The FTSE 100 company, which owns brands including Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and Smirnoff said organic net sales rose 0.3% in the three months to 31 March, ahead of analysts’ expectations of a 2.3% decline.

Reported net sales climbed 2.3% to $4.48 billion (c. £3.29bn), with volumes up 0.4% and price/mix down 0.1%. Shares jumped more than 6% in early trading following the update.

The result marks an early win for chief executive Sir Dave Lewis, who took the helm in January and is working on a strategy to revive the ailing spirits group amid a wider sector slowdown. He is due to share his full strategy alongside the full-year results on 6 August. The previous half-year update in February saw Sir Lewis slash the dividend, sending the share price down 13%.

The standout performances came from emerging markets and Europe. Latin America and Caribbean net sales surged 16.2%, with price/mix up 5.6% and Brazil delivering double-digit volume growth.

Africa was the strongest region, with organic sales up 17.1% on the back of double-digit growth in both East Africa and Southern, West and Central Africa. Both regions benefited from distributors ordering in extra product ahead of the football tournament, alongside favourable Easter timing.

European sales rose 8.8%, led by Guinness in Britain and Ireland, with the stout delivering double-digit net sales growth and helping push regional price/mix up 2.6%. Scotch also performed strongly, with Johnnie Walker driving gains across the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye.

These gains masked a sharp deterioration in North America, which accounts for around 38% of group net sales and roughly half of profits. Organic sales in the region fell 9.4%, with US Spirits down 15.4% – about five percentage points weaker than depletions, reflecting tough comparatives from last year’s pre-tariff pull-forward of imports and tequila restocking.

Tequila itself fell by double digits as competitive pressure and category softness took hold. The Diageo Beer Company USA was a rare bright spot, growing 9.1% on the strength of Smirnoff RTD and Guinness.

“North America remains our biggest challenge, where market conditions are soft and our offer needs to be more competitive,” Sir Lewis said. “Actions are already under way to address this.”

He has signalled a shift away from the premiumisation strategy of the past decade, indicating Diageo will need to lower prices, invest in mass-market formats and push into ready-to-drink cocktails.

Asia Pacific sales dipped 0.8%, with double-digit declines in Chinese white spirits offsetting low-single-digit growth in international premium spirits, the latter helped by the later timing of Chinese New Year. Chinese white spirits weakness alone shaved roughly 0.6% off group net sales.

Diageo reiterated its full-year guidance, expecting organic net sales to fall 2-3% and organic operating profit to be flat to up low-single-digit, including around $300 million (c. £220m) in savings from its Accelerate programme. Free cash flow is forecast at $3bn (c. £2.2bn), up from $2.7bn (c. £2bn) last year.

The group also confirmed plans to dispose of its Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket franchise and its stake in East African Breweries, with both transactions intended to reduce leverage.