Diageo half year sales have dipped as its chief executive labelled the alcohol giant “resilient”.
Diageo’s operating profit grew 8.2% over the period, however its net sales dropped to £15.7bn, a decline of 1.4%.
The London listed drinks company said this drop was due to the impact of “unfavourable foreign exchange” and a decline in organic net sales, which fell £100.3m (0.6%).
Despite this, chief executive Debra Crew described the company as a “resilient business”.
Crew said: “While fiscal 24 was a challenging year for both our industry and Diageo with continued macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, we focused on taking the actions needed to ensure Diageo is well-positioned for growth as the consumer environment improves.
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“Diageo is a resilient business, benefitting from its global reach and unrivalled brand portfolio. With iconic brands that have been enjoyed for decades, Diageo takes a long-term view, and will continue to invest in our brands, people and diversified footprint to deliver sustainable long-term growth and generate shareholder value.”
The company added that it expects the consumer environment to remain challenging in 2025.
Diageo’s half year results come amid a difficult year for the drinks giant.
Earlier this month it sold two spirit brands in its portfolio, Pampero rum and Safari fruit liquor, in a move its president for Europe said will allow it to “concentrate on our portfolio’s core areas of strength”.
The two spirit are not the only brands the business is to have explored selling. Earlier this year, the FMCG was understood to be mulling over the sale of Pimm’s and last year, it said that it was considering selling beer brands.
In recent weeks, analysts identified the drinks titan as a prime candidate for a takeover attempt, following the company issuing a profit warning last November.
