Former Treasury Wine Estates COO Robert Foye has contacted Chairman John Mullen, calling for the drinks giant’s board to be urgently strengthened.

Foye, who left TWE in 2019 and joined Accolade Wines from 2020-25 as CEO, currently owns a $1 million stake in TWE.

He told the Australian Financial Review: “Over the past two years, share owners have experienced a decline of more than 60% in the stock price, driven by a series of strategic missteps, operational underperformance in the US and China, and what I believe to be an absence of deep operating expertise on the board.”

Foye said TWE needed a “thorough review of the US business with the objective of doubling EBIT within five years, or pursuing strategic alternatives that maximise share owner value”.

He suggested TWE should return to a geographic operating model “to eliminate the costly and inefficient dual-division structure”. He also said he had offered his services to the chairman as a non-executive board member.

“In my view, the board requires a director with genuine operating expertise in the global wine and [fast-moving consumer goods] industry, as well as the US and China and Asia,” Foye said.

“Someone who has previously run these markets, managed these distributors, and built these teams. That experience does not currently exist at the board level.”

A spokesperson told AFR “the board has no current plans to pursue the proposal referenced”.

Earlier this week TWE also refuted assertions by a Sydney-based investment manager that the company is at risk of bankruptcy.

Plato Global Alpha Fund said: “We have a model to estimate the probability of a company going bankrupt, and this is particularly elevated for Treasury Wines. This concern is even more acute with interest rates rising and the macro outlook deteriorating.”

News.com.au noted that “Plato has been shorting TWE since last year, meaning the fund stands to profit if its share price falls”.

A TWE spokesperson said: “We strongly reject any misleading claims regarding bankruptcy. These assertions are entirely false and without foundation. We have had no engagement or prior dealings with the company making these misleading assertions, and given their position as a hedge fund, their claims should be viewed in that context.”