Australia: Coopers Brewery sees its third consecutive year of sales growth

South Australia’s Coopers Brewery has seen its third consecutive year of sales growth, despite cost pressures and challenges across the beer sector, The Drinks Business reported on November 9.

Coopers, which is Australia’s largest independent brewery, sells around three-quarters of its beer outside its home state, with Queensland emerging as its fastest-growing market.

For 2026, the beer business has seen sales of all of its beers and partner brands, excluding non-alcoholic beers, reach 82.5 million litres, up from 80.6 million litres last year. Added to this, the brewery saw keg sales rise 7.4% and packaged beer sales increase 1.7%.

Revealing its results, Coopers Brewery reported that 2026 profit before tax of AU$23.9 million (£12.29 million) which was up from AU$22.5 million (£11.57 million) from the previous financial year. Dividends also totalled AU$10.50 (£5.40) per share, compared with AU$11.25 (£5.79) back in 2025.

Speaking about the results over the past year, Coopers Brewery managing director Michael Shearer described it as “another outstanding result” and noted how this was “particularly in the context of a relatively subdued national beer market, increasing pressures on Australian household budgets and rising costs of production”.

Challenges and pressures the brewery has faced include malt barley sales being lower at a time that the market became highly competitive with consumers buying on price and value for money. Additionally, there had been subdued demand from Asian beer manufacturers and exports across the marketplace softened as a result. All of this, the brewery has shouldered while still managing to grow in both volume and value.

Despite the headwinds, Shearer explained that the business is thriving and “not only are we seeing more Coopers beer poured at pubs and clubs all over the country” but also acknowledged that “there’s also been an increase in the volume of packaged beer sold at local bottle shops”.

According to Shearer, its Australian Lager variant has assisted in introducing new drinkers to the brand, while the packaging update of its Dry 3.5 beer is also assisting growth with the ale and stout category as well as Coopers Original Pale Ale being hugely popular across Australia.

He said: “We currently hold around 6% of a national beer market which is dominated by two foreign-owned giants, so there’s definitely plenty of growth potential for us to target.”

Shearer added: “We hold a positive outlook for the year ahead and have recently ordered around 7000 extra kegs in response to rising on-premise demand.”

Shearer said: “Consumers recognise Coopers for being the leading Australian-owned beer manufacturer, delivering great quality, value-for-money beer,”

Coopers Zero, which launched in August 2025, has already sold around 400,000 litres in 2026 and the brewery has admitted it is seeing demand continue to grow. Last month, the brewery also announced its first ginger beer was being introduced, showing that it is eyeing trends for flavoured variants across the sector and also demand for conscientious consumption patterns.

09 November, 2026