Director Shareholding

TO:       Regulatory Information Service                                 
                                                                         
          PR Newswire                                                    
                                                                         
RE:       CHAPTER 16 PARAGRAPH 13 OF                                     
                                                                         
          THE LISTING RULES                                              

 

Diageo plc (the 'Company') announces that:

 1. It received notification on 10 January 2005 for the purposes of Section 329
    of the Companies Act 1985 from Diageo Share Ownership Trustees Limited (the
    'Trustee'), as trustee of the Diageo Share Incentive Plan (the 'Plan')
    that:
 2. (i) the Trustee purchased 45,692 ordinary shares of 28 101/108 pence in the
    Company ('Ordinary Shares') in respect of participants in the Plan on 10
    January 2005 at a price of £7.435 per share. The Ordinary Shares were
    purchased by Diageo Share Ownership Trustees Limited, which holds Ordinary
    Shares as trustee of the Plan;
   
    (ii) the following directors of the Company were allocated Ordinary Shares
    on 10 January 2005 under the Plan, from those purchased by the Trustee as
    disclosed in (i) above:
   
    Name of Director                   Number of Ordinary Shares            
                                                                            
    N C Rose                           25                                   
                                                                            
    P S Walsh                          25                                   
                                                                            
   
   
   
    The number of Ordinary Shares allocated comprises those purchased by the
    Trustee using an amount which the employee has chosen to have deducted from
    salary ('Sharepurchase') and those awarded to the employee by the Company
    ('Sharematch') on the basis of one Sharematch Ordinary Share for every two
    Sharepurchase Ordinary Shares.
   
    The Sharepurchase Ordinary Shares were purchased and the Sharematch
    Ordinary Shares were awarded at a price per share of £7.435.
   
    The Ordinary Shares are held by the Trustee. Sharepurchase Ordinary Shares
    can normally be sold at any time. Sharematch Ordinary Shares cannot
    normally be disposed of for a period of three years after the award date.
   
    As a result of purchases, awards and transfers made by the Trustee on
    behalf of the Company on 10 January 2005 in respect of all participants in
    the Plan, the total holding of the Trustee now amounts to 4,576,634
    Ordinary Shares.
   
    As a result of the above, these directors' interests in the Company's
    Ordinary Shares (excluding options, awards under the Company's LTIPs and
    also interests as potential beneficiaries of the Grand Metropolitan No 2
    Employee Share Trust and the Diageo Employee Benefit Trust) are as follows:
   
    Name of Director                  Number of Ordinary Shares             
                                                                            
    N C Rose                          180,321                               
                                                                            
    P S Walsh                         637,554                               
                                                                            
   
   
   
     
   
 3. It received notification on 10 January 2005 from Lord Blyth that he has
    purchased 986 Ordinary Shares on 10 January 2005 under an arrangement with
    the Company, whereby he has agreed to use an amount of £7,375 per month,
    net of tax, from his fees to purchase Ordinary Shares. Lord Blyth has
    agreed to retain the Ordinary Shares while he remains a director of the
    Company.

The Ordinary Shares were purchased at a price per share of £7.435.

As a result of this purchase, Lord Blyth's interest in Ordinary Shares has
increased to 102,086.

 

10 January 2005