Australia’s leading beverage group, Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA), has announced that Terry Davis will step down as Group Managing Director next, after nearly 12 years in the role. Davis will retire from the position 31 August 2014.
“Over the last 18 months there has been much speculation concerning the tenure of our long serving Group Managing Director, Terry Davis,” said CCA Chairman David Gonski.
“The next 18 months will be crucial for CCA in the further development of its alcoholic beverage strategy and the accelerated plans for growth of the Indonesian business and the board felt it was prudent to provide the market with certainty as to Terry’s tenure,” said Gonski.
In 2012, CCA also acquired the PT San Miguel Indonesia Food and Beverages non-alcoholic bottling facilities in Jakarta, following San Miguel’s decision to stop producing non-alcoholic beverages in Jakarta.
“The acquisition of this large and modern facility is a very important acquisition for CCA as it fast tracks our expansion plans for the Jakarta region, providing a well-located complement to our Cibitung manufacturing operations,” said Davis in December 2012. CCA said at the time of the acquisition that they planned to spend approximately A$45 million on the acquisition of the San Miguel facilities and on further developing the site’s capacity over the next 12 months.
Chairman David Gonski said that Davis had made a “significant and lasting contribution in transforming CCA into a world-class, premium multi-beverage business”. During Davis’ tenure, the market capitalisation of CCA has increased from $3.5 billion to $11.4 billion. The Group’s return on capital has increased from just over 7 per cent in 2001 to 24 per cent today, generating total shareholder returns of nearly 400 per cent.
CCA’s Board will form a subcommittee over the coming months to begin the search for the new Group Managing Director. The search is expected to include both internal and external candidates.
CCA announced in December 2012 that it had entered into a long-term exclusive agreement to distribute Rekorderlig alcoholic cider in Australia, starting 1 January 2014. The agreement will give CCA access to the fastest growing alcoholic beverages category in Australia.
