Good morning, everyone. When we reported our interim results in January, we had delivered a good, consistent performance in the first half of the year. Since then, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has created an exceptionally challenging operating environment and has significantly impacted our performance in the second half. During this period, our business has shown considerable resilience, and I am proud of our response. As you will see throughout this presentation, we acted quickly to support our communities and our customers. We stayed connected to our consumers, and we responded to their changing needs. We took decisive action to protect our business. We reduced expenditure, conserved cash, and raised additional liquidity. Our technology has given us the insights to continue investing effectively behind our brands, and we're determined to emerge stronger. I will give a brief overview of these actions shortly.
Kathy will then review our financial performance before I give an update on our strategic priorities. However, I want to start by thanking our people. They have adapted quickly to this new environment with energy and creativity. They have shown an unwavering commitment to supporting our consumers, trade partners, and communities. In our recent employee survey in May, 88% of employees surveyed felt that Diageo had supported them through the crisis, and 90% felt we had adapted quickly to changing ways of working and doing business. These results show an agile and adaptable organization, which will be key to our success as we emerge from this crisis. We are proud of the actions we've taken to support our communities. At the outset of the pandemic, we donated alcohol to make more than 10 million bottles of hand sanitizer for frontline healthcare workers in 20 countries.
Across our regions, we've supported local charity and relief efforts with donations, drinking water, food parcels, masks, and hygiene products. More recently, we launched our global recovery fund, Raising the Bar. We are providing $100 million to help pubs and bars recover from COVID-19 in major global hospitality centers. This will support jobs and communities around the world. The first support is being provided across the U.K. and Ireland, and around 20,000 pubs and bars have registered. We have been supporting our customers around the world. Across the U.K., U.S., and Ireland, we made the decision to take back around 500,000 kegs of Guinness from our customers. This significant investment reinforced to customers our extraordinary commitment to quality. In many markets, we provided financial support packages for bartenders, including wages and food vouchers, as well as helplines and training for bar owners affected by closures.
Our brand teams found creative and entertaining ways to connect with consumers and also raise money for the hospitality industry. This included live music, concerts, and celebrity events. A range of our brands participated in our #TipsFromHome program on social media. We are donating $1 to the United States Bartenders' Guild every time someone shares a cocktail image on social media using the hashtag. We are donating up to a total of $1 million. Our World Class and Diageo Bar Academy platforms have never been more valuable in helping the bar professional community stay connected and informed. We are using our consumer insights to understand shifts in consumer motivations and behaviors in this fast-changing environment. Our brands have stayed connected with consumers and responded to new occasions, such as wanting to enjoy bar-quality drinks at home.
We have entertained and inspired consumers with cocktail recipes, new serves, and ways to enjoy our brands with food. We rapidly responded to increased demand for home delivery. In the U.S. and Latin America, we've partnered with customers on cocktail-to-go programs. In East Africa, we devised new ways of getting our products to consumers' homes, partnering with motorbike delivery companies known as boda bodas. Lockdowns have created shifts in consumer shopping behavior, including an acceleration in e-commerce in many markets. We've leveraged existing capabilities and accelerated investment. Across markets, our business is adapting rapidly to the changes in our operating environment as a result of COVID-19. Our strategic actions over the last six years have given us a strong foundation for managing through this period. Outstanding brand building, innovation, and sales capabilities have been strengthened by smart investment in data analytics and technology.
As a result of these investments, we are now faster at identifying and responding to changing consumer trends, and we are a more efficient, effective, and resilient organization. Successful execution of our strategy has delivered consistent growth. We have achieved mid-single digit top-line growth over the last three years. Everyday efficiency has enabled us to expand operating margins and deliver strong cash flow generation. You can see from this map that whilst we delivered organic growth across all regions in the first half of fiscal 2020, COVID-19 significantly impacted our performance in the second half. This is due to the widespread closures of bars and restaurants around the world, and the disruption to global travel. While the on-trade is gradually reopening in many of our markets, we expect volatility to continue.
In the U.S., where around 20% of our net sales are normally in the on-trade, the channel closure has had a meaningful impact. Strong off-trade demand was able to partially offset the lost on-trade net sales. Since May, on-trade premises have been reopening in certain states, although lockdown measures have since been reintroduced in some states. In Europe, around 50% of our net sales were previously on-trade. COVID-19-related closures had a very significant impact on sales, particularly for our beer business, where consumption is strongly skewed to pubs and bars. The on-trade channel has been reopening across most markets in recent weeks, although capacity is restricted. Africa is a more on-trade oriented market. The total shutdown in South Africa for over two months, and disruptions across our other African markets, significantly impacted our business. South Africa has recently reintroduced a ban on alcohol sales.
Latin America has also been severely impacted by widespread on-trade closures. While Mexico and Brazil have begun to gradually reopen, restrictions remain in most markets. In India, there was a nationwide shutdown of both the on and off trade for six weeks. There has been some reopening of the off-trade channel, but restrictions remain in certain areas. The on-trade channel remains closed. In China, the majority of alcohol consumption is within social occasions. The market has gradually reopened over recent months, and the recovery is gathering pace. Global travel remains severely impacted. The global disruptions I've just outlined significantly impacted our financial performance in fiscal 2020. Organic volume decreased by 11%, and organic net sales decreased by 8%. Organic operating profit declined 14%, and organic operating margin declined by 212 basis points. Pre-exceptional earnings per share declined 16%.
In this context, agile financial management is critical to our success, and Kathy will provide more detail on the actions we have taken. In the seven months to January, we returned one and a quarter billion pounds to our shareholders through our return of capital program in the form of share buybacks. Today, we have announced a recommended final dividend for fiscal 2020, which brings the full year dividend growth to 2%. We believe successful strategic execution and continued agility will enable us to manage through the crisis, and we are determined to emerge stronger. We're moving with increased speed to win in our markets. In this fast-changing environment, we're continuously refocusing our investment in marketing and innovation to capture opportunities and strengthen brand equity. Above all, we continue to do business in the right way from grain to glass.
This is fundamental to our performance ambition and has never been more important. Let me now hand over to Kathy.
Thank you, Ivan. Good morning, everyone. This year, our business has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. We delivered consistent, sustainable, mid-single-digit growth prior to the pandemic, and we've taken quick and agile actions to manage through the ongoing disruption. I will expand on the actions in just a moment, but let me start with a recap of some of the key measures for the year that Ivan already talked you through. We had a good start to fiscal 2020, delivering first half organic net sales up 4.2%, making this the eighth consecutive half year of consistent mid-single-digit growth. COVID-19 has significantly impacted our second half, and therefore, our full year growth, with organic net sales down 8.4%, driven by 11.2% organic volume decline, partially offset by 2.8% positive price mix.
Organic operating margin was also impacted, decreasing 212 basis points over the full year, after delivering 13 basis points of growth in the first half. By focusing on cash conservation, we delivered a solid free cash flow performance at GBP 1.6 billion, despite the negative impact of COVID-19 in the second half. We took quick, decisive action to strengthen Diageo's already robust liquidity position. Pre-exceptional EPS declined 16.4% to GBP 1.094, mainly driven by a decline in organic operating profit, with basic EPS down to GBP 0.601 due to exceptional items driven by the GBP 1.3 billion non-cash impairment charge across India, Korea, and Africa. Return on invested capital at 12.4% was down 267 basis points as a result of the reduced earnings. Total shareholder return was down 19% over the past 12 months, driven by the lower year-on-year share performance.
Over the longer term, however, both the five-year and 10-year TSR compound average growth was up double digits, placing us sixth for both periods among the other 16 CPG companies in our peer group. As the extent of COVID-19's impact began to unfold in the second half, we quickly changed the way we run our business. In China, we instituted a full crisis management approach in January and supported the team in taking agile steps to manage through the volatile environment. As COVID-19 spread, we were quick to ensure that the learnings from China were shared with other markets globally to help anticipate the impacts on other areas of our business. From the start, we've been clear and consistent in our approach. We set out to protect our people, our communities, and the business with a clear outcome in mind, to emerge stronger through the recovery.
To protect our people, we moved to business critical only international travel at the end of February, and then quickly moved to working from home where possible and implemented stringent safety protocols for essential employees needed on site. We supported our people in coping with the impacts of the pandemic through easier access to sick time and time off to take care of family, as well as providing new life insurance and bereavement benefits. Ivan just set out how we supported our communities as well as our customers and consumers. To protect our business, we quickly reset our discretionary spend, including A&P that we believed would not be effective in the rapidly changing circumstances. We've been clear throughout that we must remain invested to sustain the health of our brands and business while taking robust decisions to reduce costs and conserve cash over the short term where that made sense.
To ensure we have more than adequate financial resources to support the business, we further strengthened our liquidity, including issuing GBP 2 billion of corporate bonds in April 2020 and adding GBP 2.5 billion to our committed standby credit facility. We're confident the robust steps we have taken will support our goal to emerge stronger. Now I'll come back to fiscal 2020 results, which really has been a year of two distinctly different halves. Organic net sales for fiscal 2020 declined 8.4% versus last year, primarily driven by volume, which was down 11.2% due to widespread on-trade closures and other restrictions implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The strong positive price mix of 2.8% was driven by market mix with resilient performance in North America, our most profitable region, and volume declines across other regions.
We began to see the impact of the virus on the business in the third quarter of fiscal 2020, mainly in Asia and global travel, which led to total group organic net sales declining low to mid single digits. With lockdowns occurring in many places in the fourth quarter, the impact to our top line accelerated with group organic net sales down nearly 40%. Overall, for the second half, net sales were down 23% year-over-year. A sharp contrast to the 4.2% growth we generated in the first half of fiscal 2020. As a result of the scaled-back trade activity in the last quarter, absolute stock in trade is down in all regions. However, in many markets outside the U.S., including in particular global travel retail, stock in trade days are up due to the reduced near-term demand associated with the significant uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
Over the past month, we saw relaxation of lockdown measures in many markets, and we're seeing a gradual improvement in on-trade volumes. However, as I look ahead, there continues to be significant uncertainty over the pace and the shape of the recovery, driven both by the uncertainty regarding how the COVID-19 virus might progress and how economies will recover. We've already seen South Africa shut down alcohol sales for the second time, and in the U.S., bars and restaurants in some of the largest states have had to either close or adhere to additional restrictions as infection rates have risen. With this in mind, we are not providing specific revenue and profit guidance for the fiscal year.
Broadly, we expect organic net revenue in the first half to be significantly impacted with sequential improvement in the first and second quarter as the on-trade further reopens and consumer demand begins to recover. Net sales declined across key categories apart from tequila, Canadian whisky, and U.S. whisky after broad-based growth in the first half. Declines across categories reflect the overall contraction of the total beverage alcohol industry amidst lockdown restrictions. Scotch net sales were down 17%. In the first half, Scotch was flat due to specific market challenges impacting Johnnie Walker in particular. Our Scotch portfolio participates strongly in the on-trade and travel retail, and so performance was disproportionately impacted in these channels by COVID-19. The impact was particularly significant in emerging markets, which together with travel retail, contributes over 2/3 of our Scotch sales. Vodka was down 8%, driven by declines in Smirnoff, Cîroc, and Ketel One.
Smirnoff declined in all regions except Latin America and Caribbean, where in Mexico, our Smirnoff Spicy Tamarind innovation made us the number one player in the vodka category. This was offset by declines in Europe due to high on-trade reliance and South Africa shutting down alcohol sales for nine weeks. Cîroc and Ketel One declines were mainly driven by the U.S. Canadian whisky net sales were up 8%, driven by Crown Royal with continued double-digit growth from Crown Royal Regal Apple and Crown Royal Vanilla, which are in their sixth and fourth year, respectively, since launch. Crown Royal also benefited from the strong performance of the limited time offer, Crown Royal Peach. In U.S. whiskey, growth was driven by Bulleit, with net sales up 4% in U.S. spirits, which was supported by a quick shift to effective marketing campaigns across TV and social media targeting the at-home occasion.
Rum was down 7%, with Captain Morgan up mid-single digit across Europe, offset by a decline in the U.S. as well as declines of McDowell's No. 1 rum in India and Zacapa in Europe. In liqueurs, net sales decreased 4% as double-digit growth in Australia and the success of Baileys Red Velvet in the U.S. was more than offset by declines in Europe, which was lapping a strong year of innovation in fiscal 2019, and was also impacted by the lockdown restrictions. Global travel sales also significantly declined. Net sales in IMFL whisky were down 14%, with declines across the portfolio mainly driven by the economic slowdown in India impacting category growth, and in the second half by the nationwide lockdown, including a total ban on alcohol sales across the country for 42 days.
In gin, net sales were down 4%, as strong growth in the first half was fully offset by on-trade closures impacting consumption across key markets in Europe in the second half. Brazil's gin performance continues to build momentum, with Tanqueray growing double digit throughout the year. In tequila, net sales increased 25%, driven by Don Julio and Casamigos in U.S. Spirits, with both brands continuing to gain share. In Mexico, Don Julio declined low double digit following price increases early in the second half, exacerbated by COVID-19 restrictions implemented across the market. Beer net sales were down 15% after growing 2% in the first half, driven by high exposure to on-trade sales, cancellation of sporting events, and underlying excise and supply-related challenges in Africa. As a result, Guinness, Senator Keg, and Tusker declined double digit.
We also initiated keg returns in support of the on-trade and to ensure product quality, which mainly impacted Guinness sales. Serengeti in Tanzania and Rockshore in Ireland grew for the full year on the back of a strong first half. In the first half, all global giant brands were in growth except for Johnnie Walker, and local stars and r eserve grew 8% and 11% respectively. With declines in the second half caused primarily by COVID-19 lockdowns, global giants were down 13% for the full year, largely driven by Johnnie Walker and Guinness. Johnnie Walker had a soft first half, impacted by challenging trading conditions in Mexico and travel retail in Asia and the Middle East, as well as market disruptions in Peru and Chile. In the second half, these headwinds were compounded by COVID-19 restrictions, curbing global travel sales and high tempo occasions where Johnnie Walker Red Label plays.
The brand was also lapping the successful prior year Game of Thrones innovation, White Walker by Johnnie Walker. After a solid first half, Guinness was down 16%, driven by COVID-19-led declines in the larger Guinness markets of Europe and Africa, where on-trade accounts for about 3/4 of sales in aggregate. Net sales of local stars decreased 7% for the full year, as strong growth in Crown Royal in the U.S. and Buchanan's in Colombia and Brazil were offset by declines in Buchanan's in other markets, as well as a decline in Chinese white spirits, IMFL spirits, and J&B in Europe. In Reserve, net sales were down 4%, as growth of super premium tequila was offset by declines in Chinese white spirits, Johnnie Walker's super premium brands, Reserve Vodka, and Zacapa.
Despite the challenging conditions, we're committed to continue to invest behind our brands to ensure strong brand equity, which is a prerequisite for gaining quality market share in the long term. Reported operating profit before exceptional items declined 15.1%, driven mainly by the decline in organic profit. Organic operating profit, which excludes exchange and acquisitions and disposals, decreased 14.4%, with organic operating margin down 212 basis points after delivering 13 basis points of margin expansion in the first half. Reported operating margin excluding exceptional items decreased 226 basis points as exchange and disposals modestly increased margin dilution. Organic operating margin contracted 212 basis points, driven by pressure on gross margin and one-off costs arising from the disruption in the operating environment, only partially offset by overhead efficiencies and lower marketing spend in the fourth quarter.
Gross margin declined 174 basis points as productivity-led gross margin gains were more than offset by modest but adverse product mix, cost of goods inflation, and declining volumes, which reduced fixed cost absorption. We experienced upward inflationary pressure in locally traded commodities, particularly base neutral spirits in India and agave, as well as glass globally. Our marketing spend was down 10%, ahead of our net sales decline, as we significantly reduced discretionary costs and only spent A&P where we believed it would be effective. This resulted in significant reductions in the fourth quarter during the lockdowns, with A&P rate of investment down over 400 basis points in the quarter and 22 basis points for the full year. Despite reductions, we continued to invest in strategic brands, quickly responding to channel shifts and the increase in at-home occasions. Other operating items contributed 60 basis points to operating margin dilution.
Overhead efficiencies, as well as one-off benefits, including lower variable compensation and curtailment of discretionary spending in the fourth quarter, contributed 46 basis points of margin accretion, which was more than offset by an increase in other expenses related to increased levels of bad debt and smaller impairments. Looking ahead, we expect the business to improve from the peak of the pandemic impact we experienced in the fourth quarter, when volume declines drove operating margin down over 10 percentage points. While volumes are expected to improve sequentially, we expect our first half of fiscal 2021 to continue to be significantly impacted and margin diluted compared to an unaffected first half of last fiscal. We will increase marketing investment as demand recovers. We expect some sequential improvement in our operating margin in our first half compared to our second half of fiscal 2020.
We delivered solid free cash flow of about GBP 1 billion in the first half, with second half performance impacted by the decline in operating profit driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. We decreased our creditor balance and the rate of investment in our inventory in response to the decline in sales. Debtor balances were also down, but not to the same degree, as we worked with some of our key customers on revised payment terms. As a result, we saw an increased use of working capital year on year. Cash taxes increased to GBP 96 million as the one-off tax settlements and change in payment timing that we noted in the first half was partially offset by lower tax on reduced earnings in the second half, as well as some delay in second half payments associated with COVID-19.
Interest payments were higher, driven by increased debt, albeit borrowed at lower rates, and reduced gains on our swap portfolio. Net CapEx increased GBP 47 million versus last year as we invested in brand experience centers in Edinburgh and Dublin, as well as working towards reopening two of our historic Scottish distilleries. In the last quarter, I delayed non-essential CapEx across the business to conserve cash. As I look ahead into fiscal 2021, I don't expect to see material opportunities to decrease CapEx further as we work to complete projects underway to support long-term growth and enhance brand experiences and increase investment supporting our sustainability agenda. The key driver of the other category on this chart is lower dividends from our joint ventures and associates.
By acting decisively, I believe we have delivered a good cash performance given the difficult market environment, selectively reducing overhead and ineffective A&P, deferring discretionary CapEx projects, and tightly managing our working capital. Average net debt increased by GBP 2.3 billion, driven by the first phase of the share buyback program, reduced free cash flow, and the impact of adopting IFRS 16. Net interest charge was up due to higher debt and a slightly higher effective interest rate. Our effective interest rate at 2.6% increased 20 basis points due to the costs associated with enhancing our liquidity position and reduced gains from our FX swap portfolio, which were partially offset by the impact of more favorable funding costs. Other finance charges are ahead of last year, driven by discount unwinds of financial liabilities. I expect fiscal 2021 charges to be at a similar level.
Given the more volatile market conditions, we moved quickly to further enhance our liquidity position. We accelerated our bond issuance program with an additional GBP 2 billion issuance in April and temporarily increased our committed facilities from GBP 2.8 billion to GBP 5.3 billion. While these measures incur incremental costs, they give us more flexibility to manage through this volatile period. As I look ahead, I expect our effective interest rate to rise to roughly 3% for fiscal 2021, due to further reduction in our swap portfolio gains, along with increased costs from our liquidity enhancement measures. The leverage ratio has increased to 3.3x due to reduced EBITDA and increase in net debt. While we remain committed to a leverage range of 2.5x- 3.0 x adjusted net debt to EBITDA over the medium term, I do anticipate elevated levels above this range through the coming year.
I expect these levels to peak when we report fiscal 2021 interims, reflecting the trailing 12-month impact of COVID-19 at that time, and then to improve from there, driven by the pace of recovery. Our disciplined approach to capital allocation remains consistent. Our strong liquidity position gives us confidence to continue to invest to drive improved efficiency and sustainable growth for the long term. Today, we have announced a recommended final dividend of GBP 0.4247, in line with the final dividend in fiscal 2019, bringing full year dividend growth to 2% and dividend cover to 1.6 x. While there remains significant uncertainty in the short term, we have confidence in the long-term health of our business and the industry in which we operate.
This decision on dividends reflects this, as well as our strong liquidity position, which enables us to fully invest behind effective growth initiatives while supporting returns for our shareholders. That said, the long-term sustainability of our business is our number one priority. In July 2019, we announced a three-year return of capital program of up to GBP 4.5 billion, and through January 2020, we returned GBP 1.25 billion through share buyback. In April, we announced that we were not initiating the second phase of the program during the remainder of fiscal 2020. Given our elevated leverage ratio, we have paused the program until leverage is back within our target range. We will keep future returns of capital, including dividends, under review through fiscal 2021 to ensure we allocate Diageo's capital in the best way to maximize value for the business and our stakeholders. Moving now to foreign exchange.
In fiscal 2020, we had modest exchange impacts on net sales and operating profit as a result of the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, offset by adverse movements of several currencies, including the Brazilian real, Australian dollar, Colombian peso, and the Turkish lira. As I mentioned, given the continued uncertainty, we are not able to provide specific financial guidance. As such, cannot update the expected impact from foreign exchange on fiscal 2021. Earnings per share before exceptional items declined by 16.4%. This decline is largely due to the decrease in organic operating profit. To a smaller extent, the decline in associate profit, higher finance charges, and impact of acquisition and disposals. This was partially offset by the positive impact of tax, non-controlling interests, and the share buybacks executed in the first phase of the return of capital program through the end of January.
Our tax liability decreased mainly due to the decline in taxable profit. Our tax rate before exceptional items was 21.7%, within our guidance range of 21%-22% for fiscal 2020, which we're maintaining for fiscal 2021. Non-controlling interests had a positive impact on EPS as a result of the lower profit in our listed subsidiaries. The share repurchases reduced the weighted average number of shares and had a positive impact on EPS. The higher decrease in basic EPS is caused by a GBP 1.3 billion non-cash impairment charge within exceptional items. We've partially written down goodwill and two USL brands in India as a result of the economic slowdown and COVID-19-led market disruptions, which collectively have a significant impact on our revenue expectations, especially in the near term.
Despite current challenges, we continue to believe that with the right level of future investment, the long-term market opportunity will be a significant source of value for Diageo over time. We've also impaired fixed assets in Nigeria and Ethiopia and the Windsor brand in Korea as the impact of COVID-19 significantly amplified underlying challenges in these markets. As you have seen, our business has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 in the second half. We took quick actions to protect our people and our business and to support our key customers and our suppliers. This is setting us up to emerge stronger as the global economy and our industry recover. As we enter fiscal 2021, we continue to face significant volatility as the pace and the shape of recovery is uncertain.
We've adapted our performance rhythm to recalibrate where and how we are investing, redeploying resources to shifting opportunities on a more frequent basis, informed by real-time data at a local level. We have strengthened Diageo's liquidity, which enables us to continue to invest smartly for the long term as we manage through the coming months. We believe in the long-term positive growth dynamics of the industry, and our confidence in Diageo's business strategy remains unchanged. We are confident in our ability to effectively manage through the current short-term volatility we face. With that, back to you, Ivan.
Thank you, Kathy. Across Diageo, we're guided by our performance ambition, and we continue to execute against our six strategic priorities. I will begin with an update on the performance of our U.S. and Indian businesses and on our scotch and beer categories. Our U.S. spirits business has been relatively resilient during the COVID-19 crisis. U.S. spirits net sales grew 2.2% in fiscal 2020. Strong growth of 6.1% in the first half of the year was only partially offset by lower on-trade sales in the second half. This reflects strong demand in the off-trade channel during the COVID-19 lockdown. For the full year, U.S. spirits volumes declined by 0.7%, and price mix improvements drove 2.9% of net sales growth. This was primarily due to strong growth in tequila and Canadian whisky brands.
Our consumer insights, combined with the agility and creativity of our brand teams, enabled us to pivot to the off-trade opportunity in a new and fast-changing environment. Crown Royal, Don Julio, and Bulleit are great examples of how we responded to consumers' desires for diversion and entertainment while at the same time providing support for the on-trade. Crown Royal continues to connect consumers with its purpose of inspiring exceptional generosity. During COVID-19, the brand engaged with consumers' desires to give back by hosting an online generosity hour. It included a weekly concert series featuring stars from across the U.S. and raised money for bartenders and bar owners affected by closures. Don Julio created unique virtual experiences that inspired consumers to drink super premium tequila at home. A live benefit concert entertained consumers around the world while raising money for the hospitality industry.
Don Julio also delivered a virtual Cinco de Mayo, which helped people celebrate at home with top bartenders and celebrities. The content series raised GBP 250,000 and generated over 350 million media impressions. Bulleit responded to consumers being at home with a new Drinking Buddies campaign across digital and social media and its first national TV campaign. The campaign's content was produced on an iPhone at home, delivering engaging content quickly in a highly cost-effective way. The results were outstanding, and Bulleit gained both spirits and category share in the following three-month period. You can see from this chart that we grew category share across many of our key brands in fiscal 2020: Crown Royal, Don Julio, Ketel One, Baileys, Bulleit, and Casamigos. This reflects a strong first half performance and our effectiveness in driving share in the at-home occasion when bars and restaurants were closed.
Johnnie Walker lost share of Scotch in the second half of the year. We're using activations to increase the relevance of the brand in the at-home occasion, including highball serves. Our strategic focus remains on recruiting new and younger consumers into the category. Smirnoff share declined this year. We continue to focus on stabilizing the brand, supported by marketing investment and innovation. Captain Morgan lost further share in a category that's losing share of spirits. We're continuing to reinvigorate the brand with new serves, innovation, and the Major League Soccer partnership. In recent years, successful strategic execution has delivered good progress in India. Our focus on reshaping the portfolio, investing behind our brands, and productivity has delivered strong top-line growth and significant margin expansion. A tougher economic environment slowed our growth in the first half of fiscal 2020. This weaker performance has been exacerbated by the outbreak of COVID-19.
The Indian market was closed for the manufacture, distribution, and retailing of alcohol during a six-week national lockdown period till May the 3rd. There's been a phased reopening of the off-trade since then, but the on-trade channel remains closed. During the lockdown, several states introduced additional taxes and excise duties that have impacted retail prices. However, in this challenging environment, our business has rapidly responded. We have provided significant financial support to our partners, including key customers, third-party manufacturers, and suppliers. We've also committed a $10 million package to support the on-trade recovery as part of our global Raising the Bar program. We rapidly resumed manufacturing as we emerged from lockdown, ensuring we maximize product availability as the market reopened. We believe the breadth of our portfolio is a key competitive advantage.
While we've successfully expanded our presence in prestige and above, we also remain well-positioned with our popular portfolio to capture any short-term downtrading. We are continuing to invest behind key products, including the relaunch of McDowell's No. 1 and Royal Challenge. Following lockdown, several states have allowed home delivery for the first time. The opening up of this new channel offers an exciting opportunity to increase the accessibility of alcohol in India. While still a very nascent channel, our effort as an industry is to help establish this as a long-term model. We have a clear strategy in India. Despite the current challenges in the market, we remain optimistic about the long-term market opportunity and are committed to investing and growing our business. Fiscal 2020 has been a challenging year for our Scotch portfolio, where net sales declined 17%. Our first half performance was flat.
This was due to specific market challenges impacting Johnnie Walker in particular. It was also the effect of lapping last year's highly successful innovation of White Walker by Johnnie Walker. In the second half, Scotch was disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. This reflects the greater exposure to emerging markets and travel retail, which together accounted for over 2/3 of our Scotch net sales in fiscal 2019. We quickly adapted our assets to create relevance and increase visibility in the at-home occasion. In the U.S., Johnnie Walker partnered with bartenders online to engage consumers in cocktail making. Diageo India used Black & White Scotch to promote virtual drinks occasions. In Taiwan, The Singleton showed consumers how to pair whisky with home-cooked food. We will build on these activities. Our e-commerce capabilities enabled us to respond to the acceleration in channel demand.
We recently launched a dedicated whisky store for our brands on Amazon in the U.K. and our What's Your Whisky? digital consumer tool. We are investing to reach more consumers in more markets and showcase our brands through this channel. In this environment, we have a lot of work to do to drive a recovery in Scotch performance. Our focus is on winning in the off-trade, recovering the lost volume from travel retail, and partnering with customers as the on-trade opens. Our strategy to grow our share of international whisky remains clear. We're benefiting from the breadth and depth of our portfolio across all price points. In select markets in Latin America, Africa, and Asia Pacific, we've been using primary Scotch as a recruitment tool for the next generation of Scotch drinkers.
We want to build on our position in that price tier to capture consumers who are downtrading and keep Scotch accessible. In a challenging economic environment, we're also ensuring our standard Scotch brands are well-positioned to win share in target markets. We want to win with our global giant and to make Johnnie Walker the most desired, enjoyed, and talked about whisky in the world. Last September, we launched a new global communication campaign, which redefined what the brand and Keep Walking mean today. At the same time, we introduced a new serve strategy, the Johnnie Walker Highball Collection. We did this in partnership with the world's leading bartenders in key cities globally. These long mixed serves can also be made at home, and we adapted our assets during COVID-19. In FY 2021, we are celebrating Johnnie Walker's 200th anniversary.
We are starting the Johnnie Walker Icons 200, a new range of limited edition pack designs, which will be available in more than 80 countries. We're looking forward to the opening of our Johnnie Walker experience in Edinburgh in 2021. Our prestige business continues to strengthen in a large, growing, and profitable market. Our targeted approach via new launches, private sales, auctions, and luxury partnerships is delivering good results. The prestige market has remained relatively resilient during COVID-19, and there are encouraging signs of a recovery in luxury spending in China and Taiwan. We will continue to build on our prestige reputation with new launches. The decline in our beer business reflects the significant impact from the on-premise closures in Europe, Africa, and the U.S. in the second half of the year.
In our larger Guinness markets of Europe and Africa, the on-trade normally accounts for around three quarters of our Guinness sales in aggregate. Guinness rapidly responded and demonstrated the strength of its voice to resonate with consumers and customers. With on-trade closures happening just before St. Patrick's Day, we quickly amended our plans to maintain relevance and connect with consumers. Guinness released an optimistic and hopeful message, We'll March Again, and unveiled measures to support pub and bar staff. Guinness donated over GBP 3 million to support the bar and restaurant community in the U.K., U.S., and Ireland, alongside elderly citizens in Ireland. In Nigeria, Guinness provided care packages to bar owners and staff. We made the decision to take back around 500,000 Guinness kegs from our customers in the U.K., U.S., and Ireland, and we did not extend shelf life. This reinforced to customers our extraordinary commitment to quality.
The reduction to Guinness net sales was around 2%. As the COVID-19 pandemic developed, we moved with real pace to engage consumers in new ways to enjoy Guinness at home. This agility drove a strong performance in the off-trade channel. In Africa, our teams quickly found new ways to get Guinness and our other brands to consumers. We innovated into takeaway multi-pack formats, we partnered with online platforms, and we worked with distributors to enable home deliveries. We are confident that the actions we've taken during these difficult times will enable us to emerge stronger. We've strengthened our connection with consumers and communities and put our beer brands in new places. Our beer innovation pipeline has been extremely successful in recent years, and we're benefiting from the several launches in the last 18 months. We continue extending our Guinness portfolio across Africa.
The recent launch of Guinness Smooth is successfully recruiting new consumers into the brand with a lower price, lower ABV, and more accessible liquid profile. In Europe, we followed the success of Rockshore Irish Lager with the launch of Rockshore Light in Ireland and Rockshore Cider. Creating immersive brand experiences that showcase our brewing credentials is key to our Guinness strategy. Our brand homes are community and cultural hubs that enable us to engage directly with consumers. In Baltimore, we baked fresh Guinness bread daily during the lockdown and donated it to the local food bank. We've now reopened these brand homes in Baltimore, Dublin, and Shanghai, offering safe places for consumers to enjoy our brands. Consistent, sustainable growth depends on our ability to continue investing smartly in our business. Being close to consumers and customers is at the heart of everything we do.
Both consumers and occasions are changing, and our technology tools are key to our successful response. We are leveraging our well-established proprietary tools and investing in new ones. Most recently, we added Radar, a tool to project scenarios for future market demand. By using Radar in conjunction with Catalyst, we can maximize value from our resource allocation and invest effectively behind our brands as consumer demand recovers. Our Everyday Great Execution program has revolutionized our ability to offer the right brands in the right outlets in the right way. This year, we introduced EDGE 365, it integrates everything our sales teams need to manage their customer relationships into a single mobile application. As we roll this out, it's delivering significant improvements in efficiency and effectiveness. During COVID-19, our sales team were able to switch seamlessly from physical to virtual sales calls and sustain the same level of customer support.
Another great example is My Diageo, which is a website we use in Europe to engage with our on-trade customers and help them grow their business. During COVID-19, we pivoted the content to provide resources and tools for managing through the crisis and recovery. The number of My Diageo users has more than quadrupled in the last year. I will share a couple of examples of how our insights are driving our response. When lockdowns drove an increase in baking, we quickly switched on existing Baileys assets. We participated in these social conversations and helped people create indulgent adult treats. When the Dalgona coffee, originally from Korea, took the internet by storm, the Baileys team quickly created their own version. The results were extremely positive. In the three months through June, global engagement with Baileys content increased by an average of 26% compared to pre-COVID levels.
As consumers shifted to at-home cocktail making, our brands responded. Johnnie Walker launched Kitchen Sink Drinks, a platform that invited people to submit ingredients they had at home to our bartenders, who showed them how to mix them into delicious Scotch cocktails. The program generated 58 million social media impressions. Before COVID-19, online shopping for spirits was fast growing, but penetration was low compared to other retail categories, largely due to regulatory constraints. Changes in shopping behavior, increased awareness, and regulatory relaxation in response to COVID-19 have rapidly accelerated the growth in this channel. E-commerce offers an exciting opportunity for growth. We are leveraging our established capabilities while increasing our investment and redeploying resources to meet increased demand. We're ensuring our brands show up brilliantly online, and investing in marketing to drive increased awareness and visibility.
Across our regions, we're partnering to win with the winners, including grocery retailers, e-marketplaces, and delivery apps and distributors. We are working with existing partners and rapidly adding new ones. We're also leveraging our own digital channels, such as malts.com in the U.K. and thebar.com in Brazil. Consumers are increasing their use of digital channels to discover and learn about our brands and products. In some markets, such as the U.S. and India, regulations have recently been eased as a result of COVID-19, creating new opportunities. We're working hard to persuade regulators to maintain the eased commercial environment. In some previously under-penetrated e-commerce markets, including Central America and Africa, there's been a significant increase in demand. While the pace of growth in e-commerce is likely to slow as the on-trade channel recovers, we expect online demand for our products to continue to increase.
Our readiness and agility to respond are critical to our success in this channel. Supporting our on-trade customers through this crisis and into the recovery is the key to our ability to emerge stronger. This slide shows just a few examples of how we're doing this. Diageo Bar Academy has brought the bar professional community together from across our markets. We transformed our content to provide advice for managing through the crisis and successfully reopening. In the three months through June, we trained 77,000 people virtually across 38 countries. We now have more than 1 million active users on our website, more than double the number before COVID-19. In some markets, our teams partnered with customers to develop cocktails -to-go programs. The U.S. was the first market to launch this less than two weeks post shutdown, and we've launched in a number of Latin American markets.
Across Diageo, our teams are responding with creativity to support reopenings. Diageo Australia launched a nationwide welcome back support package available to 1,000 on-trade partners. They also partnered with an online booking platform to drive awareness for bar reopenings. In Ireland, we partnered with a digital platform that enables Guinness trade customers to access online tools, such as digital table bookings, free of charge for six months. In the U.S., our Back to My Bar program is providing customers with brand activations, tools, and trainings to support them as they reopen. We want to change the way the world drinks for the better by promoting moderation and tackling the harmful use of alcohol. This is not only the right thing to do, it is an essential part of our performance ambition. One of our most important tools in promoting moderation and addressing heavy drinking is drinkiq.com.
It is our dedicated responsible drinking website to provide consumers and stakeholders with information on alcohol and to encourage moderate consumption. In November, we launched an interactive DRINKiQ quiz to share information. The quiz is available in 27 countries and in 20 languages. To date, it has been completed by 80,000 consumers. We have a longstanding commitment to tackle underage drinking. Our programs reached more than 375,000 people this year across 20 countries. Our flagship education program is Smashed. During COVID-19, we launched Smashed Online in the U.K., making it available to more than 1 million schoolchildren. As part of our innovative partnership with UNITAR to tackle drink driving, we also supported them in responding to COVID-19 with the launch of a series of online training resources. Our inclusive and diverse culture is core to our purpose and essential to our future growth.
We want to nurture great, diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills, and capabilities. Diversity of thought fuels growth and innovation in our organization and brings us closer to our consumer base. Our commitment to inclusion and diversity goes beyond our business. We want to shape broader societal change. We were proud to announce in June that within our $100 million global recovery fund was a $20 million community fund to support social justice in the U.S. The fund will help Black communities and businesses in the U.S. recover from COVID-19, and it will make new financial commitments to organizations working to tackle racism and inequality. Internally, we are developing a progressive framework on ethnic diversity for all of our markets. It will incorporate goals across a number of areas, including representation, talent attraction, and brand partnerships.
In recent years, we've made strong progress on gender diversity, and that work will continue. We want to create the most inclusive and diverse culture that ensures all of our people thrive. Across our markets, we remain focused on building a truly sustainable business for the long term. In 2015, we set ambitious and stretching environmental and social targets for 2020. We were among the first companies to set an absolute rather than relative greenhouse gas reduction target. We have delivered our commitment to a 50% absolute reduction and have reduced emissions by 34% across our total value chain. We recently announced that our new Kentucky whiskey distillery, which will make Bulleit, is expected to be carbon neutral, one of the largest in North America, and a first for Diageo. The site will be powered by 100% renewable electricity.
We achieved our target for water replenishment in water-stressed areas and achieved a 46% improvement in water use efficiency. We've ensured that over 99.5% of our packaging is recyclable. Despite significant progress, we've not achieved all of our goals. For example, we found reducing the overall weight of our packaging by 15% more challenging than expected. This drives us to innovate and push the boundaries with sustainable packaging. Last month, we announced the world's first 100% plastic-free, paper-based spirits bottle made entirely from sustainably sourced wood. The bottle will debut with Johnnie Walker in early 2021. Our support for communities has positively impacted millions of people within and beyond our business. In 2020, this included reaching over 250,000 people in Africa and India through our clean water, sanitation, and hygiene projects. We are proud of the significant progress we've made and are aware we have more to do.
During fiscal 2021, we will launch our social and environmental strategy and targets for the decade to 2030. COVID-19 has created a challenging operating environment around the world. As you have heard this morning, our business is responding with agility and energy. We're engaging with our consumers, investing behind our brands, partnering with our customers, driving efficiencies, and ensuring we do business in the right way from grain to glass. As we manage through this period, our overarching focus is on emerging stronger. While the pace of the recovery remains uncertain, I am confident in our strategy, the resilience of our business, the strength of our culture, and the determination of our people. Thank you.