Half Year 2021 Diageo PLC Earnings Call - Q&A Session Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Laurence Bruce Whyatt - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Analyst : Ivan and Kathy, 3 from me, if that's okay. First one, just building on Sanjeet's question around the U.S. Obviously, we've seen quite significant changes in consumer behavior during the pandemic with a significant shift to the off-trade. As we emerge from the pandemic and the on-trade start to reopen, do you believe that the underlying market -- the underlying spirits market has reached a new base, and therefore, we can grow from the levels that we saw during calendar 2020? Or do you think as people return to the on-trade and return to their places of work and the like, there will be perhaps a set of difficult comps that we'll be facing during the 2021 year? My second question is on India. Obviously, we saw a lot of changes in regulation and, in particular, tax increases. What do you think will be the impact of those tax increases on the prices in India? And therefore, will we see some price volume elasticity following those price increases? And do you think any of that would be able to be offset by the changes in e-commerce that you outlined? And then finally, you've made some acquisitions in the gin market. Obviously, gin has been anticipated as a category for growth in the U.S. We haven't seen so much evidence of that over the past few years. Is there anything in particular that has made you think that gin is a much more attractive category in recent months than it has been over the past few years?