by Wine Business International
Australasian beer and wine company Lion Nathan has seen second-half profits rise 54% thanks to growing beer sales and the sale of property. Earnings from the wine division rose 50% to
A$6.6m ($5.77m/€3.9m), thanks to higher sales from the St Hallett, Petaluma and Wither Hills brands. This was partly driven by a 42% rise in sales in the UK market.
Net income was A$120.1m ($107m/€70.78m) in the six months ending September 30, with a profit contribution from the sale of Lion Nathan’s brewery in Auckland.
It hasn’t all been good news for the company, as the ongoing Australian drought has driven the price of barley up, while beer sales are flat. Beer is, nevertheless, still a better economic proposition, according to CEO Rob Murray. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that anybody who could turn the economics of the wine business into the economics of the beer business would be "up there with Jesus when he turned water into wine”.
