PERNOD Ricard has hailed a stellar performance by The Glenlivet in the US as the drinks giant lifted organic sales across the board in the opening quarter.

But it warned that the outlook for Scotch remains challenging in China, where plunging sales were attributed to the much-publicised “macroeconomic slowdown” in the world’s second largest economy.

Sales of the Speyside malt surged by 15 per cent in the key American market, powering Pernod’s USA division to sales growth of eight per cent over the period.

A strong showing by Jameson Irish whiskey, which saw sales grow by 26 per cent in the quarter, was also cited as the company highlighted the importance of innovation to its first quarter performance.

Strong sales in the US, allied to a good start to the year in Europe, helped the Paris-listed company increase organic sales by three per cent to €2.22 billion in the first quarter.

Sales were ahead of consensus, with analysts previously guiding on sales of €2.16bn.

In its last financial year, the drinks giant booked organic sales of €8.56 billion in the year to June 30, while organic profit from recurring operations rose by two per cent to €2.24bn.

Pernod noted that the results were in line with its expectations for the current year, in which it is targeting organic profits of between one and three per cent from recurring operations.

“Overall, our performance across the world in quarter one was consistent with our scenario of continued gradual improvement in net sales,” said Gilles Bogaert, the company’s managing director for finance in a presentation to analysts.

However Pernod, which has owned Paisley-based Chivas Brothers since 2005, highlighted the continuing challenged faced by Scotch whisky distillers in China.

It reported that sales of it Scotch had slumped by nine per cent in China amid slowing growth in the world’s second biggest economy. The macroeconomic slowdown, alongside government austerity measures, are widely blamed for falling spirits consumption in China.

The “difficult trading environment” and for spirits in the Chinese market caused sales to decelerate across Pernod’s Asia and rest of the world region. That division saw overall sales growth of one per cent, with “weak demand” in China and continued difficulties in Korea and South-east Asia offset by good first quarter showings in India, Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Bogaert said: “China was down nine per cent in the first quarter. Obviously we have the effect of the macroeconomic slowdown, which negatively impacts spirits consumption.”

He added: “Martell [Cognac] had been more resilient than the Scotch portfolio. Scotch is still declining [in] double-digit [percentage terms].

“We estimate that the underlying trend in China at around -4 per cent, -5 per cent in value. That is to say, very consistent with what we had in 2014/2015.”

Broker Societe Generale said in a note for investors: “These are good headline numbers for Pernod Ricard, with some excellent results in the US, particularly in Jameson and The Glenlivet, as the group continues to capture growth in a strong macro environment.”

Noting that India and improving conditions in Europe had “more than offset the negative of Chinese destocking”, the analyst declared: “We think the organic growth profit guidance of 1.0 to 3 per cent is conservative (consensus is +2.7 per cent) and expect this to be beaten.”

Alexandre Ricard, chairman and chief executive, said: As part of this communication, Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: “The beginning of the financial year is consistent with our scenario of continued gradual improvement in sales in a contrasted environment.

“We are aiming for +1% to +3% organic growth in profit from recurring operations for FY 2015/16 and we expect a positive but volatile foreign exchange impact.”

“We continue to implement our long-term growth strategy, while increasing investments behind our priority brands and innovations and remaining very disciplined on costs and pricing.”