Chapel Down Full Year Result & Crowdfund Campaign | 2020

Chapel Down Full Year Result & Crowdfund Campaign | 2020

by Chapel Down 04 June 2021

Chapel Down Group PLC is pleased to announce the Company’s Full Year Results for the 12 month period ending 31st December 2020.

In addition to presenting the Company’s Results, we can also confirm a new £15m loan and rolling credit facility with PNC Business Credit, as well as the launch of our latest crowdfunding campaign.

Key 2020 Highlights

Wine & Spirits:

o   Wine sales volumes were up 38%, reflecting the growing demand for our award-winning wines despite losing approximately a third of our business in the on licensed trade and our own retail shop sales due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

o   Direct to consumer volumes were up 467%, offsetting reduced volumes in the hospitality trade and our own retail outlets due to COVID-19 lockdowns. They have grown from just 4% of our trade in 2019 and now represent 18%.

o   Another excellent harvest in both quality and quantity in 2020 has enabled us to increase stocks by 12% to £12.029m (2019: £10.719m) with substantially increased levels of high quality sparkling wine stock.

o   Further recognition of the premium quality of our wines with Platinum medals for our Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2014 and our Three Graces 2015 and Gold for Kit’s Coty Blanc de Blancs 2014 and Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2017 at The Decanter World Wine 2020 Awards. This, along with more trophies and Golds in the WineGB awards for both sparkling and still wines reinforces Chapel Down’s position as England’s leading producer.

o   Chapel Down Wine and Spirits revenues on a continuing basis up 32% to £13.294m (2019: £10.102m).

o   Wines and Spirits gross profit on a continuing basis up 31% at £5.149m (2019: £3.920m)

o   Adjusted EBITDA for Chapel Down Wines and Spirits was up 76% at £1.608m (2019: £0.915m).

Beer & Cider:

o   Our Beer and Cider business – with some 90% of its sales in the hospitality sector – was badly affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

o   Beer and Cider sales, in Curious Drinks Limited, were down 52% to £2.265m (2019: £4.699m) reflecting the impact of the closure of the on-trade for much of the year.

o   Beer and Cider gross profit (in Curious Drinks Limited) down 68% at £0.451m (2019: £1.431m).

o   With the closure of hospitality, the off-trade was dominated by heavy discounting and intense competition for shelf space.

o   Adjusted EBITDA for Beer and Cider was a loss of (£1.629m) (2019: loss of (£1.776m)).

Adjusted EBITDA for the Group was a loss of (£0.021m) (2019: loss of (£1.236m)

The loss before tax for the Group was a loss of (£7.860m) (2019: loss of (£4.285m)) which included £6.677m of exceptional costs associated with the disposal of Curious Drinks Limited which completed on 23 April 2021.

* Excludes the effect of the exceptional costs and the FRS 102 Section 26 share option accounting adjustment of £40k (2019: £43k) which is a non-cash item.

Message From The Chairman

The extraordinary events of 2020 presented huge challenges to every business. With nearly one third of our wines and spirits and 90% of our Beer and Cider businesses effectively closed, we have had to pivot our business at astonishing pace and make some tough decisions in order to continue to grow our core wine business and the Chapel Down brand. Sadly, that meant having to take the decision to dispose of our beer business to ensure we could focus our energy and resources on our growing wine and spirits business.

English wine is on a high. Building our wine business and brand has taken time and considerable investment over the years. The results are now encouraging. Our wine quality has never been better and enjoys high critical acclaim both at home and abroad. Consumer interest and desire is growing and the English wine category is being increasingly well supported by trade customers. Chapel Down is the best known and leading brand. After twenty years of building, we believe we are in a very good position to further accelerate growth.

With a strong brand, the results for Chapel Down wines have been outstanding in such a difficult year – a 38% increase in sales volumes for the wines, the rapid development of an e-commerce business that has become 18% of our sales, a very good harvest, more awards for quality and further distribution success with major supermarket customers ensuring that the brand was widely available and continued to gain awareness and popularity.

Our asset base is strong and supports the business – high quality vined land, stocks of valuable wines, buildings and equipment and a strong brand.

We will continue to invest over the coming years to secure more high quality fruit, excellence in our winery operations, improving our commercial and online infrastructure, hiring and training the best talent and creating smarter and more effective marketing to ensure that we build the Chapel Down brand and experience to consolidate our leadership position in this exciting growth market.

We continue to enjoy the custom and support of our thousands of shareholders who I regularly hear tell the Chapel Down story with such enthusiasm. On behalf of the whole team, thank-you!

Martin Glenn, 

Chairman

DOWNLOAD THE FULL YEAR RESULTS 2020

Crowdfund Campaign 2021

To enable us to continue the phenomenal sales momentum achieved in 2020, we’re delighted to announce the launch of our latest crowdfunding campaign!

Sales of English sparkling wine are forecasted to grow by 134% by 2026. To enable us to continue being the leaders of the English wine revolution, we’re partnering with Seedrs to raise up to £6.876m. Funds raised will allow us to scale up our winery, plant more vines, upgrade our e-Commerce infrastructure, improve our export market footprint and develop our tourism experiences. For more information on the crowd funding campaign, please see the Share Offer Document and Chapel Down website.

All existing Chapel Down shareholders will have exclusive early access, and be able to invest from the launch date of 4th June 2021, with the campaign being open to the general public from 14th June 2021. 

Whether an existing or new shareholder, to participate in the crowdfund, you will need to be registered with Seedrs. It only takes a couple of minutes, but please ensure you have photo ID to hand. Your email address used for this mailing has been white listed with Seedrs to grant you early access. If you wish to use another email address to set up your account or if you have any questions surrounding the set-up process, please contact the Seedrs support team at support@seedrs.com who will be delighted to help.

For existing shareholders, please click here to set-up your account with Seedrs. More information on how your current investment may be affected by this campaign can be found on our Shareholder FAQ page. Alternatively you can contact the Chapel Down team at shareholder@chapeldown.com.

For new shareholders, you can pre-register with Seedrs here to unlock early access to investment from the 9th June.

So join our enlightened congregation of investors and help take Chapel Down to the next level.

PARTICIPATE IN THE CROWDFUND


Investing involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Please read the Risk Warnings before investing. Investments should only be made by investors who understand these risks. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future. Chapel Down & Seedrs does not make investment recommendations to you and any investment decision should be made on the basis of the full campaign. No communications from Seedrs, through email or any other medium, should be construed as an investment recommendation. 

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