Diageo
Fall in sales in China 20%
When you are faced with figures as bad as those in Diageo’s first quarter, it is tempting to ask whether the management is bust or the markets in which it operates are. In Diageo’s case, it looks like the latter.
Paul Walsh, the previous chief executive, seems to have timed his exit to perfection, handing over to Ivan Menezes in July last year. Since then, emerging markets have been ravaged by the fall of local currencies, which has taken cash out of the pockets of consumers by putting up the prices of essential imported goods; China’s authorities have embarked on an anti-corruption drive, which has meant fewer sales of expensive imported brands such as Johnny Walker to grease