India one of Diageo's focus areas for global growth: CEO Ivan Menezes
MUMBAI: Diageo Plc, the world's largest spirits company, has picked India as one of its three focus areas that will drive growth in fiscal 2017. The maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch and Smirnoff vodka said a stepped-up focus on US spirits, scotch and India, will lead to a further improvement in performance. Diageo's confidence that focus on these three can boost performance underpins the guidance it has given for mid-single digit top line growth and 100 bps of margin improvement for the three years ending fiscal 2019. "Our third area of focus for fiscal '17 is India where consumer dynamics are fuelling premiumisation. In fact, we view the market as three Indias with consumers across all income levels on a journey through our brands," Ivan Menezes, chief executive at Diageo, said on Thursday during an investor presentation. Brands of United Spirits that Diageo acquired three years ago now account for almost 40 per cent of the parent's sales volume and 9 per cent of net sales. "India is nearly a tenth of our sales. Category growth is strong and USL is now a business in good shape to grow share," Menezes said. India is among the most important top-line growth drivers for both Diageo and French beverages rival Pernod Ricard, contributing 25-35 per cent of total growth for these firms in the next three years. Pernod Ricard's portfolio is exclusively focused on the more profitable premium Indian whiskies, dominating the segment with about 48 per cent market share. USL has historically been incentivised on volume growth...29-07-2016
