Diageo, the world's largest seller of alcoholic drinks, raised a glass on Monday to growth in some of its main markets, defying uncertain conditions in the consumer sector worldwide.

With brands including Johnie Walker's whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Guinness beer, Diageo said its trading for the six months to December 31st, 1998 had been in line with expectations.

It also expressed confidence in meeting the cost savings targets it had set for itself at the time of its creation in 1997, out of the merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness.

Chairman Mr Tony Greener said: "In the important markets of Europe and the U.S. we continue to make progress. ...We expect to generate organic growth for the full year."

The US markets were closed for Martin Luther King Day