UK’s largest winemaker puts itself up for sale to raise £30million for more vineyards

THE UK’s largest winemaker, Chapel Down, has put itself up for sale to raise £30million for more vineyards.

The move comes amid a boom for English vineyards, with record grape harvests helped by increasingly warm and wet weather.

Chapel Down’s vineyard in Tenterden, Kent, shares the same chalky soil as France’s Champagne region and produced 887,000 bottles from its Chardonnay, Bacchus and Pinot Noir grapes last year.

The firm’s Brut Rosé, made from Pinot Noir grapes, was served for the Prince and Princess of Wales’ wedding in 2011.

It also toasted victory against the French last year after a blind taste test of French wine drinkers crowned its sparkling wine better than Moët Champagne.

Chapel Down aims to double its production by 2026 by buying more vineyards and opening a winery.

There are also plans to expand its visitor centre to create a English rival to wine tours in California’s Napa Valley.

It comes after Chapel Down quit its other interests in gin and cider making and sold its Curious Brew beer business to focus solely on winemaking.

It is not clear what any takeover will mean for the 6,000 investors who have bought shares in exchange for 25 per cent discounts on its wine purchases.

Chapel Down, which only moved to London’s junior Aim market in December, counts Lord (Michael) Spencer, the founder of stock- broker ICAP and one of Britain’s wealthiest self-made men, as its biggest shareholder with a 26.7 per cent stake.

It is thought that doing a rights issue — where new shares are sold to raise cash — would have to be at a steep discount in current choppy markets.

Chapel Down’s sale process could spark interest from other drinks giants during a period of deal-making for the sector.

The firm would not be the first English winemaker to be snapped up. Spain’s Cava-maker Freixenet bought Kent rival Bolney Wine Estate in 2022. And the growing attractiveness of England’s vineyards prompted Champagne giant Taittinger to buy a plot in Kent in 2015.

Shares in Chapel Down slipped by 0.73 per cent yesterday to 65.02p, valuing the firm at £111.5million.

Last year Chapel Down grew sales by 15 per cent to £17.9million while its profits shot up 87 per cent to £2.3million.

NVIDIA BOUNCE

NVIDIA clawed back most of its £393billion losses yesterday as investors piled into the chance to buy cheaper shares.

Only last week, the US-based chip-maker was crowned the world’s most valuable company, dethroning Microsoft and Apple as its worth shot to £2.6trillion on the back of the AI boom.

But some investors quickly took their profits, knocking it back to £2.2trillion on Monday.

Despite the setback, the firm — worth more than the UK’s economy — has bounced back 6 per cent to £2.43trillion.

LUFTHANSA GROUP is hitting passengers with an extra £60 “environmental surcharge” on flights from the UK and all 27 EU countries.

The airline is introducing the charge to cover costs of complying with EU rules on using green aviation fuels.

IT’S  MORE-ISONS

THE new boss of Morrisons hopes to boost the number of Morrisons Daily shops by 400 — to 2,000 — within a year.

Rami Baitieh, who took over as chief executive last year, toasted a 4.1 per cent growth in sales in the second quarter.

That is a slight slip on the previous quarter but a big improvement on the 6 per cent slump reported for the same period two years ago.

The firm, now owned by private equity, said it reduced debt from £6.2billion to £4billion and made £450million of cost-savings so far this year.

MATALAN LOSSES IMPROVE

MATALAN has dramatically narrowed its losses, a year since the fashion chain was taken over by its lenders.

Its losses have improved from £106million to £60million in the year to the end of February, according to newly filed accounts. This was despite its sales slipping by 6 per cent to £1.08billion.

Matalan’s founder, John Hargreaves, last year lost control of the business he founded in 1985, as the chain was overloaded with debt.

Jo Whitfield, former chief of The Co-op’s food business, returned to lead the firm last March, having worked there for six years until 2008.

One of the first things she did was to reopen changing rooms — which had been closed to counter rising shoplifting — and to make it more competitive on price.

Ms Whitfield said that the business had “kickstarted the transformation of Matalan”.

CARNIVAL CRUISING

THE owner of P&O yesterday boosted its profit forecasts after hiking cruise prices.

FTSE 250-listed Carnival said it has swung back into the black with second-quarter profits of £72million compared to last year’s £315million loss.

It took a record £6.3billion in bookings as demand finally rebounded from the pandemic.

Boss Josh Weinstein said profits were boosted by extra bookings — but also charging “considerably higher prices”.