(Bloomberg) -- UK distiller Diageo Plc has hired Nik Jhangiani to be its new chief financial officer, replacing Lavanya Chandrashekar after a period of disappointing performance.
Jhangiani is currently CFO at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners — known as CCEP — and will join Diageo's board and executive committee in the fall, the company said Friday.
The maker of Johnnie Walker whiskey and Smirnoff vodka has been reeling from a slowdown in the US, its biggest market. In November, it issued a surprise sales and profit warning, saying that sales in Latin America and the Caribbean would fall by around a fifth.
Debra Crew took over as chief executive officer last year and Diageo announced in March that John Manzoni would become chairman.
Read More: Diageo Disappoints Investors Again as Sales Drop in Americas
Diageo has posted strong growth figures for several years, fueled by its premium positioning. But high inflation and mortgage rates have stretched consumer budgets and dampened demand, raising questions about its strategy.
The distiller's shares rose 1.6% in early trading in London on Friday, giving the company a market value of about £61.6 billion ($77 billion).
The company's recent weak performance has “reflected questions around financial communication and some perceived missteps from senior management,” RBC analyst James Edwardes Jones wrote in a note, adding that the new appointment will likely be “moderately well received” by the market.
--With assistance from Tiago Ramos Alfaro.
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