Diageo announces 2020 preliminary results, reports profit decline of 47.1%
Diageo global has announced its 2020 preliminary results, recording a consistent first half performance significantly impacted by Covid-19.
According to the report, net sales of £11.8 billion were down 8.7%, driven by organic declines. The company reported operating profit (£2.1 billion) declined of 47.1%, driven mainly by exceptional operating items and organic net sales.
“Organic net sales were down 8.4%, with growth in North America more than offset by declines in all other regions, while organic volumes were down 11.2%.
“Organic operating profit was down 14.4%, ahead of organic net sales, driven by volume declines, cost inflation and unabsorbed fixed costs that were partially offset by short term cost reductions and ongoing productivity benefits,” the report said.
The report put the solid cash flow delivery with net cash from operating activities at £2.3 billion, £0.9 billion lower than prior period and free cash flow at £1.6 billion, £1.0 billion lower than prior period, in each case largely due to lower organic operating profit, lower dividends from associates, one-off tax impacts and increased working capital use.
“Measures have been put in place to reinforce Diageo’s already solid liquidity, including pausing the current three-year return of capital programme, bringing forward a £2.0bn USD bond issuance launched in April 2020 and putting in place an additional committed credit facility of £2.5 billion.
“Exceptional operating items included non-cash impairment charges of £1.3 billion. These were in India, Nigeria, Ethiopia and on the Windsor brand in Korea, reflecting the impact of Covid-19 and challenging trading conditions.
Diageo said basic eps of 60.1 pence decreased by 54.0% primarily due to exceptional operating items, while pre-exceptional eps declined 16.4% to 109.4 pence, driven primarily by lower operating profit.
However, the final recommended dividend of 42.47 pence per share is the same as the final dividend for fiscal 19, which brings the full year dividend for fiscal 20 to 69.88 pence per share, an increase of 2%.
Commenting on the results, Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive of Diageo, commenting on the results said: “Fiscal 20 was a year of two halves: after good, consistent performance in the first half of fiscal 20, the outbreak of Covid-19 presented significant challenges for our business, impacting the full year performance. Through these challenging times we have acted quickly to protect our people and our business, and to support our customers, partners and communities.
“The actions we have taken to strengthen Diageo over the last six years provide a solid foundation to respond to the impacts of the pandemic. We are now a more agile, efficient and effective business.”
He continued: “We have taken decisive action through the second half of fiscal 20, tightly managing our costs, reducing discretionary expenditure and reallocating resources across the group. We are further enhancing our data analytics and technology tools to rapidly respond to local consumer and customer shifts triggered by the pandemic. We have strengthened liquidity, giving us flexibility to continue to invest effectively in the business for the long term.
“While the trajectory of the recovery is uncertain, with volatility expected to continue into fiscal 21, I am confident in our strategy, the resilience of our business and am very proud of the way our people have responded. We are well-positioned to emerge stronger.”
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