Beverages firm Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) says it cannot rule out interest in some of the beer assets of beer and wine firm Foster's Group should they come up for sale - if the price is right.

Foster's announced in May it would separate its beer business and struggling wine business into two listed companies.CCA has a joint-venture beer business with global brewer SABMiller called Pacific Beverages.

In May, CCA claimed that Pacific Beverages had captured almost 10 per cent of the premium beer market and that CCA's biggest brand, Peroni, was the fastest growing premium beer brand in Australia.

After addressing an Australian Institute of Company Directors luncheon, CCA group managing director Terry Davis was asked whether CCA would be interested in bidding for the Foster's beer assets, following the demerger of the Foster's beer and wine operations.

''I'm not going to answer that for obvious reasons. We're very happy with our organic strategy,'' Mr Davis told reporters.

''It's working well. We're opening our new Bluetongue brewery tomorrow (at Warnervale north of Sydney) with (model) Jennifer Hawkins.

''No one will ever say 'I will not buy something', but the price has to be right, and the price (based on the Foster's share price) is not right.

''But that's not to say that if the business got sold, that we wouldn't look at some of the assets within that business. Who knows?''

Mr Davis said CCA was ''very happy'' with the performance of its fledgling beer operations.

On the future of the wine industry, Mr Davis said the global wine sector had experienced structural issues since at least 2002 and that wine consumers were not drinking as much as they used to.

He said consumers were also confused by the fact they could buy ''cleanskin'' wines carrying generic labels and bottles of wine for $10 which they were told were worth $20 to $30.

''And I suspect that the average age of wine drinkers is increasing,'' he said.

''It's a bit like what's happening in the commercial beer market. The average age of commercial beer drinkers is getting older, and the average age of premium beer drinkers is getting younger.''

Mr Davis said there was still a future for the wine industry in Australia, but it may not lie in corporate hands.

''Whether corporate owners are the best owners of wine companies, I think the jury's probably out,'' he said.

''There are still many wine companies around the world that are still making very good profits.

''Where people have really struggled is where they've had a multitude of brands at a multitude of price-points, and had the difficulty of managing them.''

 brisbanetimes.com.au

Independent brewer Innis & Gunn is to take its domestic distribution operations in-house as it seeks further success in the beer market.

The move follows strong sales of its speciality beers both at home and abroad.

The new arm will be led by Crawford Sinclair, the Edinburgh-based firm's newly-appointed UK director of sales.

Its bottle-only beer has been distributed by Wolverhampton-based Marstons since 2003. 

Managing director, Dougal Sharp, said that the steps would help Innis & Gunn "achieve its potential in the beer market by working more closely with UK customers to deliver consumer-focused growth strategies".

Innis & Gunn recently scooped four awards at the 2010 Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards, including "Product of the Year" for its original oak-aged beer and "Business Of The Year".

In March, it reported turnover increased by 31% last year, while exports grew by 63% to £2.84m in 2009. Domestic sales rose by 17% to £1.56m.

The firm announced this year it was setting up in the US where the speciality beer category accounted for 16% of all beer sales.

 BBC News