Proactive Investors - Diageo PLC (LON:DGE) has cautioned of continued weakness in the global alcoholic drinks market in a brief trading update ahead of today’s annual general meeting.
Chief executive Debra Crew said: "Our expectations are unchanged from when we reported our fiscal 24 preliminary results on 30 July 2024.
“The global environment remains challenging for both our industry and Diageo.
“While consumers continue to be cautious in this environment, we are focused on strengthening the resilience of our business through operational excellence, productivity and strategic investments to win quality market share.”
In the July preliminaries, Diageo guided towards organic net sales growth of between 5% and 7%.
Today’s comments echo what was said then, with management warning that a cautious consumer environment and geopolitical uncertainty will weigh on sales and cause organic operating margin compression.
Diageo’s shares fell to their lowest level since the pandemic following that update. They remain 11% lower year to date at 2,497p.
Negative pricing trends saw UBS slap a sell rating on the stock earlier this week.