Diageo reaffirms medium-term guidance

Drinks giant Diageo reaffirmed its medium-term guidance on Monday ahead of an investor conference in London.

The owner of Guinness, Smirnoff and Pimm's said the year has continued well and its expectations of delivering a stronger financial performance this year is unchanged. It remains confident of achieving its medium-term objective of consistent mid-single digit organic top line growth and 100 basis points of organic operating margin in the three years ending fiscal 2019.

Chief executive Ivan Menezes said: "With the consumer at the heart of the business, improved insight and measurement has supported better brand building and innovation while ensuring we stay ahead of emerging consumer trends. "Our everyday focus on efficiency enables us to invest more behind the growth of our brands. I am pleased with the continued progress in more disciplined execution and the improved agility we have across Diageo."

In January, Diageo reported a 15% jump in sales for the six months to the end of December to £6.42m, as operating profit rose 28% to £2.06m and the interim dividend was lifted 5% to 23.7p per share.

Diageo said at the time that sales and profit were driven by a favourable exchange and accelerated organic growth.

At 1425 BST, the shares were up 0.8% to 2,296p.