Coopers Brewery has bucked the overall beer market contraction trend, selling 80.6 million litres in 2024-25, up almost two million litres on the 2023-24 year’s 78.7 million litres.
The 2.4 per cent rise, excludes the sales of non-alcoholic beers and Coopers’ contract manufacture beer, and is a sharp contrast to the 0.9 per cent total contraction of the national beer market (including keg sales) over the corresponding period.
Coopers Brewery Managing Director Michael Shearer said the result reflected a solid performance right across Coopers’ beer range.
“Demand was particularly strong for Dry 3.5 and Australian Lager, both relative newcomers to our portfolio,” he said.
“Our traditional ale products also continued to grow, at 1.2 per cent, and Stout had a resurgence with a 3.3 per cent increase over the prior year. Importantly, our overall sales momentum has continued into the first months of the new financial year.”
Shearer said cost-of-living pressures means drinkers want value for money with their beer, which means they are looking for quality, reliability and above all taste.
He said: “We remain 100 per cent focused on brewing great tasting Australian beer. To achieve another year of solid sales growth in a tough market is a real vote of confidence in our craft and our team.
“Beer drinkers have greater choice than ever before, so for more to choose a Coopers has been particularly pleasing.”
Keg sales represent around 12.4 per cent of total sales of Coopers beer, and were up 5.9 per cent, while packaged beer sales rose 1.8 per cent.
Coopers recorded growth across all states and territories, with South Australia being the largest market in terms of sales volume while Queensland recorded the strongest growth.
- New South Wales up 1.9 per cent
- Northern Territory up two per cent
- Queensland up 4.8 per cent
- South Australia up 2.3 per cent
- Victoria/Tasmania up 3.3 per cent
- Western Australia up 0.8 per cent
The $70m Coopers Visitor Centre opened on 28 August, 2024 and has already attracted around 60,000 visitors from across Australia and overseas. The new facility includes a microbrewery and whisky distillery, and Coopers now has more than 200 full barrels of single malt whisky maturing in the underground stillage which has capacity for 5000 barrels (one million litres).
“The new visitor centre, microbrewery and distillery is a generational investment by Coopers in our long-term future as well as a diversification strategy to open new markets for our product,” Shearer said.
Reflecting this significant investment and its associated interest and depreciation costs, profit-before-tax was $22.5m, compared with $32.8m the previous year.
Through the generosity of staff and shareholders as well as other fundraising activities, the Coopers Foundation awarded $883,717 to 20 charities in FY2025, taking the total donated to more than $8.75m since the Foundation was formed in 2006.