Coopers and Lion in another public spat
Outgoing Lion CEO Rob Murray seems to be a sore loser. On 20 October 2012, in an interview with Australian media, he called the family behind the largest Australian-owned Coopers brewery “dysfunctional”, referring to Lion’s highly public but ultimately unsuccessful attempt in 2005 to take the smaller brewer over.
In the interview Mr Murray claims that, when Lion made its bid for Coopers, he had been encouraged by older members of the family but was blocked by the younger ones.
The Coopers family could not leave this allegation hanging in the air. They retorted that, despite strenuous efforts of Lion Nathan and its advisers, Coopers’ shareholders voted by 93.4 percent to 6.6 percent to block the bid. The defence of the hostile bid cost Coopers brewery AUD 8 million (USD 8.3 million), but has served to strengthen it in maintaining its independence.
Coopers’ Chairman Glenn Cooper said that “rather than being a ‘dysfunctional family’, as described by Rob Murray, our family enjoys the involvement of members of the fifth and sixth generations in the company.” He added that after 150 years of a really successful company which has ended up being the largest Australian-owned brewery, “dysfunctional’ seems a bit odd”.
The defeat apparently still irks Mr Murray, 50, who is leaving Lion at the beginning of next year, as it is the only dent in his long career with Lion. He joined the brewer and winemaker Lion Nathan as a director in 2002 and became its CEO in 2004.
Five years later, after Japan’s Kirin acquired Lion Nathan, Mr Murray led the integration of the brewer with another of the Japanese group’s local assets, Australian dairy business National Foods.
Mr Murray will be replaced by Nestlé’s Stuart Irvine in January 2013.
In early November 2012 Lion reported that it continues to deliver moderate volume and revenue growth in challenging alcohol market conditions. However, it needs to be pointed out that this growth is probably due to all the brands Lion managed to take over from Foster’s after its rival was bought by SABMiller.
In its trading update for the nine months to 30 June 2012 Lion reported that year-to-date volumes in the alcohol business increased 1.3 percent, leading to a 3.9 percent revenue increase to AUD 1.34 billion (USD 1.4 billion), achieved against the backdrop of a beer market that declined 5.1 percent over the same period. It added that cider innovations are performing strongly, while international wine sales continue to be hampered by the high Australian dollar.
It said further that XXXX GOLD, now Australia’s largest selling beer, continues to grow volume and value share off a large base and Hahn Super Dry trademark is performing strongly, while XXXX Summer Bright Lager, now a scale brand, maintained its double-digit volume and value growth. The James Squire range continued to grow in the craft market, posting volume and value growth now over 60 percent.
However, the alcohol segment’s result was against the backdrop of a disastrous showing by the company’s dairy and drinks business. Volumes in that segment declined 13.3 percent, translating to a 9.9 percent fall in revenue to AUD 1.92 billion (USD 2.0 billion).
Lion does not report profits as the company is not stock market-listed any longer.
