Marketing

Guinness sales up 2%

It's been a good six months for Guinness.

Overall sales of Guinness rose by 5% in value and by 2.1% in volume here in the six months to the end of November 2015 – thus not including December’s Christmas sales (unlike Diageo plc) – according to a statement from Diageo Ireland released in conjunction with Diageo plc’s results for the six months to the end of December 2015.

Off-trade sales of Guinness rose 7.9% but Diageo Ireland did not release a figure for on-trade Guinness sales. However sales of its agency beer brands were down 6% here while sales of all Guinness-branded beers – stout, Hop House13, West Indies and Dublin Porters –  were up 1.4% in the on-trade, it stated.

Guinness appeared to grow its share of the on-trade beer market by 5.5% in the six months to the end of November 2015 reporting a new beer market share of 34.5% from 32.7%. So Guinness now accounts for more than one in every three pints of beer purchased in a pub here.

Diageo Ireland’s net sales of spirits here were down 6% which Diageo’s Country Director for Ireland Oliver Loomes ascribed to “channel restructuring”.

Guinness also gained share and increased its net sales in Great Britain by 4% while globally net sales of Guinness increased 9%.

Sales of Baileys grew 0.9% in volume here in the six months to the end of November 2015 increasing volume by 3.6% in the on-trade.

Globally Baileys increased net sales by 6% mainly driven by growth in the UK and US with sales of Baileys showing growth of 14% in the UK in the six months to the end of December 2015.

Diageo plc announced a rise in Operating Profits of 2% based on an organic growth in sales of 1.8% with a 1.0% growth in volumes.


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