Welcome in, today is Thursday, July thirtieth, and we begin with Campari's first-half numbers, per Investing.com. Campari reported organic net sales growth of two point seven percent in the first half, to one point five one two billion euros, with adjusted EBIT margin up one hundred and thirty basis points, to twenty-three point seven percent, according to Investing.com. On a reported basis, net sales fell one percent, with currency and portfolio disposals accounting for the gap. Adjusted EBIT came in at three hundred fifty-eight million euros, up eight point five percent organically, and second-quarter organic growth held at two point five percent. Per that same account, management framed the half as five consecutive quarters of organic growth, which it described as the only such run among listed spirits companies, and chief executive Simon Hunt said the group is gaining share in ninety-five percent of its markets. Aperitifs grew four percent and now account for forty-nine percent of group sales, with Aperol up three point three percent. It gives operators a benchmark for whether aperitif-led portfolios are holding volume and margin while the wider category softens. Staying with Campari, and the disposal side of that portfolio. Cobblestone Brands has agreed to buy Bisquit and Dubouché Cognac and Cabo Wabo Tequila from Campari Group, The Spirits Business reports. Financial terms were not disclosed, and both acquisitions are set to complete by the thirty-first of October. The same reporting describes them as the most significant milestone yet for the Dublin-based buyer. This is the pruning that sits behind the perimeter effect in Campari's own figures: two mid-size Cognac and tequila brands moving out of a major's stable and into independent hands, where they compete for distributor attention on their own account. Also today, a development in the RNDC wind-down. Following our earlier reporting on the Chapter Eleven filing in Texas, Republic National Distributing has confirmed to The Drinks Business that prospective buyers have already expressed interest in acquiring parts of its remaining business as the case begins. That account names no buyers, no assets and no prices. Which pieces change hands will determine where affected brands land, and how quickly route-to-market resettles for suppliers still on those books. Industry reaction leans anxious at the smaller end of the supply base, and a recurring concern is that independents already unpaid for months sit at the back of the creditor line, with some suggesting recovery may hinge largely on whether a brand secured a contract with one of the distributors that picked up territory. Others read the filing less as an isolated failure than as a signal of strain running through distribution, financing and inventory. Separately, Australia's wine export volumes have dropped to their lowest level in twenty-two years, according to Just Drinks, which attributes the slump to the global decline in alcohol consumption. For growers, and for importers holding bulk stock, that resets the demand base being priced against, and it reads through to inventory carried in the channel. Industry reaction leans toward treating the fall as a structural shift in consumer behaviour rather than a temporary trading dip, with several practitioners suggesting the data leaves little room to argue otherwise. Some in the trade frame the response around demand generation and pockets of growth in North American and Asian markets rather than volume recovery. A recurring undercurrent is that winning back younger drinkers is as much a product-authenticity and education question as a marketing one. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. An analysis published by Yahoo Finance argues Sazerac's thirty-two-dollar-a-share cash bid runs into Brown-Forman's dual-class structure, with Class A holders able to block any change of control. Pernod Ricard has finalised a deal as the NFL's official spirits sponsor, led by Jameson and including ready-to-drink rights, at around twenty million dollars a year, per sources cited by Sports Business Journal. The Drinks Business reports wildfires have advanced towards the outskirts of Bordeaux, with experts fearing this year's vintage could be damaged by smoke taint. Alcohol consumption per adult in Ireland fell more than two percent last year, extending a long-running decline, according to a new report covered by Just Drinks. And finally, Diageo's Indian arm, United Spirits, has agreed to buy a ten percent stake in the maker of what The Spirits Business calls India's first limoncello, a company that also produces a Korean-style soju.