England’s leading and largest winemaker, the £60m Chapel Down Group (AQSE:CDGP), has reported fizzier trading in its full year Trading Update for 2022.
Based in Kent, in the heart of the Garden of England, Chapel Down produces an award-winning range of sparkling and still wines of the highest quality and which the winemaker believes offer the best expression of England.
A record 790,000 bottles of traditional method sparkling wine were sold to its customers in 2022 up from 522,000 bottles in 2021.
Net sales revenues were up 10% at £15.64m (£14.72m), reflecting a strong growth in traditional method sparkling wine sales, some 70% by value.
Group CEO Andrew Carter stated that:
"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.
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."
Analyst Opinion
Sahill Shan at Singer Capital Markets considered that the year-end update news was excellent, noting the stellar growth of 53% in the higher margin sparkling wine category being the stand-out feature.
It builds upon the positive harvest news given out in October and shows growth has accelerated in the second half of the group’s year.
Conclusion – medium-term investment
The group’s shares, backed by net assets of at least 20p a share, are quoted on the Aquis Exchange, and have been as low as 20.5p in the last year, they are currently trading at around 38p. An interesting but medium-term investment.