire for connection, scaled innovation to support new consumer needs and the search for newness, and small formats, which we believe have a role across all these insights.
Turning these insights into action at speed is central to how we're operating today, and Malibu Pink is a clear example of that. Last year, Malibu was under pressure. We analyzed the reason for softness and identified clear areas for new innovation to target. Malibu Pink transformed the shelf, the activation, and the conversation around the brand, bringing together cultural partnerships, fun flavor, and small formats to deliver affordable innovation and renewed relevance.
It's a good illustration of how we respond decisively to the trends shaping the category. Beyond the products, we've also stepped up our approach to experiential activations to hit the connection insight. Leading with Jameson in particular, we're building on our partnership with the MLS and our new It's What You Bring campaign ahead of a big summer of sports in the U.S. Alongside this renewed portfolio focus, we've strengthened execution capability.
Now, over the past year, we've reset our route to market, strengthened our commercial leadership team, and upgraded key capabilities across RGM, on-premise, and brand advocacy. The distributor landscape has evolved through a combination of expansion, consolidation, and RNDC market changes, and we've adapted with speed and purpose. We've made targeted, capability-driven distributor adjustments with one objective: unlocking long-term sustainable growth across the U.S. portfolio. Structurally, we're now set up to move efficiently with a clear focus across mainline brands, RTDs, and the GEM incubation. We now work with 10 wholesalers to place the right brands with the right partners in the right states. Our execution in national and regional chains like Total Wine & More or Kroger remains a strength, while on-premise execution is improving under new leadership, allowing us to capture value more effectively across channels.
Finally, we further simplified the organization, clarified accountability, and empowered teams to move faster and execute better. We're doing this by embedding data, AI, and technology directly into how work gets done, from everyday productivity tools like Copilot Chat to targeted role-specific AI supporting sales, marketing, operations, and HR. Adapting these around a changing market at pace and with decisiveness is pivotal to our goal of closing the market gap. With that framework in mind, let me now focus on the portfolio, in particular our six power brands, which represent about 70% of the net sales and sit at the core of our U.S. market growth ambition. For each of these, we are deliberate about where we focus based on consumer opportunity, the brand proposition, and how we can win.
I'll start with Jameson, which remains a cornerstone of our portfolio with an opportunity for growth through new audiences, a new portfolio lineup, and by taking share from the North American whiskey category. The brand demonstrated its resilience despite a soft market, and with sell-outs slightly ahead of the competitive set in Q3 and maintaining strong on-premise credentials. A key driver of this momentum is how Jameson shows up where people want to connect. We are doubling down on experience-led and cultural moments from the return of the industry favorite Bartender Bowl to our MLS partnership and the new It's What You Bring soccer fandom campaign, helping us reach important voices in the on-premise as well as new diverse audiences to reinforce Jameson's role at the heart of social occasions.
Now, at the same time, we have strengthened the full Jameson portfolio from a clearer, deeper focus on Black Barrel to our latest innovation, Triple Triple, which provides affordable trade-up from the brand they love. Turning to Absolut. Absolut remains one of the most recognized spirit brands in the U.S., and over the past year, our focus has been on rebuilding momentum through innovation, brand activation, and a more focused RTD portfolio. Absolut Tabasco is a major global innovation for the brand, tapping into flavor through the spice trend and culinary culture. While it's still too early to assess, the brand saw an improvement in performance following the Q3 Tabasco launch compared to Q2.
Alongside experience-focused core brand activations and a new-look RTD portfolio, highlighted by the launch of Absolut Refreshers, our priority is to execute with consistency, strengthen Absolut's position across off and on-premise, and drive steady improvement versus the category. Kahlúa remains the global leader in coffee liqueur, benefiting from the Espresso Martini, an occasion rooted in connection and cultural relevance, and continues to outperform its competitive set through focused partnerships and experiential activation. Through partnerships like Kahlúa Dunkin', fresh creative, and selective experiential activations such as Wicked, we are reinforcing the brand's relevance and expanding occasions. This disciplined approach supports our ambition for Kahlúa to continue leading and outperforming the cordial category. Malibu is the number one flavoured rum in the U.S., with strong relevance in lighter social occasions and the highest household penetration of any brand in our portfolio.
The brand is gaining momentum as we head into the key summer period, with recent performance improving meaningfully and outperforming its competitive set in the latest quarter. I've already gone through Malibu Pink in detail, this momentum reflects a more focused approach, combining innovation like Malibu Pink, partnerships with Dole, and summer-led experiential activation to recruit new consumers through convenient formats while maintaining our leadership in rum RTDs. The Glenlivet remains the category leader for single malt, performing in line with the category, with more than twice the volume of its nearest competitor. We are strengthening the master brand campaign while using targeted annual innovation, like Jamaica Cask, to reignite interest and build both profitability and brand halo, particularly during the important holiday gifting season and the on-premise. Skrewball, the original peanut butter whiskey and category creator.
We're seeing improved momentum and have eased its decline following issues with our distributor handover and small size availability. Our brand building is focused on increasing on-premise visibility and scaling trial through small formats, innovation, and cultural relevance, including the reintroduction of the much sought-after Skrewball can and the launch of a new innovation, the American Classic, Peanut Butter & Jelly.
Beyond our power brands, Código continues to build for the long-term growth within agave with disciplined expansion, while Jefferson's is entering its next chapter with renewed brand focus, a new visual identity, packaging, and master brand campaign, combined with long-term supply confidence. RTDs remain the standout growth category in the U.S., and while we remain underweight, our approach is disciplined, using RTDs as a recruitment engine into our bottled spirits and a core part of our convenience strategy, alongside bolstering our small format offerings.
Now, across the portfolio, the common thread is focus, clarity, and consumer relevance. Increasingly, that relevance is built not just through products and campaigns, but through experiences, moments where our brands connect with people in real life through culture, sport, and celebration. Let's take a look at how we stepped up our activations.
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Turning briefly to performance. While the market showed a modest improvement in Q3, bringing the year to date to -5%, the consumer backdrop remains challenging, with discretionary spending still under pressure from inflation and interest rates. Against this environment, our performance also improved, moving from -7% in Q2 to -6% in Q3. Importantly, our gap to market remained stable at around two points, marking a clear improvement versus last year. Our key brands, Jameson, Absolut, Kahlúa, and The Glenlivet, are now performing at or ahead of our competitive set, reflecting stronger and more consistent execution. We also saw tangible improvement in Malibu and Skrewball during the quarter, supported by innovation and expanded formats, which are helping to rebuild momentum. These are encouraging trends, but we know there is a lot more to do.
Our focus is on accelerating further in Q4 and the start of the next fiscal. Looking ahead, this year is about execution, consistency, and acceleration. Our focus remains on closing the gap to market. We'll do this through relentless execution behind power brands, continued innovation momentum, maximizing value across channels, and embedding the organizational and route-to-market changes we've made. We have moved the right resources into the right places. We are confident in the path forward and the people delivering it. In summary, we've a lot done and a lot more to do. We're operating with greater focus, moving with more speed, and executing with more discipline. While the environment remains demanding, I am confident that Pernod Ricard USA is stronger, more agile, and positioned for sustainable growth. Thank you.