Guinness not for sale, says Diageo

Diageo has ruled out a sale of its famous Guinness brand, denying speculation that the drink giant is considering an £8bn sale of the brand to cash in on booming demand for the Irish stout.

Bloomberg reported last week that Diageo is exploring a potential spin-off or sale of beer brand Guinness and is reviewing its stake in LVMH's drinks unit, Moet Hennessy.

Commenting on the reports, Daigeo stated on Sunday (26), "We note the recent media speculation around the Guinness brand and our stake in Moët Hennessy and we can confirm that we have no intention to sell either."

“We will next update the market with Interim results on February 4 and we look forward to hosting our Guinness investor and analyst day on May 19/20.”

The company has already reportedly looked at the potential sale of its Pimms liqueur and Ciroc vodka brands over the past year.

The Bloomberg reports claimed people familiar with the matter said a potential spin-off or sale of Guinness was being studied among a range of possibilities.

It has been noted that Guinness is something of an outlier in Diageo’s business portfolio, which is made up mostly of spirits rather than beer.

Unlike the spirit market which has been in the doldrums in recent years with sales markedly down, sales of the Black Stuff are booming.

Spirits sales have struggled as a post-pandemic boom in demand for pricey bottles of liquor went into reverse. Meanwhile, Guinness sales have grown by double digits every year since 2021, with its zero-alcohol version also surging.

Guinness is now the best-selling beer in British pubs, having overtaken Carling in late 2022.

A non-alcoholic version of the drink launched in 2021 has proved similarly successful and now accounts for roughly 3 per cent of Guinness’s sales around the world.

The reports of Diageo considering to sell Guinness led to the spike in the former's share to the top of the FTSE 100 on Friday (24).

Diageo was formed in 1997 when Guinness merged with rival drinks company Grand Metropolitan. Its chief executive, Debra Crew, its first-ever female CEO, was appointed a month earlier than expected in June 2023, following the hospitalisation and ultimate death of long-time CEO Sir Ivan Menzies.

Since coming to the helm, Crew has also rebuilt the team, bringing in a former senior civil servant and BP executive as its new chair, and a new chief financial officer, poached from the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottler.