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Change tipped for wine
26 Jul 2004
Phil Ruthven, chairman of business analysis company IBIS, believes about one-fifth of Australia's $10 billion in wine assets will be moved to sale/leaseback agreements in the next five years. Mr Ruthven told the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference yesterday that sale/leaseback will "accelerate at a furious pace", as the industry enters its next life-cycle phase, beginning in about 2010.
In the long term, major wine companies won't own any wineries or vineyards, Mr Ruthven stated. They'll be operating-leasing those assets to free up cash, moving towards becoming virtual businesses.
The wine industry is in its fourth era, Mr Ruthven believes. It has progressed from cottage industry to a table wine era, to a fortified wine era and then to the current table wine era, which began in the 1960s and will end in about 2009.
Herald Sun, 26/7/04.
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