The 2026 reporting period is a defining moment for Diageo. The group is navigating a transition in global demand while recalibrating its financial priorities. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Sir Dave Lewis, the company has started a rigorous operational review and a programme to strengthen the balance sheet.

Interim results for the first half of fiscal 2026, ending 31 December 2025, showed the effects of a cooling spirits market in mature regions. North America slowed significantly, while the white spirits category in China faced structural hurdles. Reported net sales for the half-year were 10,460 million dollars, a 4.0 per cent decrease from the previous year. Organic net sales fell 2.8 per cent, with divestitures further impacting the total as the group prunes its portfolio. Organic volume dropped 0.9 per cent. A more significant signal was the negative price/mix of 1.9 per cent, suggesting that the post-pandemic trend of consumers buying more expensive bottles has stalled. People are now looking for better value.

A third-quarter trading statement from May 2026 showed early signs of stabilisation. Reported net sales for the quarter grew 2.3 per cent to 4,477 million dollars, helped by adjustments for hyperinflation in some markets. On an organic basis, net sales rose 0.3 per cent, which was better than the 2.3 per cent decline analysts had expected. This modest recovery came from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. These regions offset the persistent high-single-digit declines in the North American spirits market.

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A Milestone in the Structural Recovery of Estée Lauder

The third fiscal quarter of 2026 is a significant marker in the long-term recovery of the Estée Lauder Companies. After years of volatility caused by the rebalancing of Asian travel retail and changing consumer sentiment in luxury markets, the results for the period ended 31 March 2026 indicate a move towards margin expansion and operational efficiency. This analysis examines recent earnings data, operational shifts, and competitive signals to assess the organisation's health and trajectory in the global prestige beauty sector.

The quarter was defined by the tension between strong demand for luxury fragrance and high-end skin care in Mainland China and the difficulties of retail rebalancing in North America. Reported net sales grew by 5 per cent to 3.71 billion dollars, compared with 3.55 billion dollars in the prior year period. Organic growth was 2 per cent when excluding foreign currency, acquisitions, and divestitures. The adjusted operating margin expanded to 15 per cent, an increase of 360 basis points, suggesting that the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan, known as the PRGP, is yielding structural savings sooner than expected. Management has also raised full-year guidance, indicating confidence during a period of leadership and cultural transformation.

Adjusted diluted net earnings per common share rose 40 per cent to 0.91 dollars, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 0.66 dollars. The PRGP facilitated this by reducing non-consumer-facing expenses, enabling greater investment in marketing and product launches. The adjusted gross margin rose 140 basis points to 76.4 per cent, as the benefits of the recovery plan and better sales leverage offset the costs of tariffs and inflation. Net cash flow for the first nine months reached 1.197 billion dollars, a 78 per cent increase from the 671 million dollars reported in the previous year.

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The group is moving away from a multi-year phase of portfolio pruning toward a multi-billion euro expansion strategy. Financial results released on 7 May 2026 show a company navigating currency volatility and inflationary pressures in raw materials while maintaining organic growth. Total sales volume reached approximately 5.0 billion euros. This performance relies on a dual focus on high-tech industrial adhesives and premium consumer brands.

The headline figures for the first quarter of 2026 indicate a nominal decline in sales of 5.5 per cent, falling from 5.242 billion euros in the previous year to 4.952 billion euros. This contraction resulted from external factors rather than operational issues. Foreign exchange effects, specifically the weakening of the U.S. dollar against the euro, reduced reported turnover by 5.2 per cent. When adjusted for these factors and the impact of acquisitions and divestments, the group achieved organic sales growth of 1.7 per cent, which exceeded analyst expectations of 1.1 per cent.

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Corporate restructuring and the Kimberly-Clark merger signal a fundamental shift in the global consumer health landscape.

The start of the 2026 fiscal year represents a defining era for Kenvue as it operates at the crossroads of a significant corporate transformation and a volatile global macroeconomic environment. The first quarter results, reported on 7 May 2026, provide the final comprehensive insight into the company’s standalone health before its anticipated integration with Kimberly-Clark later this year. During this period, Kenvue demonstrated a resilient financial profile, characterised by an ability to expand margins and exceed earnings expectations despite facing volume headwinds and seasonal category weakness. The company's performance signals a marketplace increasingly prioritising operational efficiency and pricing discipline over raw volume expansion, a trend echoed across its primary competitors.

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A Bold Pivot Toward Global Snacking Leadership

The strategic separation aimed to create a pure-play global leader capable of navigating the high seasonality and capital-intensive nature of the frozen snacks market with greater agility. As of early May 2026, the company has completed its first full fiscal year as an independent entity and reported its first-quarter results for 2026, providing a critical window into the effectiveness of the standalone model. The performance indicates a successful transition period, characterised by volume-led growth and a decisive pivot toward emerging markets, even as the company manages significant debt and complex governance challenges.

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Growth at any cost is still a mantra. But toxic growth creates more problems than it solves.

In part two of the chat with François Bazini, the host continues a conversation about “toxic growth” and why CMOs fail, arguing that marketers often chase glamorous, short-term levers, flavour “innovations,” promotions, ill-conceived category moves, or new consumer targets that look good on paper but poison brands, instead of doing the harder work of growing the core. François illustrates toxic growth through Ribena’s decline from a top UK brand in 2015 to outside the top 100 by 2022 after shifting away from families, launching non-credible flavoured water and sparkling RTDs, and becoming promotion-dependent. They discuss how companies mismanage brands, avoid postmortems, and misread success, citing Celsius’ growth as driven largely by a competitor’s delisting and a COVID-era shift to no-sugar. He also predicts that successful CMOs must both strengthen core brand growth and build disruptive new brands.

00:00 The types of Growth

00:43 Fake Innovation and Incentives

02:26 Defining Toxic Growth

06:33 Ribena Case Study Breakdown

26:46 Future of the CMO

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The global brewing industry entered a phase of significant structural transition in the first quarter of 2026. This period has been defined by the stabilisation of consumption volumes and an aggressive pursuit of premium value. Anheuser-Busch InBev reported its first-quarter financial results on 5 May 2026, revealing resilient performance that exceeded market expectations across several key categories. Amid a volatile macroeconomic backdrop characterised by persistent inflationary pressures and shifting consumer preferences, the Group achieved total organic revenue growth of 5.8 per cent, reaching 15,267 million USD. This growth was underpinned by a 0.8 per cent increase in total volumes, representing the first positive volume movement for the Group since mid-2023.

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The global consumer healthcare sector reached a definitive inflexion point at the start of May 2026. The transition of major pharmaceutical conglomerates toward pure-play consumer entities is now largely complete, and the focus has shifted from demerger execution to operational excellence. Haleon PLC, following its separation from GSK and Pfizer, has entered a critical phase of its Win as One strategy. This plan aims to reconcile the agility of a fast-moving consumer goods company with the scientific rigour of its pharmaceutical heritage. This analysis reviews Haleon’s performance through the fiscal year 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, synthesising financial data and competitive signals to assess its standing as a premier global giant in the field.

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The industry is moving away from the inflationary pricing cycles that defined the years between 2023 and 2025, entering a more complex phase focused on volume-led recovery. Colgate-Palmolive emerged from the first quarter of 2026 with a performance that demonstrates the resilience of its core oral care franchises alongside the mounting pressures of a renewed commodity super-cycle.

While the company achieved its fourth consecutive quarter of record net sales, reaching $ 5,324 million, the internal dynamics of this growth reveal a notable divergence. Momentum is surging in emerging markets while North America continues to face persistent execution hurdles. This analysis synthesises recent financial results, strategic pivots, and competitive signals to outline the organisation’s current trajectory within the broader industry.

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Under the stewardship of Chief Executive Officer Fernando Fernandez and Chief Financial Officer Srinivas Phatak, the organisation has prioritised the execution of its Growth Action Plan, which focuses on high-performing Power Brands and operational simplification. This report synthesises the latest financial disclosures, market signals, and competitive benchmarks to provide a comprehensive overview of the business's current strategic standing and future trajectory.

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The Clorox Company is currently traversing a transformative period defined by the intersection of a multiyear digital overhaul and a significant structural pivot towards professional hygiene. The fiscal third quarter of 2026, which concluded on 31 March 2026, presents a complex financial narrative in which reported earnings-per-share improvements are set against a backdrop of systemic operational adjustments and a recalibrated annual outlook. This assessment explores the underlying mechanics of the results, the strategic rationale behind recent capital allocations, and the broader shifts in consumer behaviour that are currently reshaping the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

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The strategic trajectory of Molson Coors Beverage Company in early 2026 is defined by a significant transition. The organisation is currently working to decouple volume growth from value creation, moving away from its legacy brewing roots to become a diversified, multi-category beverage powerhouse under its Horizon 2030 framework. Recent performance highlights a story of operational resilience. Despite structural shifts and persistent volume declines in core markets, aggressive cost management and pricing discipline have successfully protected the bottom line.

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From Chief Marketing Officer to Chief Growth Officer.

New Label or New Reality? What’s the future of marketing?

Filiberto interviews François Bazini, former CMO Europe at Suntory, about how the CMO role is changing and why some companies relabel it as a Chief Growth Officer. François recounts his global FMCG career (Danone, PepsiCo, Suntory) and contrasts functional marketing leadership with P&L general management, arguing that strong CMOs act as “brand CEOs” who own trade-offs across top line, bottom line, capital, and time horizons. He says CMOs often fail by avoiding ROI discussions or shifting spend to only what’s easily measurable, overemphasising short-term activation over long-term brand building. He also argues that CMOs must be brand stewards while improving ROI credibility by reframing returns around equity and pricing power, and advises marketers to build both “PowerPoint and Excel” skills and to speak the finance, supply chain, HR, and commercial languages.

00:00 Meet François Bazini

02:42 From CMO to P&L Leader

06:00 Brand CEO Mindset

10:56 ROI Trap and Brand Stewardship

23:08 Chief Growth Officer: The Future

What Is Actually Driving Profitable Growth Today?

Our next executive workshops are designed to answer that question directly.

In a confidential, small-group setting, we combine current research, structured frameworks, and open discussion focused on your specific challenges.

Each one-hour session addresses a single strategic issue — Volume vs. Value, Demand Spaces, Shrinking for Growth — with the aim of moving beyond tactics and clarifying where growth is truly coming from, and where it is not.

Reserve your Spot

A Strategic Transition for a Resilient Future

The first quarter of 2026 marks a period of significant operational testing and strategic transition for the Nestlé Group. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Philipp Navratil, the organisation has formalised a shift away from the pricing-heavy growth models that characterised the post-pandemic inflationary era. In its place, the leadership team has implemented a framework that prioritises real internal growth, defined as the combination of volume and product mix.

The results published for the three months ending March 2026 demonstrate a resilient underlying demand for the group’s core billionaire brands. This performance was nevertheless moderated by a global precautionary recall of infant formula and persistent currency headwinds that affected reported figures. Total reported sales for the period reached CHF 21.3 billion, a 5.7 per cent decrease compared to the same period in the prior year. This reduction in headline revenue was primarily dictated by foreign exchange movements, which subtracted 9.3 per cent from the total, alongside the fiscal consequences of the recall in the nutrition category. Despite these external pressures, the organisation achieved an organic growth rate of 3.5 per cent, exceeding the consensus expectations of 2.4 per cent held by market analysts.

The core narrative for the first quarter centres on the tension between robust momentum in the coffee and confectionery sectors and the temporary disruption in the specialised nutrition business. Nestlé reported organic growth of 3.5 per cent, a figure that is notable given that it incorporates a negative impact of approximately 90 basis points from the global infant formula recall. Real internal growth returned to positive territory at 1.2 per cent, suggesting that consumer demand is beginning to stabilise following the aggressive pricing actions taken during 2024 and 2025. This return to volume growth is a critical signal for the board, indicating that the strategic pivot to investment-led demand is beginning to yield results.

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The first quarter of 2026 marks a landmark period for The Coca-Cola Company, characterised by a significant leadership transition and a robust financial performance that defied a volatile global macroeconomic backdrop. Under the newly inaugurated leadership of Chief Executive Officer Henrique Braun, the organisation reported net revenues of $12.5 billion, representing a 12 per cent increase over the prior year, with organic revenue growth reaching 10 per cent. This growth was underpinned by a 3 per cent increase in global unit case volume, led by strong performance in key markets including China, the United States, and India. However, while the headline figures suggest a position of strength, a granular analysis of the results reveals a nuanced narrative of regional disparities, significant commodity pressures, and a strategic pivot toward digital and functional category expansion.

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Mondelēz International’s performance in the first quarter of 2026 highlights a business in a state of structural transition, successfully defending its top-line revenue through aggressive revenue growth management while absorbing significant, albeit largely transitory, margin pressures. The reported net revenue of 10.08 billion dollars represents a year-on-year increase of 8.2 per cent, exceeding market analysts' consensus expectations by approximately 3.38 per cent. This growth comprised a 3.0 per cent organic net revenue increase, bolstered by 3.5 percentage points of pricing, slightly offset by a 0.5 percentage point decline in volume and mix. These figures indicate that the organisation is currently reliant on its pricing power to navigate a volatile commodity environment, particularly in the cocoa market, where costs have historically been elevated.

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The termination of merger negotiations between Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman on 28 April 2026 represents a critical inflexion point for the global fast-moving consumer goods sector, specifically within the premium spirits category. This report provides a comprehensive synthesis of the strategic landscape, operational drivers, and competitive signals that defined this potential merger of equals and the subsequent shift in market sentiment following its collapse. The landscape in which these two giants operate is currently undergoing a structural realignment, with volume contractions in mature markets offset by aggressive premiumisation and the rapid ascent of ready-to-drink categories. While the potential combination promised a global colossus capable of challenging the historical dominance of Diageo, the operational realities of 2026, characterised by trade wars, inventory adjustments, and a pivot in Gen Z consumption habits, created significant hurdles that ultimately proved insurmountable under the proposed economics.

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The fiscal third quarter of 2026 marks a defining period for the Procter & Gamble Company as it navigates a transition in executive leadership amid heightened geopolitical instability and shifting consumer purchasing patterns. For the first time in a year, the company has delivered volume-led organic sales growth, a critical indicator that its strategy of integrated superiority is successfully countering the demand elasticity typically associated with inflationary pricing cycles. However, the financial architecture of the quarter reveals a delicate balance, where robust top-line acceleration and substantial productivity gains are partially offset by a billion-dollar headwind from tariff-related costs, energy inflation, and logistics disruptions. This report provides an exhaustive synthesis of the company's operational performance, market drivers, and competitive standing within the broader fast-moving consumer goods, or FMCG, landscape.

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The start of the 2026 fiscal year marks a historical inflexion point for Keurig Dr Pepper. Operating within a global fast-moving consumer goods environment defined by heightened geopolitical risk, volatile commodity cycles, and a fundamental shift in coffee consumption habits, the company has reported first-quarter performance that balances core domestic strength with the heavy financial lifting of a transformational international acquisition. The reporting period ending 31 March 2026, and the subsequent events of April 2026, reveal a business moving with strategic urgency to separate its North American liquid refreshment beverage portfolio from a newly expanded global coffee powerhouse. This analysis synthesises the latest earnings data, operational drivers, and competitive signals to provide a nuanced understanding of Keurig Dr Pepper's current standing and its trajectory toward the planned corporate separation in 2027.

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Nicotine Products are not a smoking cessation category anymore.The Blurring Boundaries of Nicotine. And that changes everything.

Nicotine pouches show this shift clearly.

They look less like medicine and more like mints.

Consumers prefer formats that don’t make them feel like patients.

In this episode, Filiberto interviews Joel Rubenstein, an LBS alumnus and consumer health veteran, about his consumer health career and the evolution of nicotine products. Rubenstein explains why tobacco companies are moving into cessation/harm reduction: nicotine is both the addictive problem and the cessation ingredient, it is hazardous to manufacture, and cigarette sales are declining. He contrasts highly regulated pharmaceutical players with rapidly innovating non-pharma products (vapes, gums, strips, and especially nicotine pouches), predicting recreational products will outcompete pharma’s. He stresses policymakers often wrongly equate tobacco with nicotine, notes inconsistent regulation (e.g., marijuana legalisation vs pouch bans), and warns unethical marketing, teen targeting, and ultra-strong pouches could trigger backlash, arguing for stronger retailer/supply-chain accountability and self-policing.

00:00 Meet Joel Rubenstein

00:45 From Pfizer to Nicotine

03:11 How Nicotine Evolved

23:37 Pouches vs Pharma Products

35:54 Ethics Regulation and Wrap

What Is Actually Driving Profitable Growth Today?

Our next executive workshops are designed to answer that question directly.

In a confidential, small-group setting, we combine current research, structured frameworks, and open discussion focused on your specific challenges.

Each one-hour session addresses a single strategic issue — Volume vs. Value, Demand Spaces, Shrinking for Growth — with the aim of moving beyond tactics and clarifying where growth is truly coming from, and where it is not.

Reserve your Spot