Drinks giant Diageo, which is planning to cut 900 jobs in Scotland,  has announced a £2.02billion profit despite a "challenging" year.

Diageo, which is the world's biggest drinks firm, saw its pre-tax profits fall slightly in the full year to June 30, down from £2.09billion in 2008.

It said the global downturn had affected all its markets, although Europe was hit harder than Asia and North America.

The firm has launched a restructuring programme to cut costs, including controversial plans to axe 900 jobs in Scotland.

The company is intending to partially offset the cuts by creating 400 positions at its plant in Fife.

The changes are aimed at saving the company £40million a year, while another initiative in its global operations aims to save £120million a year.

Since the drinks firm announced in July that it proposed cutting about 700 jobs at its Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock and 200 more in Glasgow, people from across the political divide have condemned the plans.

This sparked a cross-party campaign, with politicians uniting to try to persuade the firm to change its plans. As part of that, alternative proposals aimed at saving the 900 jobs were agreed by a multi-agency task force.

Finance Secretary John Swinney has vowed to put the plans to the drinks firm "swiftly".

This morning workers from the Kilmarnock plant joined politicians outside the company's headquarters in London.