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Tequila’s Off-Premise Surge Drives Strong Growth For Cuervo

July 23, 2020

Grupo Cuervo posted a robust set of results for its fiscal second quarter ended in June, as consumers flocked to the Tequila category in the off-premise channel amid the global pandemic. Cuervo’s net sales jumped 25% to MX$8.7 billion ($386m) on a 10% volume increase to 6.2 million 9-liter cases. Operating profit leapt 75% to MX$2.2 billion ($98m).

Cuervo said it benefited from a “presence in the right categories, important over-indexing to the off-premise channel, and consumer shift from on-premise to at-home consumption in key markets. The U.S. and Canada region in particular performed remarkably well as consumers have been turning to trusted, well-established brands and formats.”

For the second quarter, Cuervo’s North America sales surged 51% to MX$7.1 billion ($315m), on volume up 34% to 4.7 million cases, with its strength in the Tequila and premixed Margarita categories propelling gains. In the week through July 11, the U.S. market’s total off-premise Tequila category saw dollar sales grow by 69% year-on-year, while premixed cocktails expanded by 72%, according to Nielsen.

Globally, sales of Cuervo’s namesake Tequila brand were up 26% to MX$3.4 billion ($151m) on a 1.2% volume increase to 1.8 million cases, while its RTDs advanced by 88% to MX$1.6 billion ($71m) on volume up 58% to 1.7 million cases.—Daniel Marsteller

Rank	Brand	Type	2018	2019	Percent Change¹
Proximo Spirits—Leading Brands in the U.S. (thousands of 9-liter case depletions)
1	Jose Cuervo	Tequila	3,607	3,865	7.2%
2	Jose Cuervo Margaritas	Pre-Mixed Cocktail	2,224	2,331	4.8%
3	1800	Tequila	1,048	1,148	9.5%
4	1800 Ultimate Margarita	Pre-Mixed Cocktail	515	594	15.2%
Total Leading Brands²			7,395	7,938	7.3%
1 based on unrounded data 2 addition of columns may not agree due to rounding Source: IMPACT DATABANK © 2020