Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Foster's delays wine assets review

BEVERAGE company Foster's Group has delayed the planned completion of a review of its struggling wine assets by two and a half months months.

The company also says its first quarter performance is in line with expectations, and that its Australia beer arm continues to do well.

"As previously advised, we expected to complete the wine review by the end of this calendar year,'' chairman David Crawford told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.

"However, we have taken the decision to extend our workplan into early next year and now expect an announcement of the review outcomes no later than the release of our first half trading results in mid-February.''

Foster's in June wrotedown the value of its wine assets by $730 million, a decision that severely impacted its 2007/08 profit result.

Foster's began a review of the business to find ways to lift its returns from wine.

Net profit for the year fell 88.4 per cent to $111.7 million.

Chief executive Trevor O'Hoy resigned and was replaced by non-executive director Ian Johnston.

Foster's also said it would consider a split of its wine assets, with Mr Crawford saying: "I'm not going to pre-empt those findings (of the review), but I will restate our intention to look at every option to maximise shareholder returns.''

Mr Johnston told sharesholders the company's performance in the three months ended September was pleasing.

"Here in Australia, our beer business is performing well.

"Improving volume and value trends have continued through September and we have a strong innovation program which offers consumers more choice in the premium sectors, and delivers a positive price outcome.''

Mr Johnston said that excluding cask wine in Australia, which has been scaled back, the group's global wine shipments were ahead of the last year and its first quarter plan.

"Our bottled wine sales in Australia are nicely ahead of last year and we are encouraged by the share performance since the beginning of 2008,'' he added.

Mr Johnston also said wine consumption in the US appeared to be holding up, despite a downturn in consumer spending.

"However, this disguises a shift from restaurant and on premise sectors, to higher levels of consumption at home,'' he noted.

"This tends to move purchasing to lower price wines and away from the luxury portfolio.

"Our short term plans are being adjusted to recognise this dynamic.''

Mr Johnston said he had been encouraged by some of the performance trends in the company's business.

"But I should also remind you that for the year our global wine results will reflect the impact of the higher cost of goods we noted at the 2008 year results back in August,'' he said.

Recent movements in exchange rates, with the Australian dollar falling in value against US dollar and Euro, were positive for the business and the Australian wine industry generally, he added.

"But again, we are not distracted by these short term fluctuations and we retain our focus on delivering stronger financial performance regardless of the exchange rate cycles,' he said.




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