Pernod Ricard Korea reported a 71.6% drop in operating profit.

South Korea’s slowdown in the spirits market is cutting sharply into profits at major liquor companies, with Pernod Ricard Korea reporting a 71.6% drop in operating profit and Diageo Korea also posting a steep decline, according to corporate filings cited by Yonhap.

Pernod Ricard Korea said its operating profit fell to 15.1 billion won for the period from July 2024 through June 2025. That was down from roughly 53.2 billion won a year earlier, a decline of about 38.1 billion won. Net profit dropped even more sharply, falling from 40.9 billion won to 5.7 billion won. That was a decrease of about 35.2 billion won, or roughly 86%.

The results show that weaker profitability is no longer limited to lower-priced alcohol. Pressure is now reaching premium whisky and other imported spirits, a shift that has led major distributors to reduce costs and trim staffing as they respond to weaker earnings.

Diageo Korea also reported a weaker year. Its operating profit fell from 18.2 billion won to 9.4 billion won, a drop of 8.8 billion won, or 48.4%. Its net result worsened even more. The company moved from a net profit of 15.1 billion won to a net loss of 11.2 billion won, a deterioration of 26.3 billion won over the prior year.

The weakness was not limited to the two largest global distributors. Campari Korea reported a 53% decline in operating profit, which fell to 1.29 billion won. Golden Blue, a domestic player in the market, posted an operating loss of 3.3 billion won and a net loss of 2.6 billion won in the first half of 2026, covering the January-to-June period.

Taken together, the filings point to a broad deterioration in profitability for companies that import, market, and produce whisky and other distilled spirits in South Korea. The figures suggest that the market downturn is affecting a wide range of operators, from international groups with premium portfolios to local companies exposed to the same consumer slowdown.

The South Korean market has been an important outlet for imported spirits, including Scotch whisky and other premium brands, but the latest corporate results indicate that demand has weakened enough to hit margins across the sector. The impact is showing up not only in lower operating profit but also in a much sharper hit to net earnings, especially where companies are absorbing higher costs or facing weaker sales leverage.

For Pernod Ricard Korea, the fall in net profit was especially severe relative to the drop in operating profit, suggesting that pressures extended beyond core operating performance. For Diageo Korea, the swing from profit to net loss marked one of the clearest signs of the strain now facing the category. While the filings do not provide a full breakdown by brand, product line, or volume, they show that earnings in South Korea have weakened materially at both companies over the latest reported year.

The figures were drawn from company disclosures filed with South Korea’s DART corporate filing system and reported by Yonhap on Aug. 23. The reporting periods are not fully aligned across all companies, which limits direct comparisons. The available filings also do not provide detailed sales volumes in liters, brand-by-brand data, or a complete separation between whisky and other distilled spirits.