Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has cancelled the sale of its Wolf Blass, Lindemans, Yellowglen and Blossom Hill brands.
TWE CEO Tim Ford revealed during the company’s HY25 results announcement that offers from potential buyers had been too low so the company would retain the brands.
Taylors Wines revealed in January that it had pulled out of talks to acquire TWE’s commercial brands.
“We had a look but it wasn’t in line with our strategic intent, which is really at the premium end of the market,” Managing Director Mitchell Taylor told The Australian.
The Real Review’s Huon Hooke named Wolf Blass Grey Label Cabernet Shiraz 2021 ($45) as one of his top 10 wines for 2024.
TWE’s HY25 results showed a 49.9% decrease in EBITS for TWE’s commercial wine division to $22.9 million.
“The result was driven by continued commercial and premium NSR declines, reflecting softness in consumer demand for wine at lower price points, underperformance relative to the category and the cycling of a $9.7 million gain on sale of divested vineyard assets in the previous corresponding period,” TWE said.
Overall, net profit after tax for TWE was up by 32.5% to $220.9 million for the first half of 2024-25, with Penfolds reporting a 33.9% increase in EBITS to $250.2 million,
The result was driven by strong Bin & Icon portfolio shipments in Asia, led by the re-establishment of the Australian COO
portfolio in China, where TWE said there had been strong demand from customers and encouraging depletions performance.
Additionally, the positive depletions momentum for Penfolds continued in a number of other key Asian markets,
including Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia.
Treasury Americas reported a 66.9% increase in EBITS to $155.3 million. Gross revenue increased by 41% driven by the acquisition of DAOU (acquired in December 2023).
Ford said: “Our interim 2025 performance highlights the benefit to the quality of earnings and key metrics from our multi-year transformation to a luxury-led business, with this segment of the market continuing to be healthy in our key trading
regions.
“We are extremely pleased to have successfully re-established the Penfolds Australian country of origin
portfolio in China, with positive consumer and customer sentiment and key performance signals very clear.
“The progress we have made integrating DAOU and Treasury Americas to create the leading supplier of luxury wine in the
US market is also pleasing and we look forward to further capitalising on this opportunity in the year ahead.
“Calendar year 2024 has been a year of significant and successful change for TWE. Our team has absolute clarity on our
portfolio and execution priorities, with Penfolds and the Treasury Americas Luxury businesses the clear drivers of our
future growth, with our global premium business playing a critical role to power and support this growth agenda.”