Deloitte to test NZ Wineries’ financial strength

Deloitte to test NZ Wineries’ financial strength

Deloitte, one of the Big four professional service firms, will for the first time in New Zealand conduct a financial benchmarking survey of over 530 New Zealand wineries in a bid to help the local industry improve its financial performance as well as assess its true competitiveness against overseas markets.

The survey will be a joint venture with New Zealand Winegrowers and it will be based on the equivalent extremely successful Deloitte Australian survey which has been running for over a decade.

According to Deloitte’s Chief Executive Murray Jack the data will allow participating wineries to identify the relative financial strengths and weaknesses of their business and compare them to other similar sized wineries and the industry as a whole.

“All individual information will remain confidential but the more participants the better the data for everybody to benchmark their performance. Over the years trends and changes in the industry will become apparent,” says Murray Jack.

The survey will be broadened by specific additions relevant to the local market and will ask participants to rank in order of importance the various issues affecting the sector such as access to labour and the impact of excise duties. The wineries will then be asked to provide information around income, expenses, and their balance sheet, as well as a host of questions analyzing the vineyards’ production, price points, production costs, inventory and distribution.

Philip Gregan, Chief Executive Officer of New Zealand Winegrowers says all wineries have been asked to take part and he’s urging winery owners going forward to make this a regular part of their yearly business analysis.

Deloitte will provide survey participants with an individually tailored report showing key financial ratios for their business including - solvency, efficiency, profitability, breakdown of sales and expenses per case of wine as well as a raft of data peculiar to their overall operation.

“This is a huge step forward for the New Zealand wine industry as a whole as, each winery can use the information to strategically plan and grow their business as well assess themselves against their competitors locally and across the Tasman. Over time this will definitely help to strengthen our wine industry’s financial position,” adds Mr Gregan.

The survey responses are due at the end of the month and the final analysis is expected to be completed by the end of July.

Ends.

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