Stolichnaya joins Allied Domecq portfolio

Joe Bates

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The UK drinks group adds one of travel-retail's best-selling vodka brands to its offer

Allied Domecq has signed an agreement to market and distribute the Stolichnaya vodka brand portfolio in domestic and travel-retail markets within the EU, Latin America, Asia/Pacific and Africa.

The deal gives Allied virtually global distribution of Russia's leading vodka brand. The UK drinks group has been the US distributor of Stolichnaya since January 2001 and has grown sales there from 1.2m to 1.9m cases. It is also the brand's distributor in Canada, Mexico and the Nordic region.

The Stolichnaya range, which includes premium vodkas such as Elit and Kremlyovskaya, will be added to the Allied Domecq brand portfolio on a market-by-market basis over the next three years as and when existing third-party distribution agreements expire.

Stolichnaya producer and international distributor SPI Spirits Group previously handled its duty-free distribution directly from its Cyprus-based headquarters. Allied Domecq Duty Free will takeover responsibility from January 1 and will present the Stolichnaya portfolio at its stand at the IAADFS show in Fort Lauderdale next April.

Allied Domecq Duty Free marketing director Jonathan Ashworth told Ravenfox.com: "Within global duty-free, this [agreement] provides us with the opportunity to further extend our distribution arrangements for Stolichnaya in addition to North America and the Nordic region.?

SPI duty-free coordinator Stavros Stavrou added: ?The agreement is a tremendous opportunity to grow the Stolichnaya brand. With Allied's global reach, we will gain access to a whole new range of airports. There will probably be shrinkage from the Cyprus offices due to the changes, but there will also be a need for some of us to stay on for a while to help Allied with the transition.?

According to the International Wine & Spirit Record (ISWR), travel-retail vodka sales declined 0.5% last year to 2m cases. The category's three leading brands are Absolut, Smirnoff and Finlandia, respectively.