Diageo could make “substantial changes” to its product portfolio in the form of asset disposals, CFO Nik Jhangiani said today (19 May).

Speaking to analysts, Jhangiani said Diageo had identified opportunities to offload assets that were different in scope to the deals the Johnnie Walker maker had conducted in recent years.

“Clearly we see through our reviews that we’ve been doing internally and with the board some opportunities for what I would call substantial changes versus portfolio trimming,” Jhangiani said.

“I can’t say any more than that but clearly it’s going to be above and beyond the usual smaller brand disposals that you’ve seen over the last three years.”

Diageo has offloaded assets including rum brands Cacique and Pampero and Safari liqueur. The group has also sold assets in Africa, although in October it reportedly called off the sale of its Pimm’s gin-based liqueur after failing to secure an agreement with potential buyers.

Jhangiani was speaking after Diageo announced plans to save around $500m in costs over the next three years.

The Tanqueray maker said the move would help the company invest in “future growth” and improve its “operating leverage”.

Diageo said the cuts were part of a broader initiative – dubbed ‘Accelerate’ – that will see “a shift in how we do business”, including developing a “more agile global operating model”.

Under the plans, the UK-listed group also said it expects to generate around £3bn free cash flow a year from its 2025/26 fiscal year.

Asked where the $500m in savings would come from, Jhangiani pointed to Diageo’s “trade investment”, its spending on A&P, overheads and the company’s supply chain.

“The … piece … around overheads. We’ve highlighted in the release how we want to think about our operating framework and model choices to really leverage our scale but continue to build a much more agile and resilient [company] but then drive efficiency and effectiveness how we do things,” he explained.

Jhangiani said Diageo plans to provide more detail on the Accelerate programme in August, when the company is scheduled to report its full-year financial results.

He added: “Our supply teams continue to do a great job as we look at offsetting inflationary pressures but there’s also broader efficiency plays that we’ll be looking at within supply and part of that goes back to some of the work that the team has done with the supply agility programme, so those will start coming through as well.”

Just Drinks has approached Diageo to ask what impact the savings plan could have on jobs.