Diageo‘s Finsbury Growth Income Trust position has become one of the most costly holdings in the fund after the spirits group’s shares fell almost 40%, cutting the trust’s stake from £174,284k to £116,573k over the year to 30 September 2025.
The loss on the position totalled £53,321k, a decline of 36.0% over the period, according to the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust 2025 annual report.
Diageo Finsbury Growth Income Trust position shrinks to 9.3% of portfolio
Diageo represented 9.3% of the trust’s portfolio at the end of the financial year, down from 10.9% a year earlier. By the end of January 2026, the position had edged back to 9.9% of the fund, QuotedData reported, though Diageo subsequently cut its dividend, adding further pressure.
The trust’s overall portfolio valuation fell to £1,251,015k at 30 September 2025, down from £1,593,218k at 30 September 2024 and £1,836,660k at 1 October 2023, according to the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust 2024 annual report.
Trust writes to Diageo management over brand strategy
The trust’s investment team took direct action in May 2025, writing to Diageo management to stress the importance of retaining world-class brands and maximising brand equity value. The letter followed Diageo’s announcement of potential disposals of non-core assets in its third-quarter trading update, according to the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust 2025 annual financial report.
The annual report also drew attention to the cost of Diageo’s 2018 to 2024 share buyback programme. The company spent approximately £10 billion buying back shares at approximately £33 per share, a price approximately 40% above where the stock traded at the time of writing in the report.
Diageo is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) under the ticker DGE and on the New York Stock Exchange under DEO, with products sold in nearly 180 countries. Nik Jhangiani serves as Interim Chief Executive Officer and Sir John Manzoni as Chair, according to Diageo’s 2025 annual report.
Nick Train has managed the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) portfolio since his firm, Lindsell Train, was appointed as portfolio manager in 2000. The trust has a market capitalisation of approximately £773.79 million.
Madeline Wright, Deputy Portfolio Manager of the trust, has discussed why globally recognised businesses such as Diageo can demonstrate enduring qualities that appeal to long-term investors, pointing to the brand depth and distribution scale that underpin the investment case.
The buyback arithmetic now sits at the centre of any reassessment. With Diageo shares trading roughly 40% below the average repurchase price of approximately £33, investors will be watching whether incoming management moves to arrest the share-price decline or accelerates the asset disposal programme that prompted the trust’s intervention in May 2025.
