Advertising and promotion (A&P) Expenditure on advertising and promotion of brands.

Associated undertaking An entity in which the group is able to exercise significant influence, normally by controlling more than 20 per cent of the voting rights.

BMC Brand Market Combination. For example, Ballantine’s in Spain is a BMC.

Bulk sales Sales of unbottled/unbranded spirit sold in bulk to other spirits producers.

Constant actual exchange Profits or earnings where the prior year results of operations outside the UK are stated in sterling at the current year weighted average exchange rate to give a constant measure of growth year on year.

Core 4 and next 18 brands The 4 global priority brands – Ballantine’s, Beefeater, Kahlúa and Sauza. After the Core 4 the next 18 brands are those that have a strong position in selected markets – Canadian Club, Centenario, Cockburn's, Courvoisier, Don Pedro, DYC, Fundador, Harveys, HW Liqueurs, Imperial, Lamb’s Rum, Laphroaig, Long John, Maker’s Mark, Presidente, Teacher’s, Tia Maria, US Wines.

Dividend cover Earnings per share divided by dividends per share, to assess the group’s ability to pay dividends.

Earnings per share (EPS) Profit for the year after tax and minority interests (Earnings) divided by the average number of shares.

EBIT Earnings Before Interest and Tax.

EBITDA Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation of tangible assets and Amortisation of intangible assets.

Exceptional items Gains or costs that are disclosed separately because they arise outside the normal business activity.

Foreign income dividend (FID) Dividends paid to shareholders out of foreign income remitted to the UK and on which no advance corporation tax credit is available to shareholders.

Franchising Business where individuals and/or corporations are provided with the rights to market a specific company’s goods and/or services in a designated area for a designated fee.

Gearing – enterprise value (EV) Net debt expressed as a percentage of the total of the group’s market capitalisation plus net debt.

Goodwill The difference between the price paid for an acquisition and the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired.

Market capitalisation The price of one of the company’s ordinary shares multiplied by the number of shares in issue.

Net Brand Contribution (NBC) A measure of brand profitability before overhead costs but after A&P has been allocated.

Normalised Profits or earnings before exceptional items and goodwill and excluding discontinued operations.

Punch The acquiring company of the UK Retail business.

Ready to Drink (RTD) These are drinks which are sold in a premixed format.

Reserves Mainly profits and surpluses retained within the business.

Return on investment (ROI) Trading profit after tax expressed as a percentage of the total of capital and reserves plus net debt and goodwill written off.

Same store sales Sales from established stores that have traded for at least two years and therefore the year on year comparison is not distorted by openings and closings.

Subsidiary undertaking An entity in which the group exercises a dominant influence, normally by controlling more than 50 per cent of the voting rights.

Year 2000 Computer and business system problems that might have arisen from the year 1999 changing to the year 2000.