HIGHLIGHTS

	2002	2001	% growth
Turnover	£1,704m	£1,457m	17
Trading profit	£313m	£277m	13
Profit before tax	£251m	£236m	6
Normalised earnings per share	17.2p	16.1p	7
Basic earnings per share	21.6p	15.2p	42
Dividend	4.9p	4.5p	9
Marketing investment behind Spirits & Wine	£204m	£161m	27
Cash flow from operating activities	£382m	£179m

Profits and normalised earnings are stated before goodwill and exceptional items. The post tax benefit of the Mexican excise rebate for the six months was £74m and has been treated as an exceptional item.

Allied Domecq's Chief Executive, Philip Bowman, said: "We have continued to deliver good profit growth, with normalised earnings per share up 7%, whilst investing heavily in the future of the business. Allied Domecq is building a strong platform for sustainable future growth.

"While we continue to build the future growth of our business, we recognise that we have some short term challenges. These include lower volume performances than we had planned from some of our core brands, particularly in the US. We have taken action over the past few months to correct the situation and key brands are showing a good recovery of market share over the past sixteen weeks.

"We have significantly strengthened our brand portfolio through targeted acquisitions and are building equity in our brands with a double digit increase in investment in advertising and promotion. We have launched new campaigns for Ballantine's and Stolichnaya. Importantly, our investment in innovation is starting to deliver results with new ready-to-drink beverages and a new cream liqueur, Tia Lusso. Malibu will make an excellent addition to our brand portfolio and we look forward to receiving regulatory clearance shortly.

"The second half of the fiscal year is meeting our expectations and we are confident in the underlying trends within the business. We anticipate that we will continue to deliver earnings growth for the full year while continuing to invest strongly behind our brand portfolio and implementing the programme to improve the US supply chain announced in October last year."

KEY POINTS:

Comparative information here and in the Operating and Financial Review is based on constant exchange rates.

WE ARE:

-- Investing to build a platform for sustainable future growth by acquisition, innovation and the continued improvement of operational effectiveness

-- Delivering organic profit growth (up 2%) in Spirits & Wine (total up 13%)
o Total investment in advertising and promotion up 27% (organic up 12%)

-- Improving operational effectiveness by:
o Addressing short term volume challenges
o Commencing the US supply chain improvement project, at a cost of £8m
o Increased productivity
o Launching new marketing campaigns for key brands
. Integrated "Go play" campaign for Ballantine's
. New "See what unfolds" campaign for Stolichnaya
o Continuing to deliver profit growth in Quick Service Restaurants - up 14%
. Strong same store sales growth
. Dunkin' Donuts up 6% and Baskin-Robbins up 7%
o Maintaining our focus on our people agenda

-- Significantly strengthening the brand portfolio through targeted acquisition
o Agreement to purchase Malibu and Mumm Cuvée Napa
o Formation of a leading global wine business continued with the acquisition of Bodegas y Bebidas
o Integration of acquisitions on track

-- Successfully developing consumer-led innovative products to drive growth
o Launch of new ready-to-drink range
o New cream liqueur - Tia Lusso

-- Accelerating the benefit of the Mexican excise rebate with a profit after tax benefit of £74m (treated as an exceptional item)

INTERNET:
Corporate information can be downloaded from the website at www.allieddomecq.com. A webcast of the presentation to analysts will be available on this site at 09.30 GMT.