| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Beverages |
| Founded | 1888 |
| Headquarters | Southbank, Melbourne, Australia |
| Key people | David Crawford, Chairman Ian Johnston, acting CEO |
| Products | Victoria Bitter Fosters Lager |
| Revenue | A$3.9 billion (2004) |
| Employees | 35,000 (2004) |
| Parent | SABMiller |
| Website | www.fosters.com.au |
Foster's Group is a beer group with interests in brewing and soft drinks. Foster's Group is the brewer of the Foster's Lager. Foster's Group Limited is a subsidiary of SABMiller and is based in Melbourne, Victoria. Foster's wine business was split into a separate company, Treasury Wine Estates, in May 2011.
Contents |
It was founded in Melbourne in 1888 by two American brothers, William and Ralph Foster of New York, who happened to own a refrigeration plant, which was necessary to brew beer in Australia's hot climate. They sold the brewery the following year and returned to the United States.
In 1983 Elders IXL, a giant Australian diversified conglomerate, purchased Carlton and United Breweries, and renamed it Elders Brewing Group. Then in 1990, the Elders Brewing Group changed its name to the Foster's Group, to reflect the name of their most internationally recognised product.
In 2005, Foster's Group acquired the Australian wine-making group Southcorp. This acquisition added famous brands such as Penfolds, Lindemans and Rosemount to the Foster's stable and around A$1 billion to revenues.
There has long been speculation that the beer sector or all of Foster's Group will be subject to a takeover by a larger firm. Groups to express such an interest over the years have included Diageo, SABMiller, Molson Coors and Heineken International. In September 2011, the board of Fosters agreed to a takeover bid by SABMiller, valuing the company at Aus$9.9bn (US$10.2bn; £6.5bn).[1]
In 1990, Asahi Breweries acquired a 19.9% stake in Australian brewery giant Elders IXL which later became Foster' s Group.
Foster's Group imports, licenses, and distributes a large number of brands. In Australia, Foster's distributes the Asahi Super Dry, Carlsberg, Cinzano, Corona, Kronenbourg 1664, Perrier, Skyy vodka, Stella Artois, and 42 Below import brands among many others. While in the United States and Canadian markets, Molson brews and sells Foster's Lager under license.
In August 2008, it was convicted and fined more than $1-million for two breaches of Victoria's (Australia's) Occupational Health and Safety Act which led to the death of a worker in 2006.[2] The prosecution of the company by the Director of Public Prosecutions for WorkSafe Victoria resulted in a call for the company to better report on health and safety in its Annual Report.[3]
CEO Trevor O'Hoy, resigned on 10 June 2008 after poor performance by the wine division of the group.[4] O'Hoy was replaced by Ian Johnston on 21 July 2008 in the position of acting CEO.[5]
Foster's announced yearly results which ended on 30 June 2009. The net sales revenue increases by 2.7% to $4.5 billion. Net profit increases by 4.0% to $741.5m and earnings per share increases by 4.6% to 38.5 cents.[6]
In 2011, Fosters made major losses that including a write down in the value of the wines division to ASD$1.8 billion[7] that at the businesses AGM in Melbourne on 29 April 2011, 99% of Fosters Group shareholders agreed to split Fosters Group business in to two separate brewing and wines companies. The wines business became Treasury Wine Estates, and was listed on the ASX on 10 May 2011.[8][9] In a late August 2011 interview the Carlton United Group (Fosters beer division) announced that they would be focusing more on craft beer to meet the change in taste of the Australian drinker.[10]