London, May 15, 2026, 16:04 BST
- Diageo is parting ways with senior executives as CEO Dave Lewis presses a turnaround plan.
- The company will combine its Africa and Europe divisions, according to reports.
- The move follows weak North American sales and comes before Lewis’s full strategy update in August.
Diageo plc is parting ways with several senior executives, including North America chief marketing and innovation officer Ed Pilkington, Africa president Hina Nagarajan and chief human resources officer Louise Prashad, as new CEO Dave Lewis pushes a wider overhaul of the Guinness and Johnnie Walker maker, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The changes matter now because Lewis is moving from diagnosis to action. Diageo has been trying to steady investor confidence after weak sales, a lower dividend and a sharp fall in its share price, with North America still the main sore spot.
The company will also combine its Africa and Europe divisions into one unit, the Irish Times reported, citing a person who was at an employee meeting. Diageo declined to comment, the newspaper said.
Lewis, who took charge in January, has already told investors that “North America remains our biggest challenge” and that Diageo’s offer there “needs to be more competitive.” The company said last week that organic net sales, meaning sales adjusted to strip out items such as currency moves and disposals, rose 0.3% in its fiscal third quarter, while North America fell by a high-single-digit rate. Diageo
Diageo shares were up 1.77% at 1,526.5 pence in late London trading, according to Investing.com data. The stock remains down 28.9% over the past year, the data showed.
The reshuffle lands just over a week after Diageo said it would keep its fiscal 2026 guidance unchanged: organic net sales down 2% to 3%, organic operating profit growth flat to up low single digits, and about $3 billion in free cash flow. Lewis is due to present a strategy update alongside full-year results on Aug. 6.
There are some offsets. In India, Diageo’s United Spirits posted a roughly 27% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by demand for premium brands, Reuters reported. CEO Praveen Someshwar said a policy shift in Karnataka could provide “a fillip to the premiumisation journey” in the state. Reuters
The competitive picture is mixed. Reuters reported this month that collapsed merger talks between Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman removed the near-term risk of a larger No. 2 rival, though HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy said Diageo’s bigger issue was that it had been a “poor market leader.” Reuters
But the risks are not small. A management shake-up may not quickly repair weak U.S. demand, distributor relationships or pressure from cost-conscious consumers. Diageo has also flagged geopolitical uncertainty, including the Middle East conflict’s possible impact on energy, supply and distribution costs.
For Lewis, the next test is whether executive exits lead to faster decisions in local markets, not just a slimmer head office. Investors have heard the turnaround case before. By August, they will want numbers, not just new reporting lines.
