UPDATE: Treasury Wine Taps Diageo Executives In Restructure

Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. (TWE.AU) said Wednesday it has appointed two former executives from liquor giant Diageo PLC (DEO) to senior regional posts, as the world's largest listed pure play wine company attempts to refresh itself with a wide-ranging management restructure.

Sandra LaDrew, most recently president of Diageo's Catalyst unit focused on niche spirits brands, will head up the group's Americas operations from March. She replaces Stephen Brauer, who in October moved to lead Treasury Wine's flagship U.S. wine brand Beringer.

The new structure separates regions and brands into equally powerful business lines, so both executives will report directly to group Chief Executive David Dearie.

Chris Flaherty, who joined from Diageo in November, has been promoted to managing director of Australia and New Zealand with immediate effect. The position's duties were previously performed by Dearie.

Before it was spun out of Fosters Ltd. (FGL.AU) last year, the brewer's former wine division was a constant thorn in its side, partly owing to a grape glut, intense competition, global economic instability and a high Australian dollar eating into offshore earnings.

During her 20 years at Diageo, LeDrew also spent about four years heading up the Diageo Chateau & Estates Wines division based in California's Napa Valley.

A tough challenge awaits.

In the year to June 30, Treasury Wine's sales volumes by 9-liter case in the Americas fell by 11% to 15.9 million cases from 17.9 million cases. Sales were also down in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, wiping out gains in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

U.S. sales volumes were hurt by an uncertain consumer environment and increased levels of competitor discounting through the second half, leading Treasury Wines to cut promotional investment across its commercial wine portfolio, which caused a larger-than-expected drop in volume.

"Our new global structure places equal emphasis on our brands, supply and the regions in which we operate and it will allow us to pursue growth opportunities that optimize the returns for our business as a whole," Dearie said in a statement.

Late last year, Simon Marton was tapped to head up the Wolf Blass brand, Michelle Terry the Lindeman's brand, and Stuart McNab was appointed chief supply officer.

A company spokeswoman said there are more senior appointments to come.

-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692; [e-mail]