Guinness growth offers bright spot for Diageo

A bright spot for Diageo has been the surging performance of Guinness, chief executive Debra Crew said when announcing the group’s six-month results to the end of December.

Net sales of the group’s beer division including Guinness grew by 14% with strong increases in all regions except Asia Pacific. Volumes increased by 3%.

Nuno Teles, the managing director of Diageo’s GB arm, said that the 9% increase in six-month sales in the UK had been led by demand for Guinness, whose net sales grew by
24%.

Guinness, he said was now the best-selling beer in the on-trade and off-trade combined.

He said the stout was “broadening its consumer base” with women especially taking to the brand.

Demographics

Sales to females grew by 24% while uptake among the 18 to 24 age group overall was growing the most rapidly.

Chief Executive Debra Crew pointed out that global volumes of the non-alcoholic Guinness 00 doubled in the second half of last year and that it now makes up 4% of Guinness output at the St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin.

And Teles revealed that the Nitro Surge device for pouring the perfect pint from special cans of Guinness was the “Number One” alcohol accessory selling on Amazon in Britain and Europe.

East Africa

Crew declined to confirm or deny rumours that some Diageo beer brands such as Smithwick’s and Harp lager in Ireland and Tusker in East Africa were up for sale.

“We never comment on market speculation”, she said, while confirming that Diageo constantly examines the contribution of every brand in its portfolio to the earnings it generates on the capital employed and the profit it generates.

Two of its fastest growing brands, the Don Julio and Casamigos tequilas, had been bought in the past decade, she said, while Archers peach schnapps was sold last year.