Diageo Faucets ‘Drastic Dave’ as New CEO

Come new 12 months, and Diageo, the UK-based alcohol big, will toast the arrival of Sir Dave Lewis, its new CEO. After the abrupt departure of Debra Crew in July, Diageo board members regarded for the uncommon candidate who might revive the maker of Guinness beer, Johnnie Walker whisky, Don Julio tequila, Smirnoff vodka, Baileys Irish Cream—all in all, greater than 200 manufacturers offered in 180 nations.

Wall Road buyers applauded Lewis’s selection after they heard the information final month. In a single day, the stock-market worth of Diageo elevated by £2 billion (about $2.62 billion).

Buyers love the consumer-packaged items veteran, nicknamed “Drastic Dave” who spent virtually three a long time at Unilever. They anticipate this turnaround knowledgeable will as soon as once more strike gold, as he did at Unilever and later at grocer Tesco.

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Lewis, 60, is aware of he’ll face what he calls “some headwinds.” Diageo suffers from a excessive debt degree—$22 billion on the finish of June—and declining gross sales. After Covid-19 boosted alcohol gross sales, shoppers’ tastes advanced. The rise of weight-loss medicine threatens alcohol gross sales. Inflation doesn’t assist, and the US and Chinese language markets are starting to falter. However Lewis sees “important alternatives” forward.

The brand new CEO, who’s quitting his submit as chair of Haleon, the multinational shopper healthcare firm that makes Sensodyne, is understood for cost-cutting and progressive advertising and marketing. At Unilever, he’s remembered for slashing jobs and initiating a daring advert marketing campaign for the private care model Dove, that includes on a regular basis girls somewhat than fashions. 

In 2014, he grew to become Tesco’s CEO. On the time, an accounting scandal that had overestimated its earnings by £250 million plagued the corporate. Lewis didn’t hesitate. He lower 1000’s of jobs, simplified product ranges, lowered costs, and diminished Tesco’s worldwide ambitions. The grocery store chain was saved, and its CEO was knighted in 2021.   

What might be his cocktail of treatments for Diageo? Professionals are already speculating: revive gross sales talks for well-liked Guinness, or do away with smaller regional manufacturers, akin to Chinese language Baijiu or Brazilian Ypioca Cachaca? Buyers are awaiting what Drastic Dave’s new 12 months’s resolutions might be.