Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates has lifted its final dividend by 23 per cent after generating a 33.9 per cent lift in net profit after tax for 2017-18 to $360.3 million although an overhaul of its United States distribution network has caused profits in the Americas region to go backwards.
Treasury will pay a final dividend of 17¢ per share on October 5, up from 13¢ a year ago.
Treasury chief executive Mike Clarke said the Americas business had a 1.5 per cent drop in earnings before interest, tax and the SGARA accounting standard to $193 million although profit margins were up by 2 percentage points to 20.1 per cent. Reduced shipments from the route-to-market changes in the US caused a one-off $25 million hit to profits in that region.
Treasury's biggest profit earner, the Asian operations, lifted profits by 37 per cent to $205 million. Mr Clarke expects overall profits at Treasury to grow by about 25 per cent in 2018-19.
TWE Price at posting:
$18.62 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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