Pernod CEO says company has made Brexit "no-deal" contingency plans

By Dominique Vidalon and Pascale Denis

PARIS (Reuters) - The head of Pernod Ricard told Reuters on Thursday that the French spirits group had made contingency plans to prepare for a 'no-deal' Brexit scenario, which could entail forward-shipping.

CEO Alexandre Ricard said in an interview that Pernod, similar to other companies, wanted "visibility" and had made contingency plans regarding Britain's exit from the European Union.

Asked if on the logistics front, these plans could entail shipping gin or whisky from the UK in advance, he replied "Yes" but added Pernod had not started to do so.

He added that Pernod was closely monitoring tensions between the United States and China, although the company had yet not seen any impact from it on demand for its products in China.

"We remain vigilant regarding U.S.-China commercial tensions. At this stage the underlying trend in China is however not showing a slowdown," he said.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Pascale Denis; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)