Guinness sales continue to fall

THE smoking ban and a shift to drinking at home left sales of Guinness flat in the first half of the year.

The brewer said sales of the black stuff have fallen once again and that the move to staying in rather than going to the pub will continue to impact on volumes, which fell 6% between January and June.

Sales of the company’s other key brands, which include Budweiser, Carlsberg, Smithwicks and Smirnoff vodka, declined over the period. Sales of spirits also dropped, though the company blamed this on the hike in duty since December 2002.

Charles Coase, finance director of Guinness Ireland, said it was likely that the company would see a further fall in sales in the coming months as many people would be deterred from pubs in the winter with the smoking ban.

The parent company of Guinness, Diageo, yesterday reported that Irish sales in the first half of the year grew just 1% to £961 million (€1.3 billion) helped by prices hikes and the strength of the euro. Excluding these gains, turnover from brand sales was £28 million (€41 million) lower.

Operating profits fell 4% to £126 million (€182 million) for the period. Any benefits of the favourable exchange rate were wiped out by a £15 million restructuring charge.

While sales in Ireland were lower, Guinness said its exports had rise by 21% and would rise further.

Overall, Diageo unveiled pre-tax profits before one-off costs of £2.07 billion (€3.04 billion) for the year to June 30, which was down from £2.19 billion last year.

Operating profits were up 7% to £1.87 billion (€2.7 billion), which included £50 million of restructuring costs.