Guinness IPO: what to know and how to buy shares

When could the Guinness IPO take place?

In January 2025, Bloomberg reported that Guinness owner Diageo was considering a sale or spin-off of Guinness beer as part of a wider portfolio review.

Sources indicated that the FTSE 100 business may be planning either an outright sale or an IPO — though days later the company noted ‘the recent media speculation around the Guinness brand, and our stake in Moet Hennessy, and we can confirm that we have no intention to sell either.’ Other brands including Pimm’s and Cîroc vodka are also apparently on the sales block.

On publication of the original news, Diageo shares spiked by as much as 6.8% in the day, the largest intraday advance in more than four years during the long-term downwards trend. For context, November 2024 saw Diageo shares hit their lowest level since 2017.

Diageo has been struggling with declining sales in key markets including Latin America and the Caribbean, in addition to consumer spending pressures hurting the pull of its premium offerings. It’s also contending with well-reported inflationary costs, supply chain disruptions and changing consumer trends including the demand for non-alcoholic alternatives — which saw its debt rise to $21.5 billion at the end of June 2024.

Together, these challenges are pressuring margins and forcing Diageo to continually adapt its approach — making generating liquidity through a Guinness IPO potentially an attractive choice. This may be doubly true if — as rumoured — Diageo is considering taking control of its 34% owned joint venture in LVMH's Moet Hennessy drinks division, which would be a costly enterprise.

How to buy Guinness shares if the company lists

If Guinness do end up listing in the UK, you can buy their shares from £3 commission with us. That's the rate if you've traded 3+ times in the previous calendar month, otherwise our standard fee is £8.

You'll be able to invest in Guinness right away on the day of the listing.

1. Do your research on IPOs
2. Open an account through our IG Invest app or online with our share dealing account
3. Search for Guinness on our share dealing platform
4. Choose the number of shares or amount of money you wish to invest
5. Place your deal

When dealing shares, you own the stock and become a shareholder in the company. You'll profit if the share price rises above the point at which you bought, or potentially from any dividends paid. You could get back less than you put in.

You can also trade the Guinness IPO using leverage through a variety of products with us. This means you could gain or lose money quickly and could end up losing more than your initial deposit. This is higher risk and requires thorough risk management.

What will Guinness be valued at and what will the share price be?

Bloomberg estimates that Guinness could be valued at more than $10 billion. It’s worth noting that the beer has become a core growth segment for the business after overtaking Carling as the UK’s most popular beer in 2022.

And in July’s fiscal year results, Diageo advised that strong sales of Guinness helped drive beer sales up 18% year-over-year, while simultaneously, total sales fell for the first time in four years. For context, Guinness 0.0 (the alcohol-free version) saw its net sales and volume more than double in fiscal 2024, making it now the best-selling non-alcoholic beer brand in the UK, and available on draught in over 1,500 locations in Ireland.

More widely, the parent generated net sales of circa $20.3 billion, driving operating profit to some $6 billion.

However, as the FTSE 100 drinks business does not disclose specific revenue figures for individual brands (possibly for competition reasons), you can only make a best estimate of portfolio value.

You may expect Diageo to maintain control of the brand by retaining a majority interest. The share price will be determined by the number of shares issued, but Diageo could choose to set a fairly high IPO price in keeping with other FTSE 100 companies with a similar valuation.

What is Guinness’s business model?

Guinness operates under a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) business model — and like all Diageo brands — places a strong emphasis on branding, distribution, and its premium position. The beer is sold in bottles, cans and kegs to shops, bars, restaurants and supermarkets, and the brand also earns revenue from merchandising.

While Guinness benefits from 260 years of heritage, supporting a premium price point, it’s also been subject to a reasonable level of innovation — including the Guinness Nitro Cold Brew and the alcohol-free version. The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is also a major tourist attraction which helps cement its position in the British Isles, and perhaps as a uniquely Irish product strongly linked to Irish culture.

Diageo has also invested into the marketing and sponsorship of major sporting events, including rugby and football. And even the way the drink is poured is singular, to the bane of bartenders everywhere.

Despite the impact of inflation and weaker consumer demand, it’s worth noting that Diageo rivals including Pernod Ricard and Remy Cointreau have seen worse share price slumps — and while sales declined in the last fiscal year, the mid-term guidance for annual sales growth remains at between 5% and 7%, a target which Guinness may overshoot.

Guinness is also anecdotally very popular with the younger generation as a result of excellent social media marketing, with celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Olivia Rodrigo publicly posting themselves drinking the beer. This has perhaps helped rebrand Guinness from an ‘old man’s beer’ to a much wider audience.

For context, Guinness sales rose by 20% year-over-year in the four weeks to November 2024, creating a Christmas shortage, potentially further increasing demand. In December, a Diageo spokesperson even noted that it would be shipping more Guinness to Britain than it had for St Patrick’s Day, which for obvious reasons is typically the beer’s most important day.

Diageo has already sold its 80% stake in Guinness Ghana Breweries, Guinness Cameroon, and Meta Abo Brewery (its brewery in Ethiopia) to French wine group Castel, and has also sold its 58% stake in Guinness Nigeria to Singaporean conglomerate Tolaram. This may partly be to make listing the business simpler.

Interestingly, when Guinness originally launched its first IPO 139 years ago — when it was the largest brewery in the world — the company was worth more than $300 billion dollars in today’s money. Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo only as recently as 1997, and therefore a split for quasi-independence may simply be setting the former status quo.

Why are there Guinness ethical concerns?

Parent Diageo has, like almost all large companies, faced several ESG issues over the years, including allegations that it fails to meet climate change commitments.

Guinness has few direct ESG issues, though some advertising campaigns have been criticised for insensitivity. Possibly the largest ESG issue is the health problems that come with drinking alcohol, including addiction, underage drinking and excessive consumption. While Diageo promotes responsible drinking, some argue that it — and by extension, Guinness — adopts marketing strategies that may encourage bad habits.

Guinness has famously removed isinglass, a fish-derived gelatin, from its filtration process, making most of its beers vegan friendly.

Guinness-related investments

While you wait for the Guinness IPO, there are plenty of alternatives to consider. Diageo itself as the brand’s owner may be an obvious choice, though Heineken may also be attractive, as it owns Guinness competitor and fellow Irish stout Murphy’s.

For investors who value diversification, consider the wider consumer staples ETFs on offer, including the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund, which provides exposure to companies from the consumer staples distribution and retail segments. It sports a low gross expense ratio of 0.08% and is considered by many analysts to be lower risk than most sectors due to its defensive nature.

Guinness IPO summed up

• In January 2025, Bloomberg reported that Guinness owner Diageo was considering a sale or spin-off of Guinness beer as part of a wider portfolio review
• Bloomberg estimates that Guinness could be valued at more than $10 billion
• The beer has become a core growth segment for the business after overtaking Carling as the UK’s most popular beer in 2022
• Guinness sales rose by 20% year-over-year in the four weeks to November 2024