Coopers Brewery has boosted its profit by four per cent for the year to June 30, in part thanks to its new malt plant, despite reporting its first fall in beer sales in 24 years.
The brewer reported profit before tax of $34.3 million, compared with $33.4m for the previous year, despite a fall in total beer sales – the first since 1993 – with Coopers beer volumes falling 9.1 per cent.
Coopers managing director Dr Tim Cooper said the new malting plant opened last November had made a positive impact on the company's results.
“The opening of the new malting plant has delivered substantial savings on malt costs, along with improved malt quality,” he said.
Dr Cooper said that after allowing for products which were discontinued after FY17, the decline in volume was 7.5 per cent.
“This ended 24 consecutive years of volume growth at a compound annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent,” he said. “Coopers last recorded 24 consecutive years of growth between 1905 and 1928.
“Factors behind the lower volumes included an increasingly active craft beer market, more aggressive retail space management and pricing by international brewers, and the introduction of the Container Deposit Scheme in NSW.
“The impact of the deletion of some Coopers brands in decline, and forward buying by retailers in June 2017 which was not repeated in 2018, were other factors.”
Non-alcoholic beer volumes increased in FY18 by 10.4 per cent. Malt extract sales were steady, while home-brew extracts declined by 5.6 per cent.
Dr Cooper said sales in the first few months of the new financial year had been positive with strong growth in Session Ale, which was introduced late last year, and good initial response to the release of Coopers Dry and Coopers Original Pale Ale in cans.
Sales of malt to other brewers and distillers is expected to further boost profit in coming years, according to the company.
