PARIS (MarketWatch) -- Spirits giant Pernod Ricard SA Thursday unveiled a 3% drop in fourth quarter revenue, hurt by the strong euro and a slowdown in consumer spending in the U.S. and Western Europe. The company, nonetheless, increased its full-year earnings guidance and said it now expects an increase of "about 13%" in operating profit from ordinary activities for the financial year to end-June. It previously targeted an increase of "at least 12%." In the fourth quarter, Pernod Ricard's revenue dropped to EUR1.5 billion from EUR1.54 billion a year earlier, in line with expectations of a revenue EUR1.51 billion, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts. Organic growth rate in the fourth quarter stood at 7%, above analysts' expectations of a 7.1% rate and compared with a growth of 5.5% a year...
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