Treasury’s site trip and our meetings in Paso Robles have highlighted the advantage Treasury has in this fast growing wine region. Treasury’s existing facilities combined with extra luxury wine supply at DAOU provides an underpinning for sales and EBITS growth in the Americas. The distinct advantage at Paso is its far lower cost of production. We expect the company to deliver on synergies and double-digit revenue growth from its luxury portfolio and investor confidence in the DAOU acquisition will grow following the trip.

The removal of Chinese tariffs on Australian wine exports is positive for Treasury Wines. However, the company’s emphasis of a “modest” impact initially reinforces to us that the tariffs were a catalyst to diversify Treasury’s market exposure. As a result, China will be an incremental market, which means incremental costs (we estimate $30 million in next 12 months) as well as a three-year wait for meaningful incremental China earnings. Sales into China will be smaller in quantity, but higher priced than historically.