In recent years Diageo has restructured in a bid to improve performance and streamline its portfolio, exiting non-core business and underperforming labels, while trying to bulk up on newer, hipper brands. Diageo recently sold 19 lower-end brands including Seagrams VO Canadian whisky for $550 million, as it focuses on faster-growing products such as Johnnie Walker Scotch or Casamigos tequila, George Clooney's brand, which Diageo took over in 2017. The company said it booked an exceptional pre-tax gain of 154 million pounds on the divestiture. Diageo reported net sales of 6.91 billion pounds ($9.07 billion), up 7 percent on an organic basis, for the six months ended Dec. 31, above analysts' average expectations for organic net sales to grow 5.5 percent. It reported earnings of 77 pence per share, excluding one-time items, also higher than the expected 71.4 pence, according to a company-supplied consensus.