By Michael Susin

Diageo PLC said Thursday that pretax profit rose in the first half of fiscal 2023, supported by better-than-expected sales volumes due to higher prices, and raised its dividend payout.

The London-based maker of Johnnie Walker scotch whisky, Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka made a pretax profit of 3.06 billion pounds ($3.73 billion) for the six months ended Dec. 31 compared with GBP2.72 billion the prior year.

The company said that organic net sales grew 9.4%, above the company-provided market consensus estimate of 7.9%, reflecting organic volume growth of 1.8% and a positive price/mix of 7.6% mainly driven by price increases across all regions.

It added that super-premium-plus brands organic net sales grew 12%.

Net sales rose to GBP9.42 billion from GBP7.96 billion the prior year. A consensus estimate taken from FactSet and based on three analysts' projections saw Diageo's net sales at GBP9.22 billion.

Operating profit came in at GBP3.16 billion compared with GBP2.74 billion a year earlier.

The board declared an interim dividend of 30.83 pence a share, up from 29.36 pence declared a year ago.

Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2023 02:42 ET (07:42 GMT)

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