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Diageo Plc

Decent Essays

DIAGEO PLC 1. What do you think about the capital structure policies Diageo has pursued in the past. Do they make sense? How does it compare to Diageo’s competitors’ policies? Which competitors would make for the best comparison? 2. Why is Diageo selling Pillsbury and spinning off Burger King? How might value be created through these transactions? 3. Based on the results of the simulation model, what recommendations would you make for Diageo’s capital structure? Does the model capture all of the important risk factors faced by Diageo? Would you want to adjust the model I any way? Up until 2000 capital structure policy at Diageo was conservative, maintaining quite a high the [book] equity-to-assets ratio inherited from its predecessors: …show more content…

Diageo’s mixture of the short- and the long-term debt and the currencies can be a subject for concern: having 47% of the debt was raised via short-term commercial papers and thus exposing the company to the refinancing risk in case of the adverse changes in the interest rates. Currencies’ mixture of debt was also quite concerning: with the ca. 50% of operating profits generated by the North American geography of the Diageo’s markets company had ca. 67% of the dollar-denominated debt. Coupled with the relatively large portion of the short-term debt within its capital structure this exposed Diageo to the risk of the strengthening US Dollar and correlated growth of interest rates. Overall, we can conclude that the capital structure policy (in terms of gearing and interest covering) was in line with the policies adopted by the Diageo’s reference group and helped to maintain the borrower’s Investment Grade status, but the composition of the debt maturities and currencies wasn't really prudent By divesting its non-core businesses Diageo could focus on its core activity deploying its assets in related industries (Alcohol and Beer) with the synergetic effect of using the same distribution channels. Amount of proceeds from the proposed divestitures

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