Top story
Gusbourne is the latest English winemaker to be put up for sale as the London-listed company revealed this morning that Lord Ashcroft is open to selling his majority shareholding.
A statement from the sparkling wine producer said it had been notified by the Tory peer that he wanted to open discussions with the board to explore “various strategic options”, including a possible sale of his 67% stake.
Other options on the table could be a strategic merger with a similar company or a possible capitalisation of all or part of his debt.
It follows a similar announcement by Chapel Down in June, with the Kent winery currently conducting a strategic review of the business.
Gusbourne has now entered an ‘offer period’ as defined by Takeover Panel M&A rules. The group said it would seek to work constructively with Lord Ashcroft to ensure the process maximised the value for all shareholders.
However, no discussions with any potential buyers were currently underway, the business added.
CEO Jonathan White said: “Gusbourne has established itself as one of the UK’s most significant fine wine producers and has an exciting strategy for future global growth.
“Over the last 20 years, we have meticulously planted our now mature vineyards from which we are producing premium quality vintage wines; carefully curated our brand and established excellent distribution channels across UK trade, direct to consumer and over 35 international markets, that give the business multiple revenue drivers.
“Our strategic vision remains unchanged and we have been pleased with the recent momentum across our three strategic pillars. We look forward to entering into constructive discussions which may arise from this process, at what is an exciting phase for the fast growing English fine market. We would like to thank Lord Ashcroft for his support in helping establish Gusbourne into the business it is today.”
Lord Ashcroft added: “You will have seen that as the majority shareholder of Impellam I announced that I wanted to review strategic options with regard to my shareholding. That objective has now been achieved and is of public record. Now at the tender age of 78 I am reviewing my future options and would now like to conduct a similar exercise with regard to Gusbourne.
“I am flexible as to the outcome. It may be a sale. It may be a strategic merger with a similar company. It may be a capitalisation or restructuring of all or part of my debt.”
Morning update
Ocado Group has announced “a significant development” of its partnership with North American grocer Kroger.
Teh US supermarket has placed an order for a wide range of new automated technologies to roll out in CFCs across its network.
Kroger will implement Ocado’s latest ‘Re:imagined’ technologies across multiple CFCs in its live network, as well as future hubs. The technologies include proprietary Ocado innovations such as On-Grid Robotic Pick and Automated Frameload, which the group said would bring new levels of efficiency and labour productivity to the Kroger delivery network.
Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said: “We are delivering a step-change in warehouse automation and new levels of efficiency to our partners as global supply chains are under significant pressure to manage higher volumes and greater complexity, as well as challenges in labour cost and availability.
“Today marks another exciting milestone in our partnership with Kroger. Our current CFCs are already helping to deliver a game-changing quality of service to their customers across the USA. We are excited for these latest technologies to further enhance that proposition, as well as the efficiency of Kroger’s operations in live and future CFCs.”
The FTSE 100 opened up 0.4% to 8,189.11pts this morning.
Early fmcg risers, included Ocado, which jumped 6.3% to 402p on this morning’s news, while Hilton Food Group is up 2.4% to 929p, THG is up 2.2% to 64.6p and Virgin Wines is up 2.1% to 43.9p.
This week in the City
A third-quarter trading update from catering giant Compass Group is due on Tuesday morning, while, over in the US in the afternoon, drinks behemoth Coca-Cola issues Q2 results.
London-listed multinational Reckitt Benckiser puts out interims on Wednesday, with the latest till roll data from NielsenIQ is alo published.
Thursday brings the big news of the week with Q2 and first-half numbers from consumer packaged goods rivals Nestle and Unilever, whle British American Tobacco also files half-year results, alongside shopping centre owner Hammerson.
No comments yet