Fall in sales leaves Majestic Wine with half-year hangover

By Rupert Steiner for the Daily Mail

Updated: 17:32 EDT, 18 November 2013

A fall in underlying sales has left Majestic Wine with a half-year hangover after they dropped 0.4 per cent compared with booming trading on the back of the Queen’s jubilee celebrations last year.

But the timing of Easter helped the figures over the last 17 weeks of the half, with sales rebounding 3 per cent.

The firm, which operates 198 wine warehouses with car parking and a minimum order of six bottles per customer, saw pre-tax profit rise from £9.1million to £9.5million for the 26 weeks to September 30, on sales of £130million.

Up: Majestic boss Steve Lewis saw a 39 per cent jump in sales of prosecco

Chief executive Steve Lewis saw a 39 per cent increase in sales of prosecco, which is likely to grow in the run-up to Christmas.

The average spend per transaction has risen £1 to £127 and the average bottle price of non-sparkling wine purchased at Majestic is £7.71, up from  £7.46 last year.

Three stores opened during the half, in Havant, Hampshire; Lytham St Anne’s, Lancashire; and Durham. The shares rose 8.5p to 556p and the interim dividend was up 5pc to 4.2p per share.