Accolade Wines sees profits rise £4m

By Arabella Mileham

Published: 16 March, 2015

Accolade Wines saw profits rise more than £4m in the 12 months to 30 June 2014, according to accounts filed at Companies House.

The UK's largest wine company, which is owned by Champ Private Equity, saw turnover grew by £3.967m to £625.6m, with operating profit up more than £5m to £21.7m - a 30% rise on last year's £16.7m.

The accounts showed UK turnover rose £8.4m, up 1.52% to £562.3m, but turnover in mainland Europe was down £4.5m - reflecting a slight decline of 0.7% in operating margin.

The company said the satisfactory performance was due to the management's growth strategy of competitive pricing and cost management, and was in line with expectations.

Accolade Wines has secured million of cross-border finance from GE Capital International.

Accolade has previously reported double-digit growth in its flagship Hardys brand, which saw sales rise 8.9% to hit £278.5 million in July 2014. The company's private equity owners have pumped £10m into the Hardy brand since September 2013 including new branding to highlight the range's different tiers, a major marketing push and a 3-year sponsorship deal with English Cricket. More recently, it saw Christmas sales up 12.4%, according to category development controller Jane Robertson, and this had helped drive Australian wine growth in the UK.

Its Californian and South African brand Echo Falls and Kumala have also seen growth in a flat market, according to Mintel's wine report from Mintel published in November.

Other brands in the portfolio include Banrock Station, and Mud House from New Zealand, which was acquired in 2013 and has seen sales grow 2,500% in the last 12 months to 250k 9L cases.

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