Majestic Wine profits rocket 14.5%

The wine warehouse reported an 8.9% increase in total sales to £280m while like-for-likes grew 2.6%.

Majestic said like-for-like sales rose 0.6% in the 10 weeks to June 11 which included the trade from parties around the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Chief executive Steve Lewis said the trading environment is “likely to continue to be difficult” but said the company is “well placed to deal with the challenges and opportunities ahead”. 

The 181-store retailer opened 16 stores in the period and has a target of 330 stores.

Pre-tax profit at Lay & Wheeler rose from £700,000 to £1.9m while the company’s French arm enjoyed a £400,000 pre-tax uplift to £1.4m.  

Online sales increased 7.8% on last year and now represent 10% of UK retail sales.

The retailer said customer numbers rose 11.1% to 568,000 in the year. The average spend per transaction was up £2 to £128.

Trade customers grew 6.9% on last year and now represent 24% of total UK sales.

Lewis said: “Majestic has a clearly differentiated operating model, with a focus on delivering exceptional customer service that has proved resilient in a challenging economic environment.”

“We expect to make further good progress by continuing to invest in the development of internal talent, in the roll-out of the store portfolio and in customer facing technologies.”