Diageo has chosen not to comment on speculation today that new CEO Dave Lewis is looking to restructure the senior levels of the group’s employee structure.
A report published by The Financial Times today (20 February), claims that Lewis (above), who started with the brand owner at the start of January, is “planning to replace several members of the company’s 14-person executive committee”. The article cited “two people familiar with the matter” as its source.
Home to the likes of CFO Nik Jhangiani and CMO Cristina Diezhandino, the executive committee also features the regional heads for Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America & Caribbean and North America.
While one of the FT’s sources said Lewis could look to “strip out entire layers of Diageo’s management”, the other claimed he is planning to push through “wholesale change”.
A spokesperson at the group’s London headquarters told Global Drinks Intel today that Diageo would not be commenting on the report.
“Lewis spent his first six weeks in the job hosting town halls with staff and jetting between Diageo’s global offices, including in the US and India,” the FT added in its report. “He asked local teams to present him with a review of their businesses, said people familiar with his itinerary.”
Lewis will make his first results-related appearance for Diageo on Wednesday (25 February), when the group will report numbers from the three and six months to the end of December – its fiscal Q2 and H1, respectively. The Johnnie Walker owner, which reverted to reporting results on a quarterly basis from half-yearly in May last year, saw sales in fiscal 2025 (to the end of June) rise by 1.7% on 2024, when its sales were flat at -0.6%.
For the same two annual periods, rival Pernod Ricard delivered sales declines of 3% (for fiscal 2025) and 1% (in fiscal 2024).
