London, May 15, 2026, 16:04 BST
- Diageo is letting go of senior executives, with CEO Dave Lewis pushing ahead on his turnaround plan.
- Reports say the company plans to merge its Europe and Africa divisions.
- Weak sales in North America triggered the move, just ahead of Lewis’s full strategy update slated for August.
Diageo plc is set to lose several top executives, with North America chief marketing and innovation officer Ed Pilkington, Africa president Hina Nagarajan, and chief human resources officer Louise Prashad all on their way out. The shake-up comes as new CEO Dave Lewis moves forward with broad changes at the Guinness and Johnnie Walker parent, according to Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the situation.
These shifts are coming into focus as Lewis shifts gears from identifying problems to actually making moves. Diageo is still working to shore up investor confidence after disappointing sales, a trimmed dividend and a steep drop in its share price. The trouble spot remains North America.
Diageo plans to merge its Africa and Europe businesses into a single division, according to the Irish Times, which quoted someone present at a staff meeting. The company wouldn’t comment, the paper added.
Lewis, who stepped in as CEO in January, hasn’t sugarcoated things for investors, admitting that “North America remains our biggest challenge” and that Diageo’s offerings in the region “need to be more competitive.” Last week, the company reported organic net sales up just 0.3% for the fiscal third quarter—those figures exclude currency swings and sales from divested businesses. North America? Sales dropped sharply, down by a high-single-digit percentage. Diageo
Diageo shares picked up 1.77% to reach 1,526.5 pence late in the London session, Investing.com data showed. Still, the stock has dropped 28.9% over the last year.
The move comes a little more than a week after Diageo reiterated its outlook for fiscal 2026: organic net sales are expected to fall 2% to 3%, organic operating profit growth should range from flat to low single digits, and management is sticking to roughly $3 billion in free cash flow. Lewis is set to outline his updated strategy when full-year results drop on Aug. 6.
There are a few bright spots. United Spirits, the Indian arm of Diageo, saw fourth-quarter profit jump about 27% on Thursday, driven by stronger demand for its premium brands, according to Reuters. Praveen Someshwar, the CEO, pointed to a policy change in Karnataka that could “provide a fillip to the premiumisation journey” in the region. Reuters
The competitive landscape remains uneven. Earlier this month, Reuters noted that with Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman dropping their merger discussions, the chance of a new, bigger No. 2 player has faded for now. Still, HSBC’s Carlos Laboy flagged a different challenge for Diageo—he called the group a “poor market leader.” Reuters
Still, the risks loom large. Swapping out company leadership won’t necessarily revive sluggish U.S. demand, fix frayed ties with distributors, or win back budget-minded shoppers overnight. Diageo is also pointing to geopolitical jitters—the Middle East conflict, for one, could push up costs tied to energy, supply and distribution.
Lewis faces a tougher measure now: do executive departures actually speed up decisions out in the regions, or just trim the headquarters? Investors know this turnaround story. Come August, they’ll be expecting hard numbers, not another org chart.
