By James Atkinson
Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has announced the separation of its commercial brand portfolio in Australia from its luxury and masstige portfolio.
CEO Michael Clarke said the commercial wine market is markedly different to that of the premium segment and the company needed to consider new operating models and ways of working to realise growth and improve profitability across both.
The Australian & New Zealand (ANZ) business will now be jointly run by Angus McPherson, currently general manager – Australia, who will lead the team focused on TWE’s Australian commercial portfolio together with Simon Marton, currently chief marketing officer, who will also lead the team focused on TWE’s luxury and masstige portfolio. Both roles will report to Clarke.
In addition to structural changes to the Company’s operations in ANZ, the company also intends to manage its Asia and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) regions separately to ANZ.
“Consequently, Andrew Carter, chief commercial officer APAC & EMEA, has decided to leave TWE and the company would like to thank him for his contributions to the business and wish him well,” the company said.
Following a detailed review of its long-term plans, TWE said it will now recognise a non-cash brand and related-asset impairment of up to $260 million (after tax, unaudited) in fiscal 2014, which reflects the combination of historical prices paid for pre-demerger acquisitions and the decline in market growth rates for commercial wine globally; and relates to the company’s commercial brands, IT, plant and equipment assets.
“Today’s announcement of an asset impairment further highlights the need for TWE to do things differently. The current business model is not being optimised and fails to reflect the company’s outstanding capability, brands and people,” said Clarke.