It's been a pretty quiet start to 2011, as I'm sure you can judge from last week's story suggesting that Diageo might be close to flogging Guinness. Maybe it will use the proceeds to buy Moet, or perhaps even a recession-hit country.

The world's largest drinks maker goes into the year with its powder dry and a large number of prospective targets.

Inevitably, it's a combination that has investment bankers drooling and bored hacks, ahem, egging them on to some extent by clutching at 'what if' scenarios. As an outsider, you might imagine Diageo to be aggressive and ravenous, eager to swallow any morsel within reach at the mergers and acquisitions table.

The rather dull reality, however, is that Diageo is a relatively cautious beast. It's not only CEO Paul Walsh's northern England roots that make the company careful with money, it's also the group's pole position on the world spirits market. Diageo hardly lacks ambition, but it goes about its takeover business in an understated fashion.

Look at the group's strategy in China, where it is pursuing a drip-drip approach to acquiring control of Shui Jing Fang. Blockbuster deals have not been Diageo's style. A point to remember, perhaps, as we muse at the next round of drinks sector consolidation.

In the news last week, for what it's worth, just-drinks reported that the organisers of Vinexpo see no crisis of confidence in the global wine sector. A few days earlier, Constellation Brands revealed the dire state of profitability at Hardys in Australia.

Brewers in Russia are facing tougher sales curbs, according to local reports. Meanwhile, we charted the rise and rise of Vimto on the international soft drinks scene.

Until next time...

Olly Wehring
Managing Editor
Web: http://www.just-drinks.com
Email: editor@just-drinks.com
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