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Diageo has minimize its dividend and new chief government Sir Dave Lewis pledged to “act more decisively” to show across the struggling drinks big as it reported sliding sales and earnings.
Lewis on Wednesday stated the FTSE 100 firm’s board had “taken the difficult decision to reduce the dividend to a more appropriate level”.
He added the modifications would create “financial flexibility” for Diageo “to act more decisively to enhance its competitiveness” and broaden its portfolio.
Diageo minimize its dividend from 103.5 cents a share for its 2025 monetary yr to a minimal of fifty cents a yr going ahead.
It got here as the group reported a 4 per cent fall in web sales to $10.5bn for the ultimate six months of 2025, amid weak point within the US and China. It stated tariffs had been partly chargeable for a 1.2 per cent decline in working revenue, which fell to $3.1bn.
Lewis, whose popularity for cost-cutting earned him the nickname “Drastic Dave”, has taken over Diageo after a tumultuous interval on the maker of Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan.
When he began, Lewis grew to become Diageo’s third chief government in lower than three years. Debra Crew departed final summer time after the board did not quash hypothesis that her chief monetary officer, Nik Jhangiani, was angling for her job on the helm of the world’s greatest spirits maker.
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