A strong performance by Guinness and a successful Christmas campaign on spirits saw Diageo volumes grow 6% in Great Britain for the six months to 31 December.
The drinks giant said that net sales were up 5% with market share gains delivered across spirits, beer and wine.
"This was a result of a successful Christmas campaign on spirits and strong performances from Guinness and wine, particularly Blossom Hill," said chief executive Paul Walsh.
"Price/mix was negative, reflecting a higher proportion of spirits sold on promotion in the off-trade, partly offset by the positive impact of price increases on Guinness and Blossom Hill."
Its marketing spend was focused on the "Be There" Smirnoff campaign and the 250th celebration of Guinness.
In the Guinness homeland of Ireland, sales were down 10% due to a reduction in customer spend. Sales in the on-trade plummeted by 14% and overall volume and net sales declined by 9% although it did gain market share in the on-trade in both beer and spirits.
Overall, Diageo said it was now in the "early stages of recovery" as it reported that net organic sales for the second quarter down 2% and operating profit down 3% for the half.
"As we had anticipated this was a challenging six months," said Walsh. "The economic and consumer environment remained weak in many markets and we faced a difficult comparison against Q1 last year yet the second quarter did show a return to growth.
"While pricing opportunities have been limited and the performance of our standard priced brands has been stronger than that of our premium priced brands, our diversity, through category and brand range and our wide geographic reach, means that overall price/mix has been maintained.
He added: "We are in the early stages of recovery with more encouraging signs in the emerging and developing markets."
"We are maintaining our guidance for low single digit organic operating profit growth for the full year."