Drinks firm Diageo, which owns brands including Guinness and Johnnie Walker, says it faces a "challenging" market after seeing little change in profits.
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Asia Pacific, which has been a source of strong sales, was hit by the loss of the firm's South Korean licence.
Other regions helped offset the loss, with strong demand for scotch in Latin America and beer in Africa.
Total net sales at the company rose 7%.
"We enter the new financial year facing slowing global gross domestic product (GDP) growth and more challenging global economic trends," said Diageo's chief executive Paul Walsh.
Even so, he said the firm believed it could "deliver organic operating profits growth for the coming year within our range of 7% to 9%".
While pre-tax annual profits fell, operating profits increased to Ј2.226bn from Ј2.159bn.
The ready to drink segment, which denotes pre-mixed drinks, "continued to be challenging" said the firm after seeing net sales fall 10%.
In particular, a 70% increase in duty on the ready to drink sector in Australia hit sales there.
The firm recently acquired 50% of Ketel vodka as part of wider plan to target higher-margin premium brands.
(BBC)
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