29th Jan 2015 07:23
LONDON (Alliance News) - Diageo PLC, the maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Captain Morgan rum, among many other drinks brands, said sales and volume improved in its second quarter, but were down for the first half as a whole, hit by slower demand in markets such as the US and China, which remained a drag on profit.
The British-based drinks giant, the world's largest spirits producer and a major producer of beer and wine, reported a pretax profit of GBP1.64 billion for the six months to end-December, lower than the GBP2.13 billion profit it reported last year.
Diageo said organic net sales were down 0.1% in the recent half year, compared to 2% growth in the first half of the year before. Net sales came in at GBP5.90 billion, compared with GBP5.93 billion the year before, while volume was down 1.9%.
"We have already taken action to improve the performance of those brands and markets that have not performed as well as we would expect. This contributed to our stronger second quarter performance and I expect to maintain this momentum through the year," said Chief Executive Ivan Menezes in a statement, citing cost savings as another supporting factor to gross margin improvements.
The group declared a 9% increase in its interim dividend to 21.5 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Diageo