The company behind the Johnny Walker brand has said net sales have increased by 6%, barely a year after it closed its bottling facility in Kilmarnock with the loss of 700 jobs.
Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, 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. However, even though markets and categories have been affected in different ways and to differing degrees, we have been consistent in our focus to deliver growth and build a stronger business for the future.”
The company saw its operating profit rise to £2.57bn £2.4bn in the year ending June 30 2010, up from £2.4bn over the same period last year.
Walsh added: “We increased marketing in growing categories, delivering 5% organic net sales growth in scotch and 5% organic net sales growth in beer, and in growing markets with organic marketing spend up 13% in International, and behind our leading brands especially Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Captain Morgan. As a result we have outperformed and delivered share gains across most of our biggest markets.
