Stmnt re General Mills Inc

Diageo PLC
23 June 2004


Not for release, distribution or publication in whole or in part in or into
Canada, Japan or Australia

                                                                    23 June 2004

                             Diageo plc ('Diageo')

                        Proposed monetisation of shares
                    in General Mills, Inc. ('General Mills')

Diageo today announces that General Mills has filed a universal shelf
registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
registering equity and debt securities in General Mills. Diageo is required to
register the common shares of General Mills it owns before it can dispose of
those shares in a public offering, and under a separate agreement between Diageo
and General Mills, this registration statement includes 49,907,680 common shares
of General Mills owned by Diageo.

The sale of shares under the registration statement is dependent on a number of
factors, including the timing of the SEC's declaration of the effectiveness of
the registration statement and prevailing market conditions, and therefore there
is no certainty as to the size or timing of a sale of any or all of the General
Mills common shares owned by Diageo.

In connection with the filing of the registration statement, Paul Walsh, CEO of
Diageo, and Jack Keenan, a former director of Diageo and designee of Diageo on
the General Mills board, have resigned from the General Mills board. These
resignations facilitate an eventual sale of the common shares. As a consequence
of the resignations, Diageo will no longer account for General Mills as an
associate. The pro forma impact of this change in accounting on the reported
results for the year ended 30 June 2003 is a 3.0 pence per share reduction in
eps and is shown in Appendix 1.

Diageo currently holds 79 million common shares of General Mills, which at the
close of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 were trading at
$45.86 per common share. Proceeds from any sale will depend on market conditions
at the time of sale.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of
an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, any securities in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such
jurisdiction.

Contacts:

Investor queries
Suzanne Austin
[phone]


Kelly Padgett

+01 (0) 202 715 1110


Media queries
Jane Richardson

[phone]

Isabelle Thomas

[phone]



  Proforma Profit and Loss account - Year ended 30 June 03    
                                                        
                                      Reported        Restated for FRS 17 &                 Adjustment to    Proforma 
                                                                   UITF 38             reflect investment             
                                                                                    accounting in respect             
                                                                                        of General Mills              
                                     £ million                   £ million                     £ million    £ million 
  Operating profit                                                                                                    
  Continuing operations                  1,976                       1,902                                      1,902 
  Discontinued operations                   53                          53                                         53 
                                         2,029                       1,955                                      1,955 
  Share of associates' profits             478                         478                         (287)          191 
  Income from other investments              -                           -                            54           54 
                                         2,507                       2,433                         (233)        2,200 
  Finance charges                        (351)                       (315)                            73        (242) 
  Profit before exceptionals and         2,156                       2,118                         (160)        1,958 
  tax                                                                                                                 
  Exceptional items                    (1,502)                     (1,486)                            18      (1,468) 
  Profit before taxation                  654                         632                          (142)         490  
  Taxation - ordinary                    (539)                       (543)                            68        (475) 
  Taxation - exceptional                    52                          52                           (6)           46 
  Profit after taxation                    167                         141                          (80)           61 
  Minority interests                                                                                                  
  Equity                                  (56)                        (56)                                       (56) 
  Non-equity                              (35)                        (35)                                       (35) 
  Profit/(loss) for the year                76                          50                          (80)         (30) 
  Dividends                              (786)                       (786)                                      (786) 
  Transferred to reserves                (710)                       (736)                          (80)        (816) 

                                         pence                       pence                         pence        pence 
  EPS ex exceptionals                     49.0                        47.7                         (3.0)         44.7 

                                       million                     million                       million      million 
  Weighted average no of shares          3,113                       3,113                         3,113        3,113 


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange