Moa gets expansion approval

New Zealand craft brewery Moa has been given approval to expand its Marlborough site after resolving a long-running dispute.

An agreement was reached this week that allows the brewery to expand though it was not revealed how much extra capacity would be added.

A statement from Moa said: “While the conditions are a compromise on the original application, the capacity has retained significant scope for increases in volume.”

Having been given resource consent to carry out a NZ$6.1 million expansion of its brewery in Blenheim in 2013, Moa ran into opposition from local residents and LVMH-owned wine producer Cloudy Bay, who said the brewery expansion would have an adverse effect on the region’s “unique rural environment”.

Moa accused Cloudy Bay of “dirty tricks”, with chief executive Geoff Ross saying: “What we have here is a French-owned company, who trades on our Kiwi identity trying to dictate the terms of operation to a genuine New Zealand business.”

Meanwhile, Moa announced this week that its full year losses will be “in line” with 2014’s $5.8m, with its cost cutting plans expected to bear fruit in 2016 and sales in the year ending 31 March should see a volume jump of 40% to over 1.7m litres.

Its expanded Blenheim site will be used to make more specialty brews as drinkers’ tastes increasingly switch to craft beers, leading to declining volumes but also rising value sales.

New Zealand’s biggest drinks distributor, Lion, recently announced a net-profit fall of 20%.