Foster's wine boss stresses long-term outlook

The man who will lead the world's second-largest wine company if Foster's Group Ltd shareholders today approve the plan to split its wine and beer businesses has warned investors to remain focused on long-term strategies, saying that large corporate wine companies have hit problems when they become focused on investors' short-term demands, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.

If, as expected, Foster's shareholders approve the split of Treasury Wine Estates and Carlton & United Breweries, David Dearie will be tasked with restoring investor faith in Australia's maligned wine sector.

In the past decade, an oversupply of grapes has forced wine prices, and profits, to plummet.

Mr Dearie has spent the past two months visiting existing and potential investors around the globe, stressing that the wine sector is working on a 15-year cycle and that Australia's wine industry remains a year or two away from returning to profit, according to the AFR.