Treasury Wine Estates has moved from the red to the black. The release of a full year net profit after tax of AUD64.4m after a AUD900m loss the previous year comes with a reminder that these figures represent just two months of trading as its own entity. The company has seen a net rise in sales of 2% to AUD1.47bn. David Dearie, the company’s chief executive, blames the strength of the Australian dollar for cutting earnings by around $30 million. Over the next year TWE has set itself the goal to focus on brands and to stabilise volumes in the Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) divisions, which lost sales volumes of 11% and 4% respectively. The strength of Australian dollar is undoubtedly partly to blame for the figures in the Americas, with most of the decline occurring in the second half of the year. TWE is hinging its future to ongoing growth in Asia, China especially, where profits are significantly higher and long-term opportunities greater than those of its other export markets.
