Diageo issues trading statement ahead of AGM 2018

Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive, commented:

“The year has started well and performance is in line with our expectations. We continue to execute our strategy with discipline and agility and despite seeing increased volatility in some markets we continue to expect organic net sales growth in F19 to be broadly in line with last fiscal year and consistent with our medium-term guidance of mid-single digit growth.

We are focused on delivering both growth and efficiency, allowing us to continue to reinvest in the business to support the long-term growth of our brands. We continue to expect to grow organic operating margins in line with our guidance of 175bps of margin expansion in the three years ending 30 June 2019.

In recent weeks, we have experienced some increased emerging market foreign exchange volatility, which has been partially offset by a strengthening of the dollar. Based on current rates^* we currently expect exchange to have a negative impact on net sales of £175m and a negative impact on operating profit of £45m for the fiscal year”.

^*Rates £1=$1.32, £1=€1.13