Profits fall but sales rise for Majestic Wines


Retail wine merchants, Majestic Wine has posted its first-half profit before tax showing a fall to £8.5m from last year's £9.54m. Profit fell to £6.44m from £7.25m a year ago.

Also, profit before interest and tax fell due to investments in infrastructure, technology and consumer insights to support future growth.

However, total group sales rose by 2.8% to £133.77m from £130.18m a year ago. The company increased market share by 0.1% to 4.3%. Like for like sales in UK retail stores grew 2.8%.

Online sales increased 12.3%, now representing 10.8% of UK retail sales. Active customers went up 1.9% to 643,000.