Diageo plc (DGE) News Today, 27 November 2025: Share Price Steadies as Diageo India Smashes 2030 Clean Energy Targets

London / New Delhi – 27 November 2025

Diageo plc (LON: DGE), the owner of Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Smirnoff, is back in focus today as its London‑listed shares stabilise and its Indian arm, United Spirits, grabs headlines for beating long‑term climate goals years ahead of schedule. ^[1]

The contrasting signals – a bruised but recovering share price on one side and a flagship ESG success in India on the other – come just weeks after a profit warning, a CEO shake‑up and fresh broker downgrades.

Key takeaways for 27 November 2025

Diageo share price today: Around 1,735p in London this morning, up roughly 1% from yesterday’s close of 1,716.5p, with the 52‑week range running from about 1,664p to 2,619.5p. ^[2]
Valuation snapshot: Market cap about £38.3bn, trailing P/E ~21.6x and a dividend yield near 4.6%, according to Google Finance. ^[3]
Big ESG headline: Diageo India (United Spirits) reports a 93% cut in greenhouse gas emissions since 2020, 99% renewable energy use and 2.7 MW of in‑house solar, already beating its 2030 clean‑energy targets. ^[4]
India share price reaction: United Spirits trades around ₹1,446–1,447, down about 0.8–0.9% on the day, but up mid‑single digits over one month and about 10% over three months. ^[5]
Overhangs: Yesterday’s JP Morgan target cut to 2,000p (Neutral), November’s profit warning and the impending arrival of new CEO Sir Dave Lewis continue to frame the investment debate. Reuters+3TechStock²+3Reuters+3

Diageo share price today: fragile stability after a bruising November

In London trading this morning (27 November), Diageo shares were quoted near GBX 1,735 on the London Stock Exchange, up modestly from Wednesday’s 1,716.5p close. The stock has traded in a narrow intraday band around 1,729p–1,755p, according to real‑time data from Google Finance and Investing.com. ^[6]

Over the last year, the share price has swung between a low in the mid‑1,600s and a high above 2,600p, underlining how hard the 2025 de‑rating has hit what was once one of the FTSE 100’s most highly‑rated consumer names. ^[7]

Today’s modest gain follows a weak session yesterday (26 November), when a widely read TechStock² wrap noted that DGE closed around 1,709.5p, down about 1.4% on the day and still roughly 30% below levels seen a year ago. TechStock²

On current numbers, Diageo trades on a mid‑20s earnings multiple and dividend yield just under 5%, reflecting both its global brand strength and investors’ lingering concerns about growth, leverage and margins. ^[8]

ESG spotlight: Diageo India beats its 2030 clean‑energy goal in 2025

If the London ticker still tells a story of repair, the news flow out of India today is much more upbeat.

A new article from SolarQuarter dated 27 November 2025 highlights that Diageo India (United Spirits Ltd.) has already exceeded its 2030 renewable‑energy targets, backed by 2.7 MW of in‑house solar capacity and a comprehensive shift to low‑carbon operations. ^[9]

According to Diageo India’s own ESG Reporting Index and press release, plus coverage from The Economic Times and Business Standard, the company’s key achievements include: ^[10]

93% reduction in GHG emissions (Scope 1 & 2) since 2020, following the complete phase‑out of coal and a switch to biomass‑fuelled boilers across all distilleries.
99% of total energy consumption now from renewable sources, ahead of the group’s 2030 “Spirit of Progress” goal.
2.7 MW of on‑site solar capacity supporting its low‑carbon transition.
Zero waste to landfill in direct operations, with 99% of packaging material recyclable, more than half sourced from recycled inputs and a growing use of food‑grade recycled PET.
Water stewardship gains, including:
- ~54% improvement in water‑use efficiency in distillation and 35% in packaging since 2020.
- Around 182,000 cubic metres of water replenished in FY25, taking cumulative replenishment to about 1.1 million cubic metres.
Community and inclusion efforts, such as large‑scale tree planting (hundreds of thousands of trees in India, including under Rajasthan’s TOFR programme), regenerative agriculture pilots with smallholder farmers, and extensive responsible‑drinking education programmes.

Jitendra Mahajan, Diageo India’s Chief Supply and Sustainability Officer, frames the programme as building a business that “grows responsibly, leads with integrity and creates long‑term value” – a message that closely mirrors Diageo’s global “Spirit of Progress” ESG strategy. ^[11]

For the group as a whole, this Indian ESG outperformance matters for at least two reasons:

Emerging‑market growth lens – India is one of Diageo’s most important long‑term growth engines, both for premium spirits and for investor perception. Strong progress on decarbonisation and water management helps secure the company’s licence to operate in water‑stressed regions. ^[12]
Sustainability‑linked capital & fund flows – Large institutional investors increasingly screen on emissions intensity, water risk and social metrics. Diageo India’s numbers strengthen the case for Diageo in ESG‑focused portfolios, even as the group wrestles with cyclical demand headwinds. ^[13]

United Spirits share price today: ESG win, muted market reaction

Despite the positive headlines, United Spirits’ share price is marginally softer today.

On the National Stock Exchange and BSE, the stock was recently trading around ₹1,446–1,447, down roughly 0.8–0.9% from the previous close near ₹1,458–1,459. ^[14]

However, the short‑term trend is more encouraging than the intraday move suggests:

1‑month performance: Up about 6–7%, reflecting a rerating since October. ^[15]
3‑month performance: Gains of around 10–11%, outpacing India’s benchmark indices. ^[16]
12‑month view: Still down roughly 4–5%, as earlier consumption worries and cost inflation linger. ^[17]

Valuation‑wise, United Spirits screens as a classic premium consumer play on Indian formalisation and premiumisation:

P/E ~64x, Price‑to‑book ~13x, and dividend yield just below 1%, according to data from Economic Times and Business Standard. ^[18]

In other words, the market appears to have priced in a lot of the long‑term growth and ESG story already – which may help explain why today’s landmark emissions and renewables numbers haven’t triggered a bigger immediate re‑rating.

Broker moves: JP Morgan cuts target to 2,000p, Bernstein stays bullish

The key sell‑side development hanging over Diageo this week came yesterday (26 November).

A detailed wrap from TechStock² reports that: TechStock²

JP Morgan:
- Reiterated a Neutral rating on Diageo.
- Cut its 12‑month target price from 2,500p to 2,000p, citing earnings pressure and the fallout from the recent profit warning.
Bernstein:
- Maintained its Buy rating.
- Held its higher 2,420p target unchanged, signalling confidence in Diageo’s brands and long‑term pricing power.

Consensus data compiled by ValueInvesting.io and referenced in the same article suggest that, even after several downgrades, the wider analyst community still leans “BUY”, with:

An average target around 2,231p, implying high‑20s percentage upside from recent price levels.
A distribution of 3 Sell vs 20 Buy/Strong Buy calls among roughly 32 analysts. TechStock²

That split neatly captures the current market mood: sceptical about near‑term earnings, but unwilling to abandon the long‑term equity story of one of the world’s dominant spirits franchises.

November profit warning: why Diageo derated so sharply

The backdrop to all of this is Diageo’s 6 November 2025 trading update, which triggered the sharpest single‑day fall in the shares in nearly a decade.

According to a combination of the company statement and Reuters’ coverage: TechStock²+2Reuters+2

Reported net sales fell ~2.2% year‑on‑year in fiscal 2026 Q1 to about $4.9bn.
Organic net sales were flat, with:
- Volume up roughly 3%,
- But price/mix negative, reflecting weaker Chinese white spirits and softer momentum in US spirits.
Diageo cut its outlook for FY26, now expecting:
- Flat or slightly lower sales, and
- Only low‑ to mid‑single‑digit operating profit growth, versus earlier guidance that assumed modest sales growth and stronger margin expansion.
Shares dropped more than 5% on the day, extending their year‑to‑date loss to around 30% and taking the stock back to price levels last seen around 2015.

Interim CEO Nik Jhangiani described the performance as “unsatisfactory” and pointed to pressured consumer spending in both the US and China, especially in categories like tequila and high‑end baijiu that had underpinned Diageo’s growth in the late 2010s and early 2020s. ^[19]

To steady the ship, management has leaned more heavily on the “Accelerate” cost‑saving plan, which aims for roughly $625m of savings over three years, while still protecting brand investment and targeting around $3bn of free cash flow a year from fiscal 2026 onward. TechStock²+2Reuters+2

Leadership reset: Sir Dave Lewis to take over on 1 January 2026

One big structural development investors are watching closely is Diageo’s CEO transition.

On 10 November 2025, Diageo announced that Sir Dave Lewis, the former Tesco chief executive and long‑time Unilever executive, will become group CEO and join the board as an executive director, effective 1 January 2026. ^[20]

Key points around the leadership change:

Lewis is widely credited with turning around Tesco after its 2014 accounting scandal, focusing on assortment rationalisation, cost discipline and customer satisfaction.
His appointment followed the abrupt July 2025 departure of former CEO Debra Crew, which had unsettled the market and left CFO Nik Jhangiani as interim chief for several months. ^[21]
Reuters and UK business press report that the share price jumped around 7–8% on the day of his appointment, marking Diageo’s best daily gain in years and signalling investor relief that a heavyweight external hire had been secured. ^[22]

Lewis will inherit a complex agenda: balancing cost cuts vs brand investment, deleveraging vs dividends, and navigating tariff risks and changing drinking habits in key markets. Reuters has already framed his challenge as a classic “dividends or brands” dilemma for a highly cash‑generative, but now heavily scrutinised, global consumer group. ^[23]

Dividend and calendar: 4 December payout in focus

Despite the tougher trading backdrop, Diageo has not signalled any immediate change to its progressive dividend policy.

On 20 November 2025, the company confirmed the sterling equivalent of its Final 2025 dividend at 47.91p per ordinary share, based on the previously declared 62.98 US cents and an exchange rate of $1 = £0.76072. The dividend is scheduled to be paid on 4 December 2025. ^[24]

Diageo’s own financial calendar flags two key near‑term dates: TechStock²

4 December 2025 – Final 2025 dividend payment.
25 February 2026 – Interim results for the six months ending 31 December 2025, and the first major set of numbers under Dave Lewis’ tenure.

With the shares yielding about 4.6% on today’s price, income‑focused holders will be watching closely to see whether management can maintain real‑terms dividend growth while also meeting deleveraging and investment commitments. ^[25]

What today’s news means for Diageo investors

Putting together today’s (and yesterday’s) developments, the Diageo story as of 27 November 2025 looks something like this:

Short‑term sentiment is still shaped by the 6 November profit warning and JP Morgan’s 2,000p target, which reinforce concerns about slower spirits demand in the US and China, negative price/mix and limited near‑term earnings momentum. ^[26]
Medium‑term repair revolves around:
- The Accelerate cost‑saving and asset‑disposal plan. ^[27]
- The arrival of Sir Dave Lewis and his potential to repeat his Tesco‑style operational turnaround playbook. ^[28]
- The ability to protect Diageo’s premium brand equity while trimming costs.
Long‑term positives are underscored by:
- ESG leadership in high‑growth markets like India, with emissions, water and circularity metrics that stand out even among global peers. ^[29]
- A broad portfolio of global brands that historically commanded strong pricing power, especially in premium and super‑premium segments. ^[30]

For shareholders and potential investors, the key questions after today are:

Can new leadership translate ESG and brand strengths into renewed volume and pricing power in the US and China?
Will the $3bn free‑cash‑flow target for FY26 hold up if the macro backdrop worsens? TechStock²+1
How sustainable is the near‑5% dividend yield if earnings stay under pressure and interest rates remain elevated?

As always, this article is for information only and does not constitute investment advice. Anyone considering buying or selling Diageo plc (DGE) or its ADRs (DEO), or shares in United Spirits, should do their own research and, where appropriate, consult a regulated financial adviser.

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