With net sales dropping by 0.5% to AUD 2.36bn, Foster’s depended on factors such as the sale of its breweries in India and Vietnam to declare a 6% increase in net profit on year-on-year terms for the six months to the end of December. If these sales and other significant items were removed, Foster’s recorded a net 28% decline in profit compared to the AUD 553.5m attributed to the same period in 2006. While sales in Australia, Asia and the Pacific incfeased by 14.1% to AUD 515.5m and Europe, the Middle East and Africa improved their performance by 16.5%, the Americas saw a dramatic 32.2% reduction on sales to AUD 98.3m. During the year ended December 31 2007, Australia’s overall exports to the US declined by 1.5% to AUD 917m. Foster’s US office has also pulled out of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation’s marketing program in that country.
