Drinks multinational Diageo has announced its preliminary results for 2017, as key brands such as Guinness continue to prosper.
Headquartered in London, Diageo is the world’s largest producer of spirits, with the likes of Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan and Smirnoff among the 200 plus brands operating under its banner. There was a 3% rise in sales across Great Britain and a 7% rise across Continental Europe as a whole.
Charles Ireland, Diageo General Manager for Great Britain, Ireland and France, issued a detailed statement appraising the results.
“This year has seen our GB business grow market share in both the on and off-trade,” he stated.
“We have focused on three areas: building the performance of our core brands – like Baileys, Guinness and Gordon’s – growing our reserve business which continues to enjoy double digit growth and through our ongoing work to innovate on new and existing brands to provide UK consumers with new propositions to match their evolving tastes.”
Globally, Guinness net sales have climbed by 2%, a rise attributed to the influence of Hop House 13, the lager product of which 25 million pints have been bought across Ireland since its 2015 launch.
Net sales of Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker both went up 6%, but Smirnoff went down by 1%. Overall Diageo’s reported net sales (£12.1 billion) and operating profit (£3.6 billion) are up 15% and 25% respectively.
Chief Executive Ivan Menezes also commented on the results.
He said, “We have delivered consistent strong performance improvement across all regions and I am pleased with progress in our focus areas of US Spirits, Scotch and India. Diageo is a strong company today and we are confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth. We are raising our productivity goal to £700 million with two thirds being reinvested in the business.”