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Sparkling wine sales at English producer Chapel Down have fizzed 53% higher as a record number of bottles of its premium offering were sold last year.
Net revenues at the group rose 10% to £15.6m in 2022 thanks to its planned premiumisation strategy and increased focus on sparkling wine.
Chapel Down said in the trading update it carried significant momentum into 2023 with 14% growth in the second half of 2022 versus the first six months of the year.
CEO Andrew Carter added the winemaker was on track to meet its target of doubling the size of the business by 2026.
Traditional method sparkling wine revenues jumped 53% in the year and now represented 70% of wine sales by value, with a record 790,000 bottles sold to customers, up from 522,000 in 2021.
Average selling price to customers grew by 19%, due to a combination of favourable product sales mix and price increases achieved in the first quarter.
Sales was strong across all trade channels, with the off-trade revennues up 9% despite a reduced availability of still wines following the challenging 2021 harvest.
Sparkling wines sales in retailers increased by 69%, while the brand’s market share increased from 27% to 31%.
Total on-trade revenues increased 34% thanks to the ncreased numbers of distribution outlets and brand support.
E-commerce and the vineyard shop & tours together accounted for more than 30% of sales in 2022.
Export sales grew by 164% from a small base, which reflected the growing interest and potential for English sparkling wines overseas, the group said.
“We are delighted by the sales performance achieved in 2022, driven by our premiumisation strategy, which supported stellar growth in our traditional sparkling wines sales,” Carter added.
“We look forward to updating the market on the continued growth in the profitability of our business in our full-year audited results.
“This performance, and the excellent harvest we enjoyed in 2022, means we carry momentum into 2023 and are on track to meet our target of doubling the size of our business by 2026.”
Morning update
Consumer confidence in the UK has finally turned a corner following 15 months of decline, according to a new report this morning.
Deloitte’s latest consumer tracker showed consumer confidence improved by half a pecentage point in the final quarter of 2022, edging up to –19.7%.
Overall confidence was boosted by significant quarter-on-quarter improvement in sentiment towards levels of debt (+3.8 percentage points) and household disposable income (+6.5 percentage points), as some consumers have received pay rises or seasonal bonuses.
In a sign that pressures on households might have passed their most intense point, the proportion of consumers adopting coping strategies to manage the rise in the cost of living had started to ease, Deloitte said.
However, despite the upturn in sentiment, consumers continued to adopt recessionary purchasing behaviours. Of the consumers who are spending less, 60% are doing so to save money, up year on year from 33%.
Looking ahead into 2023, one in four consumers are planning to use more retail loyalty schemes to benefit from member-only discounting. A further one in four consumers are also planning to put off new purchases altogether by repairing or fixing existing items.
“Consumers indicate that the squeeze on their purchasing power could now be past its peak,” said Céline Fenech, consumer insight lead at Deloitte.
“However, ongoing recessionary consumer behaviour indicates that many households are struggling, and we are likely to see consumers continue to reduce their overall spending into the first half of the year.”
She added: “As we saw over the festive period, consumers have become thrifty, taking advantage of discounts and promotions including making more of the benefits provided by loyalty schemes. Consumers are also increasingly extending the lifespan of items through fixes and repairs, rather than footing the expenditure of a brand-new purchase.”
The Deloitte Consumer Tracker is based on responses from 3,492 UK consumers aged 18+ between 27 and 30 December 2022.
The FTSE 100 started the week on positive footing, climbing 0.2% to 7,784.79pts.
Early risers in fmcg include Science in Sport, up 3.7% to 14p, Nichols, up 3.3% to 1,085p, and Ocado, up 2.8% to 727.6p.
McBride, Bakkavor, SSP Group and Hotel Chocolat all started the day in the red, falling 2% to 24p, 1.4% to 112p, 0.9% to 258.5p and 0.6% to 212.8p respectively.
This week in the City
The markets look a little quieter this week now most of the retail Christmas trading updates have been issued.
Tomorrow brings a first-quarter update from Primark owner Associated British Foods
Wednesday sees a trading statement from pub group JD Wetherspoon and quarterly results from distiller Archer Daniels Midland and spices supplier McCormick.
Drinks giant Diageo is set to post interims on Thursday morning fresh from announcing its latest acquisition last week of premium rum brand Don Papa. Premium tonic producer Fever-Tree Drinks is also scheduled to put out a trading update on Thursday, alongside Britvic and Tate & Lyle, while Greencore holds its AGM.
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