Majestic Wine, the UK's largest specialist wine retailer, has posted group revenue growth of 5.4% for the first half of its financial year, to £229.1 million (€247 million).
The group said that its Naked Wines brand saw revenue growth of 14.0% in the period, an acceleration of the 11.6% growth it recorded in the same period last year.
Elsewhere, its Majestic Retail operation saw underlying revenue growth of 1.9%.
Accelerate Growth
"We're doing well in a tough market," commented Rowan Gormley, group chief executive. "We set out a plan at our capital markets day in April 2018 and we are delivering against it. That plan was to accelerate growth by investing in new customers and, so far, the plan is on track."
As Gormley explained, in the most recent half of trading, the group has delivered sales growth, invested more in its business, and continues to re-allocate capital to "invest more efficiently".
"We were planning for tough times and we're investing through tough times because we know that's the route to a more profitable future," he said.
"As a result, we now have a business that is almost 45% online and over 20% international with both the option, and intention, to invest further in order to drive returns."
Majestic Wine said that it remains on track to reach a target of £500 million worth of sales by FY 2019.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
