Tequila maker Diageo axes sales target on Trump tariffs [Video]

Diageo, the maker of Guinness stout and Johnnie Walker whisky, scrapped Tuesday a key performance target with President Donald Trump’s tariff plans set to sour its US sales of tequila and Canadian spirits.

The British group, whose brands include also Smirnoff vodka, Baileys liqueur and Captain Morgan rum, has in recent times been impacted by inflation-suffering consumers swapping its premium brands for cheaper beverages.

In an update Tuesday, Diageo said that “given the current macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty in many” key markets, a medium-term guidance for organic net sales growth of between five to seven percent had been axed.

Trump’s moves to slap levies on imports from Canada, China and Mexico — while threatening to do the same across Europe — adds “complexity in our ability to provide updated forward guidance”, Diageo chief executive Debra Crew said in a statement that revealed a fall in first-half net profit.

She added …