French spirits group Pernod Ricard, the owner of Irish Distillers, signalled early signs of upturn in some markets yesterday and beat forecasts with a 4 per cent fall in first-quarter underlying sales, helping to boost its shares.

The spirits group pointed to some signs of recovery in the duty-free market and in the US, and buoyant growth in emerging markets, particularly China and India, but added that Europe remained difficult. – (Reuters)