By Ian McConnell
Drinks giant Diageo has announced the sale of Archers, the Peach Schnapps brand, to De Kuyper Royal Distillers of the Netherlands.
Diageo said it had, as part of this transaction, agreed a 24-month manufacturing supply agreement with De Kuyper Royal Distillers.
John Kennedy, Diageo’s president for Europe, said: “We are committed to creating value for all our stakeholders through delivering consistent and efficient growth, including actively shaping our portfolio towards opportunities that will maximise growth over the long term.
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"We take a disciplined approach to capital allocation and this announcement continues our track record of active portfolio management.”
Diageo said that the transaction would not have a material impact on its earnings per share.
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Mark de Witte, chief executive of family company De Kuyper, said: “We want to own the peach category. With Peachtree we do so in a number of important cocktail markets, but in [the] UK the peach category is historically owned by Archers.
“We had the choice to keep competing with Archers or to try to acquire Archers and add the brand to our premium liqueur portfolio. We decided to do the latter.”
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