Gusbourne Plc (AIM: GUS), the premium English sparkling wine producer, is pleased to report the following unaudited results for the six month period ended 30 June 2024 ("H1" or "H1 2024").
Robust growth and strong performance in DTC, International and emerging Corporate sales channel, offset by challenging domestic UK-Trade. Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed with ongoing improved gross margin.
Highlights for H1 2024 include:
- Net revenue(1) was -3% in H1 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
- DTC wine sales up by 14% to £0.74m (H1 2023 £0.65m), driven by increased membership and website sales, and direct wine sales from our tour and experience programme at the Nest, Gusbourne's cellar door operation in Kent.
- Hospitality revenue from public, private and corporate guests increased by 41% to £0.38m (H1 2023 £0.26m).
- International sales grew by 13% to £0.84m (H1 2023: £0.74m), increasing International sales as a percentage of total sales by 3.6% to 25.6% in H1 2024. Gusbourne has expanded its distribution to 37 international markets and strengthened relationships within the global travel retail sector.
- UK Trade wine sales were down by 22% to £1.31m (H1 2023: £1.69m), which the Company believes is a result of reduced stock holding levels by UK trade customers to help reduce their holding costs. The emerging corporate sales channel continues to build significant momentum.
- Gross margin improved to 69.3% (H1 2023: 68.3%), reflecting improved price and sales mix dynamics, in line with the Group's premium positioning and product strategy.
- Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to £0.33m (H1 2023: £0.58m).
- Further critical acclaim for and expansion of the Gusbourne portfolio. The Group received over 30 awards for its wines during the first half. Several new wines introduced during the period, including the first Agrafe sparkling wine produced in England, the second vintage of our new sweet wine, Chardonnay RS180 and the inaugural vintage of our Single Vineyard still Chardonnay wines.
- Gusbourne attained a King's Award for Enterprise for International Trade, becoming the only English Wine producer to attain this prestigious award.
- The 2024 harvest will commence later in the month. Due to the challenging and variable weather conditions throughout this year's growing season, it is expected to be a harvest of high-quality but reduced yield compared to last year's record 2023 vintage. We have included a £0.5m fair value provision to reflect the lower yields expected from this year's harvest.
- In January 2024 the Company entered into an agreement with a company associated with Lord Ashcroft for the issue of a new £20.0m long-term secured deep discount bond ("DDB") to support the Company's working capital and ongoing growth. Further to this, the Company and bondholder, its largest shareholder, are in discussions to possibly extend the deep discount bond for working capital purposes, however, there can be no guarantee it will enter into such an agreement.
Jonathan White, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“I am pleased to be able to report further strategic progress in the first half of 2024 despite a challenging market backdrop that has resulted in more difficult trading conditions in some areas of our business.
Important highlights include the Group's strong performance in our Direct to Consumer channel which reflects the success of our award winning cellar door operations and the significant progress we are making to grow the brand's digital presence. International growth during the period has also been particularly encouraging with sales growth of 13% underpinned not only by the growing global demand for premium English wine across the 37 countries Gusbourne now distributes to, but also by the increasing number of relationships we now have with Global travel retail partners which continue to enhance our performance.
Looking forward to the second half of the year, the macro-economic environment remains complex with consumer confidence affected by inflationary pressures and cost of borrowing in many markets. At the same time, consumer interest in Gusbourne wine and English wine generally continues to grow across the globe and this combined with the ongoing progress we continue to make against our strategic priorities continues to give the Board confidence in the Group's long-term prospects."
Read the full announcement here.
For further information contact:
Enquiries:
Gusbourne Plc
Jonathan White, CEO
Katharine Berry, CFO
Phil Clark, Investor Relations
+44 (0)12 3375 8666
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Sole Broker)
James Sinclair-Ford / Ailsa MacMaster / Tom Scrivens
+44 (0)20 7886 2500
Media:
Houston
Kate Hoare / Ben Robinson / India Spencer
gusbourne@houston.co.uk
+44 (0)20 4529 0549
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as amended by regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310. With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.
