By Colin Kruger
Treasury Wine shares soared on Thursday – and not just because its massive US business is expected to bloom as the Trump-trodden elites drown their sorrows.
Shares were up as much as 9 per cent – breaking above the $11 mark during the day – as CEO Michael Clarke confirmed it will deliver profit margins in the high teens next year and is targeting group profit margins that is "towards" its Asian margins – circa 30 per cent.
Not that investors needed any more reason to cheer after Clarke's chairman, Paul Rayner, let investors in on a perk you would not get at other companies on the ASX – or his previous employer, British American Tobacco.
"Of course, our wonderful wines are at the heart of our company, and at the close of this meeting, we will be serving some of the outstanding wines from our portfolio," said Rayner.
Treasury Wine Estates chief executive Mike Clarke.Credit: Arsineh Houspian
It certainly gave shareholders a bit more incentive to bolt through the meeting's agenda, and wasn't Rayner Mr Popular when it came to his re-election.
Unfortunately, he couldn't pull the same trick with the $300,000 lift in the directors' fee pool - this resolution got a 30 per cent vote against it.
The tasting would have served as a good test for shareholders' nose for a bargain. And whether they knew their two-buck chuck from the obvious top-shelf pickings like the Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2013 – $40 at your nearest bottlo.
A small step down got you the Coldstream Hills Yarra Valley Pinot Noir – worth elbowing aside a fellow investor or two given it retails for $28.
Illustration: John Shakespeare.
You would still have been doing well with the "masstige" level Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, Matua Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016, and 19 Crimes Victoria Shiraz 2015.
And the booby prize from Treasury's commercial brands was the cheap and cheerful Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay 2016. Still better than a tepid cup of tea.
Trumpled
President-elect Donald Trump. Credit: Bloomberg
Everybody was caught with their pants down when it came to Donald Trump's unexpected election victory, including the bookies, which are paying dearly for their collective misjudgment.
Sportsbet reports it has paid out $11 million to 25,000 punters who backed Trump, including one punter who picked up $10,100 from a $100 bet on Trump in 2014.
The company, owned by Irish bookmaker Paddy Power/Betfair, hasn't said how much was bet on a Hillary Clinton victory, but twice as many bets were made on Trump, suggesting the losses across the industry will be substantial.
This is certainly the case for its UK parent, which was so confident of a Democrat victory it paid out €1 million ($1.4 million) to punters three weeks before the election. Like everyone, it believed the polls.
It now has to pay out €4 million for a Trump victory and will record its biggest loss ever on a political bet. That's what happens when you pay out the losers as well as the high-odds winners.
"We're in the business of making predictions and decided to put our neck on the line by paying out early on Hillary Clinton, but boy did we get it wrong," spokesman Feilim Mac An Iomaire says.
"We've been well and truly thumped by Trump."
Paddy Power also got it wrong on last year's Greek rejection of austerity referendum, and was among the bookies giving little chance of the UK voting for Brexit.
Back in Australia, Tabcorp says it has paid out more than $4 million to punters who backed a Trump win – taking a $2 million hit to earnings in the process – while the Tom Waterhouse-run William Hill says it will pay out just under $4 million.
Party on
US President-elect Donald Trump and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.Credit: Bloomberg
President-elect Trump has certainly spiced things up for the conga line of pundits who will be lining up to explain the new reality to us all.
Publisher Peter Charlton has already pencilled in former US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to be the keynote speaker at his Asia Pacific Forum in February.
Rice, now a professor at Stanford University, will no doubt have some interesting opinions on what exactly has happened to her grand old Republican Party.
Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au