Chapel Down’s English wines are popular at a range of summer social occasions
(Picture: Chapel Down)Chapel Down, the English winemaker, stood by its plans to double in size within the next five years after its roster of sponsored events helped its sales in the first half of the year meet management expectations.
The vineyard, based near Tenterden in Kent, said sales growth in sparkling wine was “strong” helped by its partnerships with Ascot and the Boat Race, as well as with the England and Wales Cricket Board, where it replaced Moet Hennessy’s Veuve Clicquot as official sparkling wine in April. It added that “brand activations” linked to the Platinum Jubilee also helped.
Chapel Down said it reminded on course to double in size over the next five years, with the outlook for the rest of 2022 “positive”. It expects margins to improve “resulting from the price increases and management of inflationary costs pressures”.
Overall revenues in the six months to June 30 were flat year-on-year after what it called the “lower availability of still wine following the 2021 harvest”. Conditons across its 750-acre estate for this year look “favourable” for a “promising harvest”.
The company said its balance sheet remained “strong”, with net assets exceeding £31 million, or 19.5p per share. It said it continued to believe the market worth of its tangible assets is “considerably higher” than the value written on its books.
