New name for Fosters wine business
Fosters wine business Treasury Wine Estates encompasses Penfolds, Wynns, Rosemount and Wolf Blass brands and their assets including 12,000 hectares of vineyards, 20 wineries and 50 wine brands across Australia, California, France, Italy, and New Zealand.
Under the new name, announced at a conference in Melbourne on 20 July 2010, almost 4,000 of Fosters employees are supposed to “accelerate a cultural change and business transformation” that began with Fosters strategic review of the business in February 2009, Fosters CEO Ian Johnston said.
Mr Johnston added: “The new name and brand identity reflect the wealth of treasured wine brands that mark the core of this business.”
Fosters wine unit has operated under numerous trademarks since Foster’s bought Australias Mildara Blass and Rothbury Wines in 1996.
It purchased the U.S. Beringer Wine Estates in 2001 and Australias Southcorp in 2005.
A demerger of the beer and wine businesses was announced in May this year in response to continued troubles in the wine business, compounded by a strong Australian/U.S. exchange rate, wine oversupply in Australia and strong discounting in the domestic and UK markets.
The company has had to write down between AUD 1.1 billion and AUD 1.3 billion (EUR 900 million) in wine assets in its past financial year ending 30 June 2010.
Analysts expect Foster’s wine managing director David Dearie to continue heading up Treasury Wine Estates once it is split off to become an independent, publicly listed company.
Mr Johnston said the new name does not “pre-empt any outcome for our demerger, nor does it represent fundamental change in our business model”.
“It does, however, represent the acceleration of a cultural change for those of us working in the wine business as we return to a dedicated focus on viticulture, wine making and the marketing and sale of one of the world’s most outstanding portfolios”, he said in a statement on the company’s website.
Doesnt it send chills down your spine if you see how euphemisms are used to manipulate thoughts?
