Diageo share price ticks higher as sterling slips — what to watch before Feb 25 results

LONDON / NEW YORK — December 25, 2025 — Diageo plc, the spirits giant behind Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Don Julio, heads into the year-end holiday period with its shares hovering near fresh 52‑week lows. With the London Stock Exchange closed for Christmas and U.S. markets also shut, the latest available pricing still underscores the same story: investors are weighing a slowing global spirits cycle against a leadership reset and a renewed push to strengthen the balance sheet.

Diageo plc, the Johnnie Walker and Guinness owner, heads into the final weeks of 2025 under heavy scrutiny. The shares are trading close to decade lows, guidance has been cut, a new “turnaround” CEO is about to take charge, and today UBS downgraded the stock — yet most analysts’ 12‑month targets still suggest meaningful upside.

Diageo plc, the Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner listed in London as DGE and in New York as DEO, is limping into December after one of its roughest stretches in a decade.

Diageo plc – the global spirits and beer group behind Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Don Julio – is ending 2025 in one of the toughest patches in its modern history. A profit warning, a CEO exit, a new turnaround boss and a share price down by around a third have turned what was once a dependable “quality compounder” into one of the FTSE 100’s most debated stocks.FT Markets+2The Guardian+2