Treasury Wine corks interim dividend, first-half profit slumps as demand woes persist

Feb 16 (Reuters) – Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates’ paused its interim dividend on Monday while its first‑half underlying profit nearly halved, hit by softer demand in its two biggest markets and a sizeable non‑cash impairment in the United States.

The Melbourne-based company booked a non-cash impairment charge of A$770.5 million ($545 million) post-tax on its U.S.-based assets in the period, where shifting drinking habits have slowed sales.

That resulted in Treasury Wine logging its biggest interim loss after tax on a statutory basis since listing in 2011, of A$649.4 million.

The result highlights a reset in its two largest markets after 2025 shipments outpaced underlying consumption, and reflects softer consumer drinking demand in the U.S. and China.

The country’s biggest wine producer reported a 46.3% fall in first‑half net profit after tax before material items and SGARA to A$128.5 million from A$239.6 million, narrowly above the Visible Alpha consensus of A$127.8 million.

Treasury Wine has also been tightening its belt as it works to significantly restrict shipments driving parallel imports in China to protect its Penfolds label.

Analysts at Jefferies called the dividend suspension “sensible” given the leverage currently being above target range, noting along with Citi the result was “pre-announced.”

“We still see operational risk in Americas given evolving distributor landscape & Penfolds given excess channel inventory, but valuation is depressed,” Jefferies said.

Shares of the firm fell 3.1% to A$5.08 by 2301 GMT to their lowest since February 6. The stock lost more than half its value in 2025.

($1 = 1.4144 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Alistair Bell and Chris Reese)