Despite difficult economic conditions, Guinness UDV Ireland has reported a 3 per cent rise in annual operating profits to €245 million, in line with expectations.
But a slowdown in the economy and a decline in visitor numbers caused sales to slip by 1 per cent to around €1 billion.
"The market is less buoyant than last year or the year before," Guinness assistant managing director Mr Clive Brownlee said yesterday.
"It's a pretty tight and challenging market and it's likely to continue," he said.
Tight control of costs, particularly overheads, had allowed the company to report higher operating profits, according to Mr Brownlee.
Good growth of 6 per cent in the company's spirits business again offset a decline of almost 2 per cent in beer volumes.
Guinness volumes were down 3 per cent during the year although the company said it had managed to stem the decline.
Increased advertising and marketing and an investment of more than €40 million in the quality of the product slowed the decline in stout volumes to 2 per cent in the latter half of the year from 4 per cent in the first half.
Guinness' lager brands, Budweiser and Carlsberg, performed well with volumes of both up by 2 per cent.
Carlsberg benefited in particular from the World Cup marketing campaign and its sponsorship of the Irish team.
On the spirits side, its Baileys brand remained a star, recording 10 per cent volume growth worldwide with sales in Britain and Italy proving especially strong.
The company said the drink was now the number-one liqueur in the world, selling 5.7 million cases annually.
The Guinness Storehouse visitor centre also turned in a healthy performance, reporting 16 per cent growth in visitor numbers despite a 5 to 10 per cent drop in the number of tourists.
Guinness's parent company Diageo, which is the world's biggest spirits group, reported a 3 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits to €3.2 billion.
The British-based group, which includes Johnnie Walker scotch and Smirnoff vodka among its brands, reported organic drinks sales growth of 9 per cent and operating profits growth of 13 per cent.
