The brewery arm of Foster’s Group, Carlton United Brewers, yesterday contributed a loss to the company’s declared net loss of Aus$89 million. This followed the earlier announcement of a small profit of Aus$64.1 million for the group’s wine division, Treasury Estate Wines.
Foster’s brewery and winemaking operations were split earlier his year into Treasury and Carlton United Brewers in an effort to overcome the poor performances of both. This follows years of losses in the wake of the massive merger of most of Australia’s major wine producers into Foster’s; following their takeover of Penfolds.
Last year Foster’s wine division declared a loss of Aus$900.6 million, while Carlton United’s share of the Australian beer market has been steadily eroded over the previous decade by competition from Lion. The company says that the fall in market share by Foster’s beer brands has been arrested, but further cutbacks and staff layoffs are predicted in the next 12 months.
Both wine and beer divisions are ostensibly available for sale, but the Foster’s board has rejected an offer of Aus$9.51 billion for Carlton United Brewers by British based SABMiller. The bid has since become a hostile takeover attempt.
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