Australian Macquarie Bank chairman David Clarke's listed wine company McGuigan Simeon has recently been dumped from the S&P 200 after a dismal share price performance. One of the few remaining independent Australian quoted wine companies. McGuigan Simeon is involved in winemaking, wine marketing, vineyard management and development. Both bottled and bulk wine is exported to over 30 countries with focus on the UK, USA and New Zealand. Brian McGuigan Wines merged with Simeon Wines in 2001.
McGuigan Simeon recently cancelled its final dividend for the first time in fourteen years and announced a full-year net loss of A$11.5 million, after writing down its inventory by A$29.1 million. That took its shares down to A$1.95, far from the A$4.65 year-high.
The shares have seen resurgence since, with rumours swirling of an imminent take-over bid, probably from a local predator, such as Foster’s. The company could not explain to the stock exchange any particular reason for its return to favour, with the shares up 12 per cent at one point- a 40 per cent rise in a couple of weeks. . But traders have now decided that Foster’s has probably been too busy talking up its own chances of being snapped up by a foreign buyer to a bid to rescue its own share price.
Venture capitalists are the more likely buyers. One, Herschel Asset Management, has just announced a 5.68 per cent stake in McGuigan Simeon. The shares are currently trading around A$2.68. As an aggressive, well managed producer McGuigan Simeon has a better opportunity of recovery than most.
MGW
mcguigan simeon wines limited
