MOA is a partially integrated producer and exporter of Moa branded craft beers and ciders that it brews, packs and sells to grocery stores, food service providers and other retail distributors mostly in New Zealand. It also owns and operates a portfolio of bars and restaurants in New Zealand.
MOA derives most of its operating revenues from beer and cider sales in New Zealand and Australia. It formulates and produces about 200,000 cases of MOA branded craft beer and cider a year. Most of its hops and other ingredients are sourced from domestic suppliers before being brewed and bottled at its brewery in Marlborough, New Zealand. It also outsources some of its brewing to a neighbouring brewery. MOA uses a combination of in-house and third party sales agents to market and distribute its beers and ciders around the world:
- MOA uses a joint sales team with Constellation Brands called MoBev (www.mobev.co.nz) to market and distribute its products in New Zealand, which are mostly sold through supermarkets and liquor stores;
- MOA uses an in-country sales team to market and distribute its products in Australia, and it also has direct distribution relationships with Dan Murphy’s stores (www.danmurphys.com.au) and BWS stores (www.bws.com.au); and
- St Killian (www.stkillian.com) is MOA’s distribution partner in the United States and is a significant importer and distributor of foreign beers across the country. MOA also employs a small in-country sales team to market and distribute its products.
MOA also owns Non Solo Pizza (www.nonsolopizza.co.nz) and the Savour Group (www.savorgroup.co.nz), which itself owns and operates a portfolio of up-market bars and restaurants including Ostro, Seafarers, Ebisu, Azabu, Fukuko, Super Pizza, Market Galley and The Wreck Bar. MOA also markets and distributes a chocolate liqueur from the Lewis Road Creamery in New Zealand.
Early stage product manufacturing is often characterised as high risk and cash intensive because of the uncertainties and costs involved in developing, licensing and marketing new products and services. Companies try to focus most of their resources on developing consumer awareness and defer any capital investment by outsourcing their production and distribution to third parties. Specifically, MOA has indicated its near-term focus is to: develop new products consolidate its recently acquired hospitality businesses [1].
MOA competes directly with other domestic and international beer and alcohol producers that are also trying to attract customers through various pricing, quality and other customer propositions. Some of its larger competitors are Lion (which owns the Emerson’s, Mac's, Panhead Custom Ales and Little Creatures brands), DB Breweries (which owns the Monteith's and Tuatara brands), Asahi (which owns the Boundary Road Brewery brand), Epic Brewing Company, Behemoth Brewing Company, Coopers Brewery, Good George Brewing, Yeastie Boys and Renaissance Brewing.
MOA has established a strong brand and vertically integrated business model with reliable channels-to-market within New Zealand. It also exports to a number of different countries, giving it the opportunity to distribute more of its products to countries with favourable demand drivers and exchange rates, and vice-versa. Going forward, it should continue to benefit from increased sales and economies of scale through organic growth, expanding its product range and geographic presence, optimising its operations and vertically integrating up the supply chain as well as undertaking complementary and value-accretive acquisitions. Its downside commercial risks could include: a broader economic slowdown that could affect the propensity of consumers to purchase discretionary beer, cider and other alcoholic products; erosion of market share and gross margins from multinational producers with larger economies of scale; loss of a key customer, distributor, supplier or employee; changes to the availability, quality and delivered price of raw materials and third party supplier costs that are unhedged and cannot be passed on to customers through pricing increases; an appreciation of the NZD, which would lower the unhedged value of its exports and any foreign capital it chooses to expatriate back to New Zealand (equally, however, this could lower the NZD-equivalent cost of any distribution undertaken outside of New Zealand); greater international alcohol restrictions and regulations that may increase its compliance costs or prevent it from selling certain products in some markets; the development and widespread adoption of an alternative, cost-effective craft beer by a competitor; the operating risks and capacity constraints inherent with being primarily a single-site brewery; restricted growth due to a lack of financing, processing capacity, consumer awareness or attempting to enter multiple markets without gaining traction in any particular market; and any inheritance of undue liabilities or commercial risks through new product offerings, acquisitions and entrances into new markets.
2012: Moa was established in 2004 by Josh Scott as one of the first New Zealand brewers to produce bottle-conditioned craft beer with an extended shelf-life. In 2010, after several years of research and development, Moa was able to secure a large enough private equity investment to grow and commercialise its beers. Moa launched its cornerstone Moa Original beer in New Zealand in 2005 and began exporting its beers to Australia in 2011 and the United States in 2012. By the time Moa was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2012 (MOA.NZ), it was producing over 50,000 cases of beer and cider a year in its Marlborough brewery that was sold domestically and exported around the world. MOA had an in-house sales team to market and distribute its products around the world, it partnered with Treasury Wine Estate to market and distribute its beers in New Zealand and it partnered with St Killian to market and distribute its beers in the United States
2014: MOA experienced poorer than expected sales in New Zealand and Australia, which led it to internalise all of its marketing and distributing operations. MOA was also unable to secure the necessary resource consents to expand its Marlborough brewery and instead secured a long-term brewing contract with McCashin’s Brewery in Nelson
2015: On the back of its lower than expected earnings, MOA resolved to undertake a further equity capital raising by way of rights issue to fund its ongoing working capital requirements and the planned expansion of its Marlborough brewery
2016: MOA first began to market and distribute other New Zealand craft beers alongside its proprietary brands, the first of which was a craft beer producer called ParrotDog. During the year, it also raised further equity to fund its ongoing working capital and marketing requirements
2017: MOA began to sell and distribute chocolate liqueur on behalf of the Lewis Road Creamery in New Zealand
2018: ParrotDog ended its distribution agreement with MOA. It also entered into a partnership with Constellation Brands New Zealand to establish a joint sales team in New Zealand called MoBev
2019: MOA acquired a portfolio of up-market Auckland bars and restaurants owned by the Savor Group as part of a strategy to increase awareness and distribution of its craft beers. The new restaurants included Ostro, Seafarers, Ebisu, Azabu, Fukuko and Las Vegas
2020: MOA secured New Zealand licensing agreements with two international restaurant chains, MoVida Tapa's and Lobster & Tap. It also continued to expand its domestic hospitality operations after it acquired a restaurant and bar called Non Solo Pizza in Auckland and opened a Lobster & Tap venue in Auckland. The global Covid-19 pandemic forced major nations to temporarily close their borders and restrict people’s movements. This caused major disruptions to supply-chains, employment and consumer demand in almost every sector. MOA was deemed to be a 'non-essential service' provider and was required to shut its offices and restaurants for several weeks. It undertook a sizable capital raising to strengthen its balance sheet and provide sufficient headroom to endure the resulting economic downturn
2021: MOA voluntarily recalled a large amount of beer due to a quality issue and as a result changed contract brewers
MOA was first listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in on 13 November 2012. It had 58.5 million shares on issue at the end of the 2018 financial year, 21% of which were owned by Pioneer Capital, 11% by the Ross Venture Trust, 6% by Allan Scott Wines & Estates, 6% by Poole Investment Trust and the balance by a mix of approximately 1,600 retail and institutional investors.
The MOA Board collectively owned 22.1 million shares at the end of last year. The Board currently comprises:
- Geoff Ross has been the Executive Chairman since December 2017, a Non-Independent Director since September 2010 and the MOA Chief Executive Officer since August 2012. Geoff is currently a Director of The Business Bakery and Trilogy International as well as a Trustee of the Melanoma Foundation and Pure Advantage;
- David Poole has been a Non-Independent Director since October 2015. David is also a Limited Partner of The Business Bakery which owns 23% of MOA, and currently serves as a Director of 1st Seed;
- Craig Styris has been a Non-Independent Director since September 2010 when Pioneer Capital acquired a cornerstone shareholding in MOA. Craig is also an Investment Director at Pioneer Capital and several other private companies;
- Sheena Henderson has been an Independent Director since August 2017. Sheena also serves on the boards of Smiths City, Radio New Zealand, Watson & Son’s, NZ Pork, K9 Natural Food Group, Young Enterprise Group and Cluster Consulting Group;
- Rich Frank has been an Independent Director since July 2018. Rich founded Frank Family Vineyards in Napa Valley, United States;
- Lucien Law has been a Non-Independent Director since April 2019. Lucien founded Savor Group that was acquired by MOA; and
- Paul Robinson has been a Non-Independent Director since April 2019. Paul founded Savor Group that was acquired by MOA.
Geoff Ross has been the MOA Chief Executive Officer since August 2012, the Executive Chairman since December 2017 and a Non-Independent Director since September 2010 when his venture capital firm, The Business Bakery, acquired a cornerstone shareholding in MOA. Geoff comes from a marketing and agriculture background. Prior to joining MOA, he founded and sold 42 Below to Bacardi and was a Managing Partner at DDB as well as a Client Service Director at Saatchi & Saatchi. He is currently a Director of The Business Bakery and Trilogy International as well as a Trustee of the Melanoma Foundation and Pure Advantag.