Diageo is also parent to Red Stripe.

Sales in Russia and through duty-free outlets also declined markedly during the period, Diageo's third fiscal quarter, the company said in a trading update.

"We think Q3 may have represented the peak of the distributor destocking process in the US, meaning the sales performance may start to improve going forward," said Sam Hart, analyst at Charles Stanley and Co.

He rated the shares as "accumulate."

For the nine months ending March 31, Diageo said sales were flat on a comparable basis.

"As we anticipated trading in markets around the world has weakened in the second half of the fiscal year," said Paul Walsh, Diageo's chief executive.

"Despite this more challenging trading environment we continue to forecast organic operating profit growth for the year ended 30 June 2009 in the range of 4-6 per cent," he added.

-AP