Australia's Treasury Wine Estates appoints Sam Fischer as CEO (updated)

Treasury Wine Estates

15/05/2025 24:54

Sam Fischer to take over as CEO on October 27

Tim Ford to step down after five years in chief role

Shares down 4.6%

Adds shares in paragraph 2, company's comments in paragraph 5, and analysts comments in paragraphs 7-9

May 15 (Reuters) - Australia's Treasury Wine Estates TWE.AX said on Thursday Sam Fischer will take over as chief executive officer in October, succeeding Tim Ford, who plans to step down after 14 years with the winemaker, including the past five years as top boss.

        Shares of the company were down 4.6%, as of 0112 GMT. Earlier in the session, the stock dropped nearly 8% and was among the top losers in the benchmark index .AXJO.

Fischer brings 30 years of experience across alcoholic beverages, consumer goods, and luxury brands. He is currently the CEO of Sydney-based beverage company Lion, a subsidiary of Japan's Kirin Group.

Prior to joining Lion, he spent 15 years with spirits giant Diageo in various roles, including as president, and has also led the London-listed company's operations in Greater China and Asia Pacific region.

"Succession planning undertaken by the Board, with Mr Ford included, has been underway for an extended period of time, including a comprehensive global search, culminating in today's announcement of Mr Fischer's appointment," the company said in a statement.

The appointment comes as Treasury Wine forges ahead with efforts to re-establish its Australia-originated Penfolds wines in China. The iconic label is seeing renewed interest from Chinese consumers after years of heavy tariffs kept it largely off the shelves.

        "CEO transition increases risk to longer-term targets given persistent U.S. market weakness and building China inventory," Jefferies analysts said.

In February, Treasury had downgraded its annual pre-tax profit forecast to about A$780 million, from an earlier estimate of A$780 million-A$810 million, citing softness in its "premium brands" unit.

"The depressed share price suggests market is already pricing a much weaker outlook," the analysts said.

Ford will remain as CEO until September 30 to aid the transition, Treasury Wine said, with Fischer taking over on October 27.

 (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

 ((Himanshi.Akhand@thomsonreuters.com;))