GLS Australian Beverage LTD

A – Introduction to Australian Beverages Ltd

– 1937, Australian Beverages Ltd (ABL) commenced manufacturing soft drinks [non-alcoholic drinks rather than ‘hard’ drinks that contain alcohol]. – 1970s and 1980s, the company expanded beverage portfolio by entering into other non-alcoholic beverage categories, such as fruit- and milkbased drinks. – 2011, the company was Australia’s largest supplier of non-alcoholic beverages. – -Tom Dwyer, current Managing Director since 2008.

– Joined the company at a time when carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) growth was stagnating and shareholder confidence in the company was waning. – Dwyer established a strategic planning team to assess the current product portfolio and identify organic and acquisition growth opportunities. – From this review the importance of operational excellence was identified – Strong investment was made in world-class manufacturing facilities and systems. – Process re-engineering was implemented to reduce the costs of manufacturing and time-to-market. – Given the declining consumption of CSDs, Tom Dwyer has sought to reduce ABL’s reliance on them, focusing on growing new products and entering new non-alcoholic beverage Categories. – Significant investment in product development of other non-alcoholic beverages – Several acquisitions made to grow the market share of non-CSD based beverages in the company’s portfolio – Entry into the Australian snack food market recently undertaken. – Finalised the integration of a snack food business acquisition just over 12 months ago, – Latest acquisition enabled ABL to leverage its strong distribution capabilities to supermarkets, convenience stores and hospitality channels by adding complementary food products to non-alcoholic beverages. – CSDs still accounted for 68 per cent of company revenue in 2011.