Shares in Diageo were down on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading ahead of the drinks group's full year results, due out tomorrow.

The group, which owns brands such as Guinness and Johnnie Walker, saw organic net sales increase by 12 per cent during the third quarter. Diageo said at the time that it expected low single digit organic profit growth for the full year.

Diageo has recently been focusing on cost savings and has been seeing improvements in its developed markets. However concerns remain about how the group will perform in the still challenging market in North America.

Keith Bowman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said, "The company expects to benefit from cost savings while exchange rate fluctuations will remain a concern. Management guidance of 'low single digit growth' in 2010 is expected by analysts to be on target. Ahead of the announcement, consensus market opinion currently indicates a buy."

By 14:10 shares in Diageo were down 1.58 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 1,059.00 pence per share.

FTSE