Global sales of Guinness fall as Irish and Nigerian beer markets decline

Global sales of Guinness fell by 1% during the second half of 2013, mainly due to declining beer markets in its traditional core regions of Ireland and Nigeria.

Despite this, however, the iconic stout’s parent company, Diageo, enjoyed a near 2% annualised jump in group net sales over the six months, which mark the first half of the company’s financial year.

The London-headquartered drinks giant yesterday reported net sales of just over £5.93bn (€7.2bn) for the six months to the end of December — 1.8% up on the same period the previous year. Despite a 1% decline in sales across western Europe (albeit an improved performance), the group enjoyed a near 5% sales increase in North America and a 1.3% rise in first-half sales in emerging markets.