Wine merchant Majestic Wine served up record annual pre-tax profit as consumers celebrated events such as the Royal Wedding with a good bottle of wine.
Pre-tax profit rose to £23.2m in the 53 weeks ended 2 April 2012 from £20.3m the same time a year earlier. Total sales were up 8.9% to £280.3m, just below forecasts of £281.4m. Like for like sales in UK retail stores rose 2.6%.
The price of an average bottle of still wine purchased at Majestic is now £7.34, up from £6.94 a year earlier.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Majestic in France saw profit before interest and tax of £1.4m, up from £1m the year before while profit at Lay & Wheeler, its fine wine merchant, climbed to £1.9m from £0.7m before.
Commenting on the results chief executive Steve Lewis said, "Majestic has a clearly differentiated operating model, with a focus on delivering exceptional customer service that has proved resilient in a challenging economic environment."
In the ten weeks from 3 April to 11 June 2012, UK like for like sales up 0.6%.
A final dividend of 11.8p net per share has been offered, bringing the total dividend for the year to 15.6p, an increase of 20% on last year.
CJ
-
8 of the best houses for sale with annexesThe best houses with annexes – from a period property in the Lake District to a 13th-century house with a two-bedroom annexe in Saltwood, Kent
-
Zelenskyy moves to appease Donald Trump – what happens now?Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is conceding ground to secure the least-worst deal possible, says Emily Hohler
