Constellation’s Sales Lag, Profits Soar

Dear Client: "We did fall short of our sales expectations in fiscal 2012," said Constellation Brands chief Rob Sands on their quarterly/year-end conference call this morning. But earnings-per-share were pretty good for the company. For their fiscal year 2012, net dollar sales decreased 20% due primarily to the divestiture of the Australian and U.K. wine businesses. Strip that out, and North American net sales on an organic basis were down -1%, due to inventory de-loading compared to 2011's inventory build