Diageo cheered a 3.5% rise in full-year operating profits in its self-styled “turnaround” year, The Financial Times writes. That was the description Ivan Menezes, chief executive, used for the 12 months to June 30, in which the group reversed three years of slowing organic profits and sales growth. In a separate article The FT said “Diageo’s hangover starts to lift”. “There were cocktails, dance music and a party mood in Soho, London, on Thursday. This was no club, but the central London offices of Diageo, the world’s largest distiller.”
Beer sales rose in the second quarter of the year, helping to reverse a decade of decline, The Telegraph reports. Britons drank 31 million more pints between April and June than in the first three months of the year, as beer sales rose 1.5pc, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.
French hypermarket group Carrefour reported better-than-expected underlying profit for the first six months of the year despite sales in its domestic market remaining challenging. Recurring operating profit was €706m in the six months to the end of June, 5.3% higher at constant exchange rates than a year earlier (The Financial Times).
Dozens of migrant workers at gourmet burger chain Byron Hamburgers have been arrested in an immigration raid, sparking a public backlash against the company, says The Independent.
Sports Direct shares have soared in their biggest one-day gain since 2009 after the company unveiled a £90m share buyback (The Telegraph). It follows a damning report by MPs into workplace practices which concluded that founder Mike Ashley turned a blind eye to “appalling conditions” at the retailer.
Amazon has reported double-digit retail sales growth over the past quarter with net sales accelerating 31% in the three months to the end of June, beating forecasts, with a total of $30.4bn helped by a $166m uplift from currency movements (The Telegraph).
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