Ehrmanns finally moving forward

Ehrmanns has drawn a line under a chaotic couple of years, in which the wine supplier very nearly went to the wall, by moving out of its offices of 22 years in Highbury, north London, into a new Primrose Hill premises and revealing details of its new management team.

The future of the debt-laden company was only secured last July when Ehrmanns was bought out by wine investment fund Global Vintners.

The extent to which the company was struggling to stay afloat was highlighted by the fact Gonzålez Byass had pulled out of a similar rescue deal during due diligence before Global Vintners stepped in.

The deal allowed Ehrmanns to continue trading debt-free, and since the buy-out Ehrmanns has acquired various new agencies including the Chilensis brand from VIA Wines, the Cava agency of Juve y Camps, Marlborough-based Wineco, Italian agency Stefano Girelli and new Spanish agencies which will be announced in due course.

The Ehrmanns management team is now headed up by Hugo Campbell as managing director, Kim Wilson as director of off-trade sales, Joy Edmondson as director of buying and Lenke Kiss as financial controller. Peter Dauthieu remains as chairman.

“This is an exciting period ahead for us in the ever changing and challenging world of the UK wine trade” said Campbell.

“With the great new offices, dynamic new agency acquisitions alongside long-standing supplier relationships, and a new management team which between them hold over 50 years of experience in the wine trade, we now have the foundations to adapt and succeed in what will be tough but hopefully rewarding times ahead for our customers, our suppliers and ourselves.”

Keith Lay, along with managing the Ehrmanns’ Independent Selection division, is also a national account manager for on-trade. Fellow NAM John Brimmer is also heading up Ehrmanns’ export division.

Alan Lodge, 28.04.2010