Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has responded to an article published by The Australian on 7 February, which claimed the winemaker is investigating a demerger of its global operations into three separate businesses.
The article said that senior executives at TWE are investigating a proposal to create three new operations: a stand-alone US business, a premium winemakers called Treasury Premium Products and a commercial wine business.
The Australian also claimed that while the proposal is yet to be signed off by TWE’s board, the business is well-advanced with its investigations and the article suggested the winemaker could unveil its plans when its half-year results are released next week.
In response to the article, TWE issued a statement to the ASX this morning, in which it said: “As announced at its AGM on 5 November 2020, TWE reiterates that it has formally paused work on a potential demerger of its Penfolds brand, and further that it is not currently considering a demerger of any brands/businesses within its portfolio.
“As also announced on 5 November 2020, TWE is assessing internal operating models to deliver long term value through a separate focus across its brand portfolios. These assessments remain ongoing and TWE has no further announcements to make at this stage.”
The Australian also claimed that TWE is looking to appoint three new leaders to run each of the newly created businesses, but said it was unclear how the new leaders would report into the CEO and TWE Board.
TWE will announce its interim F21 results on Wednesday 17 February, at 11am AEST and The Shout will report on all details of the results presentation.