Australian wine giant pledges to ramp up Chinese expansion

CANBERRA - One of Australia's leading wine companies has promised to increase its focus on cracking the Chinese market.

Michael Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Treasury Wines, told the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday night that the company would seek to widen the gap between Treasury and its competitors in China.

Treasury manages the international portfolios of famous Australian winemakers Penfolds, Pepperjack and Wolf Blass.

Clarke said that the company was on-track in its "fixing, growing and accelerating" growth strategy.

He said that 2018 would be about focusing on key growth markets, particularly China.

"In Asia, it's leveraging the strength of our routes to market to really create space between us and our competitors," Clarke told the meeting in Adelaide where much of the Australian wine industry is based.

"Particularly in China, where this month our warehouse in Shanghai becomes operational and will result in shorter lead times for existing customers, and provide access to new customers across all our brand portfolios."

Treasury Wines posted a 2016-2017 profit of $211 million, a 55 percent increase on the previous year.

Paul Rayner, Chairman of Treasury, also updated shareholders on how fires in the US state of California had impacted the company, saying operations in the state's wine region had escaped damage.

Treasury Wines owns more than 3,700 hectares of planted vineyards in northern California, making wine for brands such as Beringer and Stags' Leap.

"Treasury Wine is fortunate that all of our people are safe, and our infrastructure in the region remains intact with no significant fire damage," Rayner said.