Diageo’s tumbler has been half-empty for quite some time. The Smirnoff and Guinness maker, once a growth machine, has looked sluggish for the duration of chief executive Ivan Menezes’ three-year reign.
Now, at last, there are signs the good times are rolling again at the world’s biggest spirits producer. Time to break out the Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker, perhaps.
That sentiment will doubtless be shared by investors. Diageo has been among the biggest winners in the post-referendum flight to safe-haven consumer goods stocks. It has also been boosted by the slump in the pound against the dollar; the US is Diageo’s biggest market. Its shares closed on Friday at £21.07, close to an all-time high.
Beneath the Brexit bump, though, Diageo is starting to