THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW/Alexandre Ricard, chief executive of Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard:LIKE MANY of his compatriots, Frenchman Alexandre Ricard, recently installed as chairman and chief executive of Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard (IDPR), speaks his mind.
With the economy in recession, Christmas parties being cancelled across the State and Joe Public saving rather than spending, Ricard is having to grapple with declining sales in Ireland for Jameson whiskey, IDPR's flagship brand.
Ricard is clear about what the Government needs to do. "We have to get the consumer spending," he says from his bright new office overlooking the RDS showgrounds. "Putting up Vat is not the right way to address this issue. Adding 50 cent duty on wine . . . I don't think it is good and I don't think the Government will get a return on this."
He is roundly critical of the Government's failure to address the slump in retailing south of the Border. "To have people getting into their cars and going to Northern Ireland to buy goods is not good for the Republic of Ireland or Irish Distillers, which has employees here," he says.
It's a controversial view for Ricard to hold, given that the company he runs is an all-Ireland business. "I have a very Republic of Ireland view of the situation," he says. "It's in our employee interests . . . it's in our Republic of Ireland customer's interest and in our interest for Jameson [whiskey] to be affordable to Irish people in Ireland."
Jameson whiskey is experiencing strong double-digit sales growth this year in Northern Ireland thanks to sterling's weakness and the differential in the tax burden south of the Border.
By contrast, spirits sales in the South are down about 6 per cent in the year to date. "The spirits industry is in decline this year - we are probably outperforming the market but our sales are down."
According to Ricard, the Republic imposes the second-highest tax on spirits in the EU. He feels the tax burden penalises an industry that generates about €2.2 billion annually in revenue for the exchequer.
He doesn't mention the social cost of alcohol and the devastation it can wreak on families and society in general. "The vast, vast majority of people consume spirits responsibly," he argues. "We take this very seriously. We don't sponsor binge drinking, we try to encourage people to consume their drink responsibly."
Ricard likes to go to the pub of a Friday and Saturday evening and have three Jamesons, sometimes on the rocks and sometimes with a dash of water. "It is beautiful," he says. "It is probably the smoothest whiskey in the world."
He's even persuaded his girlfriend to drink Jameson. "She likes to drink it in a long glass with ginger ale, a wedge of lime and lots of ice. It tastes wonderful."
Like all Frenchmen, he enjoys a glass of wine but he doesn't drink beer. "Absolutely not, it is not my type of drink," he says with a cheeky grin.
It was the summer of 1988 when Ricard had his first alcoholic drink, which he says was, wait for it, a Jameson. He was working as an intern in the business at the time and was just 16.
Doesn't that count as underage drinking? "I just had the one," he says, quickly retrieving the situation. "I just wanted to taste it and see what it was like. Years later, when I was eligible , it was my drink of choice."
Ricard loves the buzz of the Irish pub and feels it's part of what makes a visit here so enjoyable for tourists. "You can go to a pub on your own and 40 to 45 minutes later you are no longer alone. It's a great asset to tourism."
He laments the drift away from pubs to drinking at home, where more than half of all alcoholic consumption in Ireland now takes place. "It's sad to see a significant shift from the on trade to the off [licence] trade," he says.
Ricard is only five months into his current role but he is no stranger to Ireland, having come here in 2004 as finance and administration director of IDPR. Two years later he moved to Hong Kong to become managing director of Pernod Ricard's Asia Duty Free division.
Ricard is something of a world citizen. Born in Paris, he grew up in Andorra and studied at the University of Pennsylvania. His French accent still contains a dash of American twang.
He is now in charge of a stable of brands that also includes Paddy and Power whiskies, Absolut Vodka, Martini, Martell cognac and Jacob's Creek wine. Jameson is the star turn and sales are flying globally, particularly in the US, which is now the brand's biggest market. Other Irish whiskey brands are riding successfully on its coat-tails.
Since 1996, sales of Jameson have more than doubled to 2.6 million cases annually. Ricard says it is on target to break the three million cases barrier by 2010. In the 12 months to the end of June, Pernod Ricard's year end, Jameson's sales rose by 21 per cent in value and 15 per cent in volume terms. "Fiscal 2008 was a record year for us, it was just phenomenal," he says.
The growth story spilled over into the first quarter of the current financial year. Between July and September, Jameson's sales rose by 17 per cent in value and 10 per cent in volume terms. "Jameson seems to be defying the overall economic downturn," Ricard says.
Unfortunately for Ricard, the Irish business is facing into the teeth of the worst recession in living memory. "It was not a good start. But every job has its own challenges," he says.
Ricard joined the business five years ago and his various moves around the company have prompted speculation that he might one day run the global Pernod Ricard business.
Alexandre is a grandson of the Paul Ricard who founded the Ricard business in 1932. His father Bernard ran it between 1968 and 1972 and his uncle Patrick only recently stood down as chief executive after 36 years at the helm, passing the baton to Pierre Pringuet, the company's first boss from outside the family.
Today, there are about nine Ricards working in the business. The smart money is on Alexandre or his cousin Cesar, who runs the Polish business, one day taking the reins. "Today it is not on my agenda," he says diplomatically.
But wouldn't he like to follow in his grandfather's footsteps? "My focus today is 150 per cent on Jameson and Irish Distillers in this challenging time."
He said having a Ricard heading the business would "be the cherry on the cake" for the family. But it will always choose the right person for the job, family or not.
"When you are a Ricard, you feel a lot more responsibility and I feel I need to act as a role model. "But I am proud that whenever I walk into a bar around the world I see people drinking a brand of Ricard, or Pernod. I am proud of what I do and the people I work for."
Name:Alexandre Ricard
Age:36
Lives:Ballsbridge
Hobbies:Numerology, tennis and cinema. Ricard is a regular at Movies@Dundrum ("I take the opportunity to visit the Tesco spirits and wine section beforehand") and Cineworld on Parnell Street ("I will take time to visit two stores close to that location").
Something you might expect:"We own a couple of islands in the south of France and that's where I love to spend my summer."
Something that might surprise:"I'm not sure it's going to happen, but I would love to climb Mount Everest. If I do it I will bring a bottle of Jameson and plant it on the top."
