Director dealings: Diageo CFO lowers stake

Diageo chief financial officer Kathryn Mikells sold 107,519 ordinary shares in the FTSE 100-listed drinks maker on Monday.

Mikells, who joined Diageo back in 2015, disposed of the shares in two separate transactions - one of 86,849 and another of 20,670.

The shares, which Mikells sold at an average price of 2,735.50p, were awarded to her as part of the Guinness and Captain Morgan's makers' Performance Share Award and Restricted Stock Units in recognition of the share awards forfeited when she left her previous employer.

Mikells netted £2.94m as a result of the sale.

Earlier in the day, Diageo announced it was selling 19 brands, including Seagrams VO, to US firm Sazerac for $550m.

The net proceeds of around £340m, after tax and transaction costs, will be returned to shareholders through a share repurchase.

The transaction is expected to generate an exceptional gain on disposal of approximately £110m, Diageo said. It would also be 0.9p per share dilutive to pre-exceptional earnings per share in the first full financial year.

As of 1600 GMT, Diageo shares had slipped 0.25% to 2,739.75p.

Top Director Buys

Gyg (GYG)
Director name: Savage,Rupert
Amount purchased: 146,250 @ 34.00p
Value: £49,725.00

Westminster Group (WSG)
Director name: Baker,Patsy
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 10.70p
Value: £10,700.00

Westminster Group (WSG)
Director name: Fowler,Peter
Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 10.50p
Value: £10,500.00

Altitude Group (ALT)
Director name: Couturier,Graeme
Amount purchased: 12,703 @ 80.49p
Value: £10,224.64

Cloudcall Group (CALL)
Director name: Cleaver,Simon
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 86.00p
Value: £8,600.00

Altitude Group (ALT)
Director name: Stella,Nichole
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 81.00p
Value: £8,100.00

Westminster Group (WSG)
Director name: Hughes ,Mark
Amount purchased: 46,000 @ 10.88p
Value: £5,004.80

Softcat (SCT)
Director name: Charlton,Graham
Amount purchased: 23 @ 656.00p
Value: £150.88

Top Director Sells

Diageo (DGE)
Director name: Mikells,Kathryn
Amount sold: 86,849 @ 2,735.50p
Value: £2,375,754.36

Diageo (DGE)
Director name: Mikells,Kathryn
Amount sold: 20,670 @ 2,735.50p
Value: £565,427.84