Sales figures cheer Majestic Wine despite drag of washout summer weather

The wine merchant, which has 189 stores and generates about 10 per cent of retail business online, said the improvement to £9.2m for the six months to October 1 demonstrated the resilience of the business.

Sales through the store network grew by 4.7 per cent to £108.7m, with the figure when excluding changes in store space up by 0.6 per cent. In the six weeks since then, like-for-like sales have risen by 1.2 per cent. Majestic said: “During the summer, sales were adversely affected by unseasonable weather that resulted in the cancellation of a large number of outdoor events.”

It saw an 11 per cent increase in the number of customers on its database who have made a purchase in the last 12 months and said average spend per transaction was up by £1 to £126. The average bottle price of still wine purchased at Majestic is now £7.46, up from £7.13 a year earlier.

Chairman Phil Wrigley said: “We recognise that the environment in which we operate is likely to remain challenging. We are most encouraged by the number of new customers attracted to Majestic and we are well prepared for the very important Christmas trading period.”

Majestic opened nine new stores in the half-year, including its first outlet in Cornwall, and said it was pleased with initial sales in all of them.

As a result, it continues to see the potential to expand the UK store portfolio to about 330 locations.

The company has also reduced its involvement in the wholesale drinks market as it looks to focus the business towards the on-trade. It has built up a regional sales team of 25 people whose role is to secure restaurant, gastro pub and hotel business, with all subsequent logistics handled by the nearest Majestic store.

Online sales were up 14 per cent, helped by a 20 per cent increase in the number of orders placed online after the company reduced the minimum purchase requirement for web customers to six bottles, mirroring the change in its shops made in 2009.