Adds earnings details in paragraphs 1, 4-5

By Dominique Vidalon and Emma Rumney

PARIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Pernod Ricard PERP.PA on Thursday reported declining sales across all five of its priority business units in the first half of its fiscal year, as weak consumer demand and destocking in the U.S. and China weighed.

A 5% sales fall in the second quarter, however, was not as bad as the 7.6% contraction reported in the first quarter, thanks to improving dynamics in India and in global travel retail, the group said.

The second-biggest Western spirits group behind Diageo DGE.L said it continued to expect its fiscal 2026 to be a transition year, with improving sales trends to be skewed towards the second half of the year.

The company, which has launched a restructuring plan to cut costs that entails saving 1 billion euros between its 2026 and 2029 financial years, vowed to "defend our organic operating margin to the fullest extent possible."

All spirits companies have suffered with the end of the post-COVID-19 sales boom. The situation was recently exacerbated by tariffs on cognac imports in China and on EU goods entering the United States.

Pernod - which owns Martell cognac, Mumm champagne and Absolut vodka - reported sales of 5.25 billion euros ($6.19 billion) in the six months to December 31, marking a like-for-like decline of 5.9%, broadly in line with the 5.7% expected by analysts according to a company-compiled consensus.

Operating profit fell 7.5% in the first half on a like-for-like basis. Analysts expected a 7.7% fall.

Longer-term, Pernod Ricard said it was targeting organic net sales growth of between 3% and 6% per year on average, for fiscal year 2027 to 2029, with an annual organic operating margin expansion, supported by its cost cutting programme.

The company's fiscal year runs from July 1.

($1 = 0.8579 euros)