DIAGEO, THE world’s biggest distiller by revenues, has reported a slowdown in sales in Asia in the past quarter – becoming the latest multinational to suffer performance deceleration in usually fast-growing markets.
Diageo, maker of Guinness, Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka, said organic net sales in the quarter to end-September in Asia Pacific rose just 2 per cent against overall growth of 5 cent.
The company said South-East Asia and China had performed well, especially in Scotch, and instead attributed the deceleration to weakness in South Korea and in Indian vodka sales, along with a technical postponement of duty free sales into the second quarter.
Diageo’s best performance in the quarter came from Latin America and the Caribbean, where organic net sales rose 16 per cent year-on-year. Despite weakness in Nigeria, Africa was also strong, up 11 per cent.
In Europe, where the economic downturn has depressed spending across the consumer goods industry, sales shrank by 1 per cent. However, in the US sales rose 6 per cent. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)
