Yet another solid year for Australia’s biggest wine company Treasury Wine Estates which has reported higher earnings, higher profits and a forecast of more ahead for 2018-19.
The wine company’s full year results for fiscal 2018, released before the market opened on Thursday, revealed a 34% jump in net profit after tax to $360.3 million.
Treasury said that earnings before interest, tax, the accounting standard SGARA and material items (EBITS) rose a slower 17% to $530.2 million.
That was off a tiny 1.1% rise in revenue to $2.429 billion (on a reported currency basis). Net margin rose to 21.8% from 19.0% the year before, an indication how the company wrung more profits out of its sales dollars.
Treasury will pay a final dividend of 17 cents a share, making a total for the year of 32 cents a share, up 23% from the 26 cents a share payout for 2016-17.
CEO Michael Clarke said “I am delighted to report another stellar financial result for fiscal 2018; a year we have coined a ‘foundation year’ for our company.”
“The momentum in our business, together with the strength of our organisational talent, brand portfolios, operating models and customer partnerships, enabled us to execute transformational changes to our operating model in the US and still deliver strong profit growth,” he said.
In Asia Treasury reported EBITS of $205.2 million, up 37 per cent on the previous year, while EBITS in Europe rose 21 per cent to $49.5 million. But EBITS in Treasury’s Americas segment fell two per cent to $193 million. Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) reported 23% EBITS growth to $136.1 million.”
Mr Clarke said Treasury was poised for an "exciting year" in fiscal 2019.
"We have the wine, the brands, the business models and the organisational talent to propel our company into its next phase of growth that will see TWE become the world’s most celebrated wine company and deliver a 5yr EBITS CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 25 per cent," he said.
