Diageo Plc’ share price down, reports lower Thanksgiving sales and slowing growth in the U.S. spirits industry

The largest liquor manufacturer in the world, Diageo Plc, reported its Thanksgiving sales, which came short of projections, as its growth in the US spirits industry declined. As a result, the companys shares fell the most in eight months in London trade.

North America is the largest and most profitable market of the U.K.-based Diageo. It is responsible for generating about one third of the companys annual sales estimated to £10.26 billion ($16.13 billion).

The President of the companys operations in North America, Larry Schwartz, said during a conference call with Diageos shareholders, cited by Bloomberg: “Thanksgiving sales were OK, but not as strong as we would have hoped.”

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Schwartz also added: “Our view, based on all the data and feedback from our distributors, is that industry sales growth has slowed.”

The U.K.-based companys growth in the U.S. slowed over the past year amid fierce price rivalry. The turbulent economic recovery in the region is also considered as one of the reasons behind lower sales across the industry, with companies reducing the prices of their premium products.

President Schwartz also said in a statement, cited by Reuters that North America is not expected to deliver “anywhere near as much margin improvement” as it has over the past two years, when margins increased by 300 basis points.

According to the companys statement, the sales growth of the industry during the last 12 months was within the range from 3% to 3.5%. Diageo, which is scheduled to report its first-half results on January 29th, also stated it expects its sales in the region over the first six months of the current fiscal year to be broadly flat in comparison with the same period a year earlier.

Diageo Plc lost 0.07% to trade at GBX 1 789.77 per share as of 9:20 GMT, marking a one-year drop of 7.4%. The company is valued at GBP 45.02 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 21 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Diageo Plc have a median target of GBX 1 950, with a high estimate of GBX 2 400 and a low estimate of GBX 1 500. The median estimate represents a +8.88% increase from the last price of GBX 1 791.