Alcohol producer Bacardi remained in Russia despite promises to leave the country immediately after the start of the war in Ukraine. In addition, as The Bell found out , the profit of the Russian branch of the company has tripled during this time.
After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, Bacardi International posted a statement on its website condemning the actions of the Russian authorities. The company promised to donate $1 million to the Red Cross and Mercy Corps, as well as stop exports to Russia and freeze advertising investments. However, words about the cessation of exports and marketing costs later disappeared from the press release. However, this part remained in the media publications and in the archive of the page.
The publication notes that the financial performance of Bacardi's subsidiary Bacardi Rus LLC has grown significantly over the year. Compared to 2021, the value of fixed assets of Bacardi Rus has increased from 57 to 850 million rubles, follows from the reporting on the website of the Federal Tax Service. The branch's revenue also increased: from 30.1 billion rubles to 32.6 billion rubles, net profit tripled – from 1.5 to almost 4.7 billion rubles.
Bacardi owns Bacardí rum, Gray Goose vodka, Patron tequila, Aberfeldy, Dewar's, William Lawson's whiskey, Bombay Sapphire gin, Martini & Rossi vermouths and wines and other alcoholic beverages. The management company Bacardi Limited is registered in the Bahamas. In Russia, Bacardi operates through its subsidiary LLC Bacardi Rus. The Russian branch is 99% owned by the German Bacardi GMBH, 1% belongs to the Dutch Bacardi-Martini BV
The Bell sent inquiries to the press service of Bacardi, including in the United States, company representatives did not respond to reporters. Sergey Ponomarev, Bacardi's director of government relations in Eastern Europe, read the messages of the publication, but also did not respond to them.
World alcohol brands are not able to prevent the supply of their products to the Russian Federation, Bloomberg found out in April. Representatives of the companies said that they could not control the multi-stage sales chains, as a result of which elite alcohol still enters the Russian market. The problem has become relevant again against the background of the scandal around the Swedish manufacturer of vodka Absolut (part of Pernod Ricard). The company tried to take control of the illegal supply of its products to the Russian Federation and for this announced the resumption of work in the country. But after sharp criticism of the company and its employees, Absolut still again refused to supply its products to the Russian Federation just a week later. It was not possible to completely block the supply of products due to Russian “parallel imports,” admitted Absolut CEO Stephanie Dyurru.