Conviviality sales soar 137% for the year

Following the acquisition of Matthew Clark on 7 October 2015, Convivialty saw sales soar 137% to approximately £864 million for the 53 weeks ending on 1 May 2016.

The Week That Was: Top news, Q&As and analysis on Harpers.co.uk

In case you missed some of the headlines this week on harpers.co.uk, we have done a review of the top online news, financial news for the drinks trade, Q&As, and opinion stories.

Pub sales weaken growth in casual dining

According to Coffer Peach Business Tracker, part of CGA Peach, like-for-like sales across managed pub and restaurant groups were down 0.8% for April compared to the same time last year.

Data is driving Co-op wine range changes to help continue growth

The Co-operative is gaining ground in an ultra-competitive channel and at yesterday's summer tasting which previewed several of the new wines being introduced to the retailer's range, the science behind the changes seems to be paying off.

IWC 2016: M&S dethrones Tesco taking home the most Great Value awards

Seventeen Great Value awards were handed out at this year's International Wine Challenge, with Marks & Spencer being most awarded, taking home four awards, and dethroning Tesco which reigned for the past two years.

Healthy Drink Alliance: If we don't self regulate, the government will

The Healthy Drinking Alliance in this month's edition of Harpers is pushing to help raise awareness about the importance of self-regulation as an industry and believes we need to be doing more to prevent government mandates from coming into effect in the future.

British Bottle Company signs distribution deal with US Vine Street Imports

British Bottle Company, which represents 20 British premium wine, spirits, craft beer and cider brands in the UK is heading across the pond to America after signing a deal with US distributor Vine Street Imports.

Analysis: Brand equity is critical in an increasingly saturated gin market

In an increasingly saturated gin market building brands, like Sipsmith and Langley's Gin, with a long-term vision could not be more important.

Third annual Ginposium 2016 sells out

The third annual Ginposium 2016 was hosted on the 12 May at the London Transport Museum in Convent Garden which sold out with 120 delegates attending the technical conference.

Majestic Wine rolls out several news wines ahead of summer

Following the tremendous success of Majestic's first own label Definition range, with sales hitting over £5 million in less than a year on the shelf, the wine buying team is adding a number of new wines to their expanding portfolio ahead of summer.

VIDEO: Skin Côntact LIVE storms Islington's O2 Academy

The wine industry's first ever rock band, Skin Côntact, took the wine trade by storm on last night on stage at London's Islington's O2 Academy to raise money for Wine Relief, the wine trade's fundraising initiative which supports Comic Relief.

Insights: Indies with mutiple sites share critical lessons learned about expanding

English wines rake in record number of IWC 2016 golds

English wines continue to go from strength to strength and at this weeks English Wine Producers tasting 120 medals were awarded by the International Wine Challenge 2016.

Supermarkets sweep over 300 IWC medals

The consumer is the real winner as indicated by the number of medal winning wines on supermarket shelves. The International Wine Challenge awarded 317 medals to supermarket own-brand wines, with 28 of the wines taking home golds.

IWC 2016: France awarded most IWC gold medals for 2016

France was awarded a total of 130 gold medals, with Champagne alone capturing 50 golds, making it the most awarded country at the 2016 International Wine Challenge.

Graham's expands Vintage Port Bond to be available to purchase as an individual bottle

Symington Family Estates famed port brand Graham's, will now offer single bottles of vintage port for sale during the year that it is harvested following the success of the Vintage Port Bond case offering last year.

Gruppo Campari Q1 results dampened by currency effects

Gruppo Campari results released yesterday show net sales remained flat at €327.4m for the first quarter of 2016, with organic growth offset by a negative exchange rate effects.

English wines shine at annual tasting

At yesterday's English Wine Producers trade tasting thirty-five producers exhibited making it the largest tasting for the EWP to date.

Copestick Murray's 2015 financial results deliver 'best ever year'

Copestick Murray has posted its 'best ever year' with sales and profit for its year-end financial results setting records for the company.

Simpsons Wine Estate awarded government grant ahead of first harvest

Ruth and Charles Simpson, the owners of Simpsons Wine Estates in Kent, were awarded a Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) rant, which is growth programme that provides grant funding to encourage development.