250th birthday boost for Guinness sales

High-profile marketing campaigns to highlight the 250th anniversary of Guinness helped hold steady sales of the 'Black Stuff' in the UK, according to Diageo, the brand's owner.

Reporting its annual results today, the drinks giant said despite the general decline in beer volumes across the on-trade Guinness had outperformed the category with what it called "broadly flat net sales", boosted by its 'Bring It to Life' and '250th Celebration' campaigns.

Diageo said it had achieved its highest ever share of the UK on-trade beer market, eight per cent, thanks to the campaigns.

The group's overall volumes and net sales in the UK in the year to June 30, 2010, rose nine and two per cent respectively, fuelled, it said, by double digit growth in wine and spirits.

It said spirits sales had been boosted by continued promotions in the off-trade, although it was at pains to stress that "key Diageo brands continued to sell at a price premium relative to their category".

While it noted that the 'ready to drink' market was in decline and that its Smirnoff Ice was the main victim of this trend, Diageo said sales of its 'premix cans' rose 28 per cent in the UK, "making spirits more accessible to the at-home consumer".

Commenting on the group's numbers, Paul Walsh, Diageo's chief executive, said: "As expected this has been a year of challenges and opportunities. Our performance was much stronger in the second half than in the first: our performance in the developing markets drove overall growth while markets in North America and Europe remained weak.

"The impact of the global economic crisis varied by market and the strength of the recovery appears to be equally variable.

"However, as we demonstrated this year, the global diversity of our business, together with the strength and range of our brands and the agility we have demonstrated gives us confidence that in fiscal 2011 we will be able to improve on the organic operating profit growth we have delivered this year."

Diageo's results at a glance

Turnover: £12.96bn (up 5.4 per cent)

Operating profit: £2.8bn (up 7.7 per cent)

Pre-tax profit: £2.2bn (up 12.5 per cent)

Earnings per share (pre-exceptionals): 72p (up 13 per cent)

Full year dividend: 38.1p (up 5.5 per cent)