The Australasian brewer and winemaker Lion Nathan is anticipating meeting its targets for the financial year 2002/2003 of net profit after tax of A$180m, up 11% on the prior year.
In a statement the company said improvements in efficiency, mix and pricing more than offset any impact of the competitive nature in the Australian beer market, which has suffered a small decline in third quarter volumes.
“In May, when we announced our interim result we indicated that we remained comfortable with our profit guidance provided the SARS outbreak in China did not have a material impact on our Chine business,” chief executive Gordon Cairns said.
“Three months further on that threat has abated and with only two months before our year’s end, we are confident that we will achieve our full year guidance number of 180 mln NPAT (net profit after tax) from operations,” he said.
The company has ridden out the problems of the SARS virus with Chinese volumes in the quarter growing 18%. Lion Nathan said it expects that business to breakeven at the EBITDA level this financial year.
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By GlobalDataDespite challenging export markets, in wine, volumes were up 8% in the quarter with both the Australian domestic business and Wither Hills in New Zealand performing well.
