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The boss of England’s largest winemaker Chapel Down blamed nervous consumers and sluggish sales for a steep drop in profits after the company announced his resignation, with shares plunging 13 per cent.
Chief executive Andrew Carter, who joined the business in 2021, is leaving the brand next year to run Yorkshire brewer Timothy Taylor.
The news of his departure came as profits were almost wiped out in the six months to the end of June, with pre-tax profits falling to £40,000 from £2.4mn in the same period a year earlier. Net sales revenue was down 12 per cent to £7.4mn from £8.4mn.
Carter blamed the performance on a combination of factors such as large UK supermarkets ordering fewer wine bottles as they had leftover stock from Christmas, poor weather and a more challenging macro environment — as well as strong sales during King Charles’s coronation in the same period last year.
He insisted it was a one-off blip and the business was strong with robust trading.
There were “signs of improving consumer confidence”, Carter added, which should contribute to better sales in the second half of the year. But the company said it continued to expect “some gross profit margin decline for the full year”.
Chapel Down has benefited from the rise in popularity of English sparkling wine, aided in part by England’s warming climate, which has fuelled a boom in foreign investment in the country’s vineyards and wineries.
In June the company said it was considering a sale of the business as part of a strategic review to explore funding options to fuel growth.
Carter declined to comment on the process on Wednesday but said he would “most definitely” be around “to see it conclude” before he passed the baton to his successor.
Investment in English land has soared as foreign winemakers have spotted an opportunity to lessen their exposure to climate change by making wine in England’s comparatively cooler climate.
Wine production in England and Wales more than doubled to 12.2mn bottles between 2017 and 2022, according to trade association Wine GB, bucking the trend of falling yields in Europe and the rest of the world as hotter weather has hit wine crops.
Carter said he believed in “the English sparkling wine revolution” and he remained “committed” to Chapel Down as a shareholder. His decision to leave the business was a personal one that would allow him to return to his “beer roots” and be in Yorkshire.
