FRANK SWAN: FOSTER’S FOCUSED ON GROWING BRANDS

Foster’s Group chairman Frank Swan said Monday that the Southcorp integration is a thing of the past, and Foster’s has since shifted its focus to improving brand growth.

According to the Dow Jones Newswires, Swan told shareholders at the annual meeting in Melbourne, “Our focus in fiscal 2007 is on accelerating wine volumes and revenue growth, refining our sales and route-to-market capability and bringing new product and innovation initiatives to market."

While wine volumes continue to suffer in Foster’s native Australia, the company is seeing growth in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Chief Trevor O’Hoy told shareholders that Foster’s expects debt gearing to be between 65% and 75% by fiscal 2008 and its net debt to be less than A$3 billion in 2008.