Draught beer sales boost Coopers’ 2023 financial results

Australia | Australia’s family-owned Coopers Brewery credited the recovery of draught beer sales, as well as higher malted barley sales, for boosting its financial year results.

Coopers, which has about 5 percent of the national beer market, generated a 5 percent increase in revenue to AUD 287 million for year to 30 June, and lifted net profit to AUD 19.8 million from AUD 19.2 million in 2022. Coopers has about 200 shareholders, most of them members of the extended Cooper family.

But Coopers’ Managing Director, Dr Tim Cooper, admitted it was a tough market, with overall beer consumption down 15 percent since the 1980s. “It is a bit of a challenge,” Dr Cooper said on 2 November.

Excessive taxation

In a media statement, Coopers reported higher draught beer sales (+26 percent over 2022), which reflected the public’s return to hospitality venues, but they were still 14 percent below pre-covid levels. The brewer also fears that the boost from keg volume will be “slightly under pressure” going forward.

“There is no doubt the beer market in Australia faces challenges brought on by increasing cost-of-living pressures, market concentration and excessive taxation on beer,” Coopers added. In Adelaide, a case (24x375 ml) of Coopers Sparkling Ale now costs well over AUD 60 (USD 42). More than half is tax.

Coopers’ packaged beer sales were down 5 percent, while their total beer sales, excluding non-alcoholic beer, was 776,000 hl for the 2023 financial year – a dip of 2.3 percent over the 2022 financial year volume of 794,000 hl.

The brewer also benefitted from a timely shift in packaging. Prior to the release of its Pale Ale in cans in 2018, sales of canned beer represented 5.3 percent of Coopers’ sales. They now represent 37 percent of sales.

Visitor Centre to open in 2024

Coopers’ statement provided an update on its AUD 50 million investment in a new visitor centre, which will include a microbrewery and whisky distillery, at its Regency Park site in Adelaide. According to Coopers, the project is taking shape and will be completed next year. Brewing and distilling equipment is expected to arrive in the coming weeks.