Campari’s Sixth Growth Quarter Is a Split-Screen, Not a Victory Lap

Aperol formats and Sarti Rosa are accelerating in Europe while the U.S. legacy spirits portfolio becomes a full-year drag.

CPR.MI · Earnings Call · 2026-10-28

Campari’s sixth growth quarter is a split-screen, not a victory lap

Growth is real; the mix is the story

Campari reported another quarter of organic growth, and management led with the streak: “Q3 marks our sixth consecutive quarter of top-line growth.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-10-28 Nine-month organic growth was +2.9%, with Q3 at +3.4%. But the guidance confirmation came with a regional admission that matters more than the headline: “we will deliver what we said we would deliver with circa 3% organic growth this year, with Europe slightly better and North America slightly softer.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-10-28 That is the hinge. In prior calls, management was still defending U.S. outperformance and stock discipline; on the 2025-10-29 call, Simon Hunt said “I'm not concerned about excess stock anywhere.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2025-10-29 Today the U.S. is still growing overall, but the full-year U.S. top line is expected to decline marginally. That is a change in tone, not a guidance cut — and it reframes the whole equity story.

The format flywheel is no longer a pilot

The genuinely fresh company-specific signal is convenience formats. Aperol on Tap, Ready to Serve, and the To Go can contributed one-third of aperitifs growth in the nine months, nearly 60 million incremental serves, and 1.6% premium beer share in Italy. This is exactly the new formats argument management has been making, but now it has measurable proof behind it. The formats are opening incremental occasions rather than merely reshuffling the existing bottle business. In the U.K., Aperol’s ready-to-drink format reached the number-one RTD position in Sainsbury’s, and Hunt said “the original velocity that we're seeing per point of distribution is two to three times our original forecast.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-10-28 The proof point is not just shelf space: at Monza, Campari served “over 100,000 Aperol Spritz in three days” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-10-28 — an occasion the old bottle-and-bartender model could not reach. Sarti Rosa is the second leg. The U.S. launch party was September 12, but the brand was already sold out before the event, and it became the second most mentioned and searched-for spritz in Q3 after Aperol. Management is explicitly running a category approach, not a single-brand push: Sarti recruits from sparkling wine, sweeter mixed drinks, still wine, and even beer. That was the same claim made on the 2025-08-01 call, when Hunt described Sarti as “absolutely incremental to what we're seeing within that split segment.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) · 2025-08-01 The difference now is that the claim has U.S. social traction and European distribution data behind it. The caveat is margin: Francesco Mele confirmed gross-margin accretion for the year but warned “you need to consider that H2 will be lower” — Francesco Mele, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-10-28, because the innovations run at group average gross margin and are still co-manufactured, limiting efficiency. So the format flywheel is a top-line engine first, a margin engine later.

The U.S. bill payer: vodka, whiskey, cognac

The U.S. is now a tale of two portfolios. Half the business — aperitifs and tequila — is growing and gaining share. The other half is the bill payer: Wild Turkey, Grand Marnier, SKYY, Courvoisier, and rum, where high comparison base in rum and a crowded American whiskey shelf are weighing on results. Management was unusually specific about execution rather than just category weakness:

I think on Wild Turkey, I think we have got a good proposition. We have got great liquid. We have got a great value for money proposition as well, particularly on 101. I think what we have not managed to do yet is turn our campaign and our concept into an execution at retail.
Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-10-28

That is a subtle but important shift from the prior call’s pricing discipline mantra. In March, Hunt said “I've never seen price readjustment build long-term equity.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-03-04 On this call he said Campari has been holding price but can look at “pulsing price, not taking it down.” That is not a price war, but it is a recognition that the compelling proposition at retail needs more than brand equity. The consumer backdrop explains why: “mortgage rates in the U.S. hitting 7%, you have got gas prices going up, you have got food inflation coming through.” — Simon Hunt, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-10-28 Campari’s answer is to meet consumers at the price point with formats and pack architecture, not to discount the core. Courvoisier gets its first global campaign in 20 years, but the cognac category is still down 10%, so the relaunch is a long-duration repair job, not a 2026 fix.

Tariffs: refund headline, reinvestment reality

Campari collected the EUR 15 million tariff refund it had flagged in the first half, but Mele was clear that it is being partly reinvested and partly used to offset COGS pressure. The global keyword tape has been full of net tariff refunds as a market theme, and Campari is one of many consumer names touching that language. But this is not a clean margin gift. On the prior Q1 call, Mele framed the tariff hit as “EUR 30 million is the total tariff effect for 2026 to clear.” — Francesco Mele, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-03-04 Today he said a second investigation still needs to be finalized and “For the time being, we are not building any expectation.” — Francesco Mele, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-10-28 In other words, the refund is real cash, but management is not letting it become a margin promise. The offset is geographic. Developing markets grew +9.3%, with Brazil the highest contributor behind Aperol and Campari, and 17 seeding countries growing mid-single to double digit. Europe is being lifted by the strategic on premise and by festival execution, not just weather. Management has also disposed of more than 10 brands or businesses over 18 months, and the portfolio streamlining is largely done by the end of 2026. That matters because it frees attention for the brands that can actually move the needle: Aperol, Espolòn, Sarti Rosa, and eventually a reset Courvoisier.

The real test

The sixth consecutive growth quarter is not the story. The story is that Campari is becoming a formats-and-aperitifs company faster than its U.S. legacy spirits portfolio can recover. If Aperol on Tap and Sarti Rosa keep scaling, the mix should eventually become margin-accretive and the geographic expansion story gets a second engine. If U.S. promotional pressure intensifies and “pulsing price” becomes real discounting, the confirmed circa 3% guidance becomes a tighter rope. The March 4, 2027 investor day in London will be the moment management has to show whether the format flywheel is a genuine structural advantage or just a very good summer.