JAMESON whiskey maker Pernod Ricard reported full-year 2014/15 underlying profit growth of 2 percent on Thursday, slightly below analysts' expectations, thanks to cost cuts and improving cognac sales in China. Parent Pernod Ricard, the world's second-biggest spirits group behind Britain's Diageo, handed investors a 10 percent dividend hike, although a 404 million euro impairment charge on its Absolut vodka, which faces lower U.S. growth, weighed on net profit.