Staff costs are out of control at 32% of sales and to top it off...

Staff costs are out of control at 32% of sales and to top it off the new CEO received a $500,000 sign on bonus! I can't see any new or radical strategies that he has implemented to either reign in costs or provide new direction for retail markets. For a start there are far too many special releases and the market has become exhausted trying to keep track of all these releases and collectors simply have run out of money.

It's true they should push the regular releases and cut back on the special releases. As a side note one thing that really annoys me about Lark bottles (aside from the fact they fall over all the time due to the skinny nature of the bottle) is that they are only 500mL. Now consumers aren't stupid and realise that every other whisky on the market of any significance is 700mL. So the bottle is skinny for a reason. Furthermore from a retail perspective those wide skinny lark bottles are a pain in the neck to put on the shelf. a) they are too wide b) they easily fall over c) they are mostly gift boxed which means the consumer cant see the label or the colour of the whisky and d) yep only 500mL.

One final point: I know how much that Pontville site was really worth (look at the property transaction records on that property) and Lark paid way too much for that site. I mean $40 million for anything in Tasmania is a crazy amout of money. It's a good site and location don't get me wrong, but $40 million is crazy money for a distillery that really didnt have a long or renowned track record of producing either gin or whisky - it was more like a hobby operation.