.UK – Beverage giant Diageo has announced the appointment of Sonya Ghobrial as its new Global Head of Investor Relations, effective October 2024.
Ghobrial will succeed Durga Doraisamy, who announced her intentions to leave the company later this year to pursue new career opportunities.
Doraisamy joined Diageo from Starbucks in July 2021 and has transformed and strengthened the Investor Relations (IR) function during her tenure.
Under her leadership, Diageo’s shareholder register has become more diverse, with an increase in US-based holdings and additional long-term global investment firms establishing or significantly increasing their positions in Diageo’s stock.
Ghobrial, who is currently the Head of Investor Relations at Haleon, joined GSK in 2020.She has previously run her own IR consultancy for three years. Prior to this, she led IR at Heineken for over three years.
Earlier in her career, Ghobrial worked predominantly as a sell-side analyst covering the beverages sector and later the broader consumer sector at several globally-regarded investment banks.
According to Diageo, her extensive experience in investor relations and deep understanding of the beverages sector position her well to continue the progress made under Doraisamy’s leadership.
Diageo proposes price hike
In addition to the leadership change, Diageo has announced plans to raise prices on several product lines in South Korea by 18 percent starting in July.
This price hike is part of a regular portfolio review and will affect the Tequila brand Don Julio’s Blanco, reposado, and anejo varieties, as well as Scotch whisky Mortlach and single-malt Scotch brand Copper Dog.
This decision follows a period of declining whisky sales in Asia for Diageo, which implemented a voluntary retirement program for employees in South Korea earlier this year. The program aims to make the subsidiary “relevant and purpose-led” for the future.
In Diageo’s half-year results for the six months ending December 31, 2023, the company’s business in North Asia, comprising South Korea and Japan, saw net sales decline by 6 percent.
This drop was attributed to falling sales of Scotch, specifically Johnnie Walker Black Label and White Horse. The decline followed a period of strong growth in the same six-month period the previous year, as the business benefitted from the return of the on-premise post-Covid.
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