[ad_1]
Supplied
Foley Wines owns brands such as Mt Difficulty, Roaring Meg, and Boatshed Bay.
Billionaire winery owner Bill Foley donated nearly $ 400,000 to US President Donald Trump, but revelations of his political leanings do not appear to have affected the popularity of his New Zealand brands.
The American company, Foley Family Wines Holdings, has the majority stake in Foley Wines, which has reported a profit of almost $ 7 million for the most recent financial year.
Foley Wines owns brands that include Mt Difficulty, Te Kairanga, Vavasour, Roaring Meg, Dashwood, Russian Jack, and Boatshed Bay, as well as Lighthouse Gin.
In June, a report from the Chronicle of San Francisco said Foley had donated US $ 255,600 (NZ $ 393,939) to Trump between 2016 and 2020.
READ MORE:
* New Zealand Winery Owner Gave Trump Nearly $ 400,000: Report
* American billionaire supports New Zealand tourism recovery with multi-million dollar investment in wineries
* New Zealand is a great place to invest in a vineyard, if you have $ 1 million to spare
It was the second-largest donation by a California winegrower or winery executive to the Trump campaign, the newspaper said.
At the time, David Cormack, who runs the public relations firm Draper Cormack, said Stuff donations could deter New Zealanders from the products.
Craig Simcox / Stuff
Bill Foley, the owner of a multi-million dollar winery, reportedly gave Donald Trump nearly $ 400,000.
“Many New Zealanders would be deeply disappointed if they found out that some of their so-called favorite Kiwi brands belong to an American who supports Trump.”
That warning does not appear to have been heeded, as last week the company reported an after-tax profit of $ 6,921,000 for the year through June.
Foley Wines CEO Mark Turnbull said 2020 had been a year of significant progress, but it was also affected by Covid-19.
While the global situation had important implications, the business continued to progress genuinely.
“Fortunately, we were able to successfully complete the harvest during alert level 4 under strict conditions,” he said.
“However, our portfolio of premium brands is served by restaurants and airlines around the world, and these sectors have been hit hard.”
STUFF
The American billionaire spends “many millions” on the Wairarapa winery expansion and predicts New Zealand tourism will rebound.
While box sales were up 2 percent for the year, box sales for the last quarter were down about 27,000 boxes compared to the prior year.
The company was eligible for the wage subsidy and had been able to retain all company staff, Turnbull said.
“This means that we were able to quickly reopen the doors of the winery and also the restaurant at Mt Difficulty to a seven-day-a-week operation.
“However, this does not reflect the positive momentum the business is gaining on the sales front, as all markets were doing well before the Covid-19 outage.
“We are confident that the foundations established over the past 12 months will underpin the future growth of the company.”
