GOVERNANCE WATCH
By InsidEntity Editorial Desk · Jul 20, 2026 · 3 min read
Diageo was one of the most-searched companies arriving at InsidEntity this week, and the reasons are not hard to find. Its brands are all over the FIFA World Cup as the tournament’s first-ever spirits partner, its $2.3 billion sale of East African Breweries to Asahi is back in a Kenyan courtroom this month, and its full-year results land on 6 August. For everyone who searched, here is what the platform shows.
Quick profile
| Company | Diageo plc (LSE: DGE, NYSE: DEO) |
| InsidEntity Company Risk Rating | 3.80 (Excellent) |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Country ESR | United Kingdom: 19 (Benchmark) |
| Chief Executive | Sir Dave Lewis, since 1 January 2026 |
| External auditor | PricewaterhouseCoopers, since 2015 |
| Heritage | Incorporated 1886; formerly Guinness plc, renamed Diageo in 1998 |
| Footprint | 200+ brands sold in more than 180 countries, including Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Don Julio, Smirnoff, Baileys and Crown Royal |
The numbers, three years
| Metric | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover | $20.56bn | $20.27bn | $20.25bn |
| Net profit after tax | $4.48bn | $4.17bn | $2.54bn |
| EBIT | $6.35bn | $6.35bn | $4.31bn |
| Net asset value | $9.29bn | $12.07bn | $13.18bn |
| Current ratio | 1.63 | 1.53 | 1.63 |
| Interest cover | 5.67x | 4.94x | 3.44x |
Diageo changed its reporting currency from sterling to US dollars from fiscal 2024, so year-on-year comparisons across that line are directional. Full statements on the financials page.
Turnover essentially flat across three years, net profit after tax down roughly 39% in FY2025, and interest cover thinning from 5.67x to 3.44x as net debt climbed: the shape of a company holding its floor while a new chief executive resets it.
Who owns Diageo
Ownership is dispersed. The largest holders are BlackRock at roughly 7.4%, Artisan Partners around 5%, and MFS around 4.5%, with institutions holding about 82% overall. No shareholder comes near InsidEntity’s 20% material-shareholder threshold, one of the cleaner ownership registers on the platform.
What the platform flags
Two items are worth knowing before the 6 August results. PricewaterhouseCoopers has now audited Diageo for eleven years, past the ten-year threshold at which InsidEntity’s methodology marks down auditor independence, the same clock that capped HSBC’s rating. And the $2.3 billion EABL disposal, central to Diageo’s plan to bring leverage back inside its own target range by fiscal 2028, remains subject to court challenges in Kenya, with hearings running this month, a completion risk that sits entirely outside management’s control.
Diageo’s rating of 3.80 sits at Good, one band below Benchmark. Three pillars score at or near the top, Director Independence and Shareholder Influence both at 5.0, Director Capacity at 3.2, and it is the Auditor Independence pillar at 2.0 that holds the overall where it is. The full picture, director profiles, committee structure, and filing history are free to view on Diageo’s InsidEntity report.
The InsidEntity Company Risk Rating scores companies on a 1 to 5 scale across four weighted governance pillars: Director Independence at 40%, and Director Capacity, Auditor Independence, and Shareholder Influence at 20% each. Ratings update regularly as corporate changes occur. Explore companies across 145 stock exchanges at InsidEntity. For more on how the score is built, see our Company Risk Rating methodology.
Know your entity. This is independent research, not financial advice.