** Shares in Remy Cointreau RCOP.PA rise around 6% after the French spirits group said it was confident of returning to growth in the second half of the year
** New CEO Franck Marilly says he will focus on five levers to restore growth, notably reorganisation, rebalancing commercial resources and reevaluating investments
** "Marilly delivers a clear-eyed diagnosis of the group's context and challenges," says Sarah Thirion, analyst at TP ICAP Midcap
** H1 group sales are in line with expectations at 489.6 million euros ($567.35 million) while operating profit fell 13.6% to 108.7 million, a smaller drop than expected
** If gains hold, shares of Remy will post their biggest one-day rise since July 25; up to Wednesday's close the stock was down some 35% this year
** Shares in its peers, Pernod Ricard PERP.PA , Campari CPRI.MI , Diageo DGE.L are up between around 1.5% and 2.8%
($1 = 0.8630 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro)
((gianluca.lonostro@thomsonreuters.com;))