Coopers Brewery celebrates 150th anniversary

This is no small achievement for Australia’s third largest and still family-owned brewery: Coopers Brewery reported that beer production had lifted slightly to a record 629,000 hl in 2010/2011while the total beer market declined 6 percent.

Coopers Original Pale Ale accounts for 62 percent of sales and Sparkling Ale (‘Red label’) for 14 percent while new low-carb Coopers Clear has grown to 8 percent.

Despite higher production levels, Coopers’ overall turnover in 2010/11 fell slightly to AUD 173 million compared with the record AUD 179 million in 2009/10, while after tax profit reached AUD 23 million, compared to AUD 23.5 million in 2009/10.

The increase in sales, to 4 percent of the national market, occurred despite a massive 6 percent decline overall in national beer consumption. Coopers’ Managing Director Tim Cooper thinks that "we could see a further swing towards us with the pro-Australian consumer" (that’s those Australians who don’t approve of their major beer companies being now foreign owned).

He added that recent developments have resulted in Coopers entering its 150th year in 2012 as the largest remaining Australian-owned brewer.

Coopers is privately owned by a group of about 120 shareholders, many of whom are descendants of the company’s founder Thomas Cooper, who began making beer in Adelaide in 1862.

In 2005, the company rejected a hostile takeover approach from Lion, which would have transferred it to Japanese ownership four years later

“Being the largest Australian-owned brewer is a badge of honour we will wear with pride. This represents the reward for 150 years of hard work in brewing by the Cooper family,” Dr Cooper said.

“We will continue to vigorously maintain our independence as well as our focus on the quality of our products for an appreciative public.

On 23 December 2011, Coopers was named the world’s top family business for 2011, as polled by UK magazine Campden FB. Coopers polled 38 percent, beating Lego (20 percent) and Kenyan retailer Nakumatt (13 percent).