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THE OWNER of Guinness and the world’s biggest producer of alcoholic drinks, Diageo, has recorded rising third-quarter sales, aided by a strong performance in the United States – but also revealed a sharp slowdown in key emerging markets.
Group sales, excluding acquisitions, disposals and currency effects, grew 4.0 per cent in its third quarter, or the three months to the end of March, Diageo said in a trading update.
That compared with a 6.0 per cent increase in the same part of its previous financial year. Volumes meanwhile slid 1.0 per cent.
Market expectations had been for sales growth of 5.0 per cent, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Diageo added that sales meanwhile increased by 5.0 per cent in the nine months to the end of March.
Over the same period, North America sales rose 6.0 per cent, up from 5.0 percent a year earlier.
Asia Pacific sales meanwhile gained just 4.0 percent over the nine months. That contrasted with 10-percent growth in the previous fiscal year.
On a nine-month basis, Diageo also posted a combined 9.0 per cent increase for Africa, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Latin America and Caribbean sales soared 14 per cent, despite weakness in Brazil, while Western Europe sales dropped 4.0 per cent.
Diageo added that its Asia Pacific performance was hit by the timing of price increases and the decline of the Scotch whisky market in South Korea.
“Our performance in the quarter was robust and again demonstrates Diageo’s strengths, global reach and category breadth and depth,” added chief executive Paul S Walsh in the statement.
“Therefore despite consumer weakness in three markets, Korea, Nigeria and Brazil, Diageo’s performance for the nine months is in line with the first half and our expectations.
“Strong performance from our biggest business, US spirits; the continued growth of spirits in Africa; share gains across our markets in Asia Pacific and double digit growth of Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Buchanan’s, and Tanqueray are the highlights of the quarter.
“Given our market positions and geographic diversity we remain confident that Diageo’s performance continues to be in line with our medium term guidance.”
The British brewing giant’s key products include Baileys liqueur, Captain Morgan rum, Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Tanqueray gin. Almost 40 per cent of Diageo’s business is in emerging markets.
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Richard Boyd Barrett supports central planning, a Soviet style system of economic organization that impoverished countless millions, that is incompatible with democracy and economic prosperity. Why does Mr Barrett think that out of the millions of economists in the world, not even a handful agree with the ‘learned analysis’, of this secondary school left wing English teacher? It irrelevant to Mr Barrett that capitalism and private enterprise has improved the standard of living of the ordinary man more than anything else; its relevant to Mr Barrett that the most capitalistic country in Latin America is the most rich, has the lowest corruption level, has the highest GDP, highest real income per capita, lowest amount living below the poverty line, lowest infant mortality rate, etc its irrelevant to Mr Barrett that Hong kong and Singapore are among the richest countries in the world with higher incomes that Sweden, Germany, France, the Uk etc etc; its irrelevant to Mr Barrett that millions have been taken out of ineffably atrocious poverty in China with the implementation of free-market capitalistic reform, its irrelevant to Mr Barrett that the poor is capitalistic countries are wealthier than the average people in state socialist countries or that obesity is more of a problem among the poor in capitalistic countries than among the rich. Barrett doesn’t care that prices don’t allocate resources in a socialist economy, that they don’t reflect supply and demand, that they don’t reflect scarcity; Barrett doesn’t care that socialism kills incentives to innovate, and for economic growth, kills the right to set up a business, and creates endless waste and dead weight loss, monumental shortfalls in total surplus; in fact he doesn’t care about facts, or the truth, he knows what he likes and doesn’t want to hear anything else; don’t little little things like the evidence or truth get in the way of his endless inarticulate regurgitation of yesterdays fallacies of central planning, soviet nostrums, erroneous assumptions and emotion-laden invective. A backbench ranter with laughable views.
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