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WINE giant Southcorp yesterday predicted strong earnings growth and greater than expected cost savings from its merger with Rosemount Estate. Australia`s biggest wine company reported a 4.9 per cent rise in net earnings to $215 million for 2000-01, reflecting the boost in wine sales following the Rosemount wine acquisition. Southcorp chief executive Keith Lambert said the company had upgraded its forecast benefits from the merger with Rosemount from $20 million a year to $50 million - with $15 million to flow in this financial year. Mr Lambert said Rosemount had a stunning performance, posting a 44.5 per cent lift in sales for the year. However, he declined to predict if this phenomenal growth could be repeated this year. "The outlook for Southcorp Wines is very strong," Mr Lambert said. "With continued strong global demand for core brands, Penfolds, Rosemount and Lindemans, increased capacity, improved red wine mix and a renewed focus on branded products worldwide, we are confident of strong earnings growth." For the year to June 30, 2001, Southcorp`s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 11.9 per cent to $385.4 million, benefiting from the profit from the sale of its packaging business and six months contribution from Rosemount. The wine group contributed $159 million in earnings for the year, up from $146 million. cc,17p8 quote "With continued strong global demand for core brands, we are confident of strong earnings growth.` As part of its transformation into a pure wine giant, Southcorp offloaded its packaging business for almost $1 billion during the year and is also selling its water heater operations. The divested packaging business earned $118.5 million, up from $102 million. Profit for the water heater business fell to $77 million from $86 million. Mr Lambert was confident the company would sell the business this financial year for substantially above book value, although this was most likely to happen in the second half. He said a number of shortlisted parties were doing due diligence and the divestment was not a forced sale. However, the company does need to sell the water heater business to maintain its provisional Standard & Poor`s BBB-plus credit rating. Mr Lambert said corporate costs were already falling and Southcorp had reduced its overall wine staff 10 per cent. Redundancies contributed to a $14.5 million pre-tax charge relating to the $1.5 billion merger with Rosemount completed earlier this year. The company also wrote down the value of excess wine stock by $45 million. This was offset by Southcorp`s $77 million profit from the sale of the packaging assets. The company maintained its final dividend at 11¢, but it was partly franked as opposed to fully franked previously. Mr Lambert said the company was pursuing ways to raise the level of franking, but not for 12 months. Shares in Southcorp fell 13¢ or 1.7 per cent to $7.38. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | Southcorp, Akquisition von Rosemount steigert Gewinn |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | McNugget (22.08.01 14:34:03) |
| Beitrag: | 1 von 1 (ID:4258253) |
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