Board Announcements at Diageo.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 1999--

Diageo (NYSE: DEO), the international food and drinks company, today announced that it makes the following announcements concerning the composition of the Board:

Tony Greener will retire both as Chairman and as a director of Diageo on June 30, 2000 as he originally intended, and John McGrath will retire both as Group CEO and as a director on December 31, 2000.

Phil Yea, Group Finance Director, has informed the Board that he has decided to leave the company after six years as Finance Director first at Guinness and then Diageo. He will be leaving the Board and his role as Group Finance Director on June 30, 1999.

Nick Rose, currently Finance Director of UDV, the spirits and wine business of Diageo, will become Group Finance Director from July 1, 1999 and will join the Board on June 23, 1999.

Bill Shanahan will join the Board as a non-executive director with immediate effect. He is currently President and Chief Operating Officer of the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Peter Job, Chief Executive of Reuters Group, has asked to step down from the Board on June 23, 1999, after 51/2 years on the Board of first GrandMet and then Diageo.

Commenting on these announcements, Chairman Tony Greener said:

"We are committed to a seamless transition to the future Diageo management team. As part of this process, John and I are separating our retirement dates by six months, to ensure stability and continuity throughout. During this period, we and the Diageo Executive will continue to drive the business forward with the aim of being in the top 5 of our peer group by December 2002.

We understand Phil Yea's decision to leave the company after six years as Finance Director, first with Guinness and then at Diageo. He made an outstanding contribution at Guinness where he and I worked closely together. He has also been one of the key architects of Diageo, during the merger itself and subsequently in establishing the new Company. He will leave behind him a talented and well-organized Finance function, as evidenced by the appointment of his successor from within. While naturally we regret his decision to leave the company, we wish him every success for the future.

We are very pleased to welcome Nick Rose to the Board as the new Group Finance Director. He is currently Finance Director of UDV, where he has played a major part in the formation of the new spirits and wine business, establishing the new finance function whilst also being responsible for global procurement and the Pacific region. I am sure that Nick will make a significant contribution to the Diageo Board.

I would like to thank Peter Job for the major contribution he has made over a number of years, both to the Board of GrandMet and to the Board of Diageo during the merger. At the same time, I am delighted to welcome Bill Shanahan, as a non-executive director. His proven track record with one of the world's leading consumer goods companies, and his knowledge of the US and international markets, will be of great value to the Board.

Diageo has a group of highly talented non-executive directors, four of whom have been appointed in the last year. For the future, they will bring both continuity and the benefit of their wide-ranging experience to the Board."

Notes to Editors The Board structure of Diageo from July 1, 1999 will be:

Executive Directors

Tony Greener, Chairman John McGrath, Group CEO Jack Keenan, CEO, UDV Dennis Malamatinas, CEO, Burger King Corporation Nick Rose, Group Finance Director Colin Storm, Chief Executive, Guinness Ltd Paul Walsh, CEO, The Pillsbury Company

Non-Executive Directors

Robert Wilson, Chairman of Rio Tinto Lord Blyth, Chairman of The Boots Company Sir George Bull, Chairman of J Sainsbury Rodney Chase, Deputy Chief Executive of BP Amoco Keith Oates Bill Shanahan, President and Chief Operating Officer, Colgate-Palmolive Company

Nick Rose

Nick Rose was born in Norwich in 1957 and educated at Worcester College, Oxford where he obtained his MA in Chemistry. He joined the Ford Finance function directly from Oxford and held a number of senior finance positions during the next 11 years in the "traditional" finance areas (budgeting, investment appraisal, and financial planning), as well as in strategic planning and treasury. He was actively involved in the acquisition of Hertz Rent-a-Car and Jaguar. He spent three years in Detroit at the world headquarters and his experience included management of Ford's $5 billion liquidity portfolio, responsibility for corporate funding, capital structuring and a spell in the Investor Relations department.

Nick joined Grand Metropolitan PLC in June 1992 as Group Treasurer, and since then he has held a number of increasingly senior finance roles. In June 1995, he accepted the position of Group Controller of Grand Metropolitan with responsibility for Financial Planning and Analysis, Group Accounting and Internal Audit.

In November 1996 Nick joined the IDV Board as Finance Director and was subsequently appointed as Finance Director for UDV. Over the course of the last year, he also assumed responsibility for UDV's Global Procurement Group and line responsibility for the Pacific Region.

Diageo is a multinational branded food and drinks company that operates in more than 200 countries through four businesses - UDV, Pillsbury, Guinness and Burger King. Diageo ADRs, equivalent to four Diageo shares, trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DEO.