Fortune Brands announces management change at Beam Global

Published: 24 October, 2008

Fortune Brands, makers of Jim Beam bourbon, has announced that Tom Flocco, president and chief executive officer of its Beam Global Spirits & Wine business is leaving the company to pursue other interests.

The Beam Global senior executive team will report to Bruce Carbonari, chairman and chief executive officer of Fortune Brands, on an interim basis while a search is conducted for a successor.

"Tom and the Beam Global team have accomplished a great deal over the past several years to build our spirits business into one of the top four premium spirits companies in the world," Carbonari said.

"Notably, our spirits business doubled in size and elevated its portfolio with the acquisition of the Allied Domecq brands in 2005, and has begun simplifying and building its routes to market in the US and globally."

Flocco joined Fortune Brands in 1999 as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, moved to the spirits unit in 2003 as chief operating officer, and became president and CEO of the spirits business in January 2004.

The management reshuffle comes as Fortune Brands also announces its third quarter results. It benefited from a gain, saying earnings rose 61% to $336 million (£214 million), from $209 million (£133 million) a year earlier - which it attributed partly to growth in its Jim Beam brand.

In a statement, the company said: "We efficiently unwound our spirits partnership with V&S Group on very favorable terms; we repurchased the minority interest in our spirits business at an attractive valuation; we received a $230 million (£145 million) pre-tax payment from Pernod Ricard to accelerate the end of our US distribution joint venture with the V&S brands; we established our new spirits sales and distribution platform in the U.S. and globally; and we acquired Cruzan Rum at an attractive price, giving us an excellent position in a growing premium category."

The company added that it would approach its earnings targets for the fourth quarter "with caution" due to the current state of the financial markets.

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