Enotria profits hit by Coe acquisition

Enotria&Coe saw turnover slip 3% during 2015 with losses amounting to £1.3m – but it insisted it was a ‘satisfactory performance” in a very difficult market.

Enotria&Coe CEO Troy Christensen

Turnover fell 3% in the year to 31 December 2015 to £128m, down from £132m in 2014, according to records filed at Companies House this week. Operating profit also down 68% to £1.1m (before relocations costs), with many of the losses coming off the back of one-off costs associated with the company’s August 2015 acquisition of premium wine distributor Coe Vintners.

Enotria said that although the acquisition has resulted in non-reoccurring costs of around £2.8m which impacted sales during the initial period of integration, when it operated out of both company’s facilities, as well as restructuring and redundancy costs, the move provided a chance to boost opportunities to cross-sell premium spirits and access new accounts that need a wider composite portfolio. Costs would also be streamlining by moving to the existing Enotria warehousing, which was expanded during 2014 to boost capacity.

“These were part of the acquisition plan and allow the business to operate from one platform,” director’s Troy Christensen’ strategic report said. “Expected synergies in 2016 will surpass this one-time cost.”

Although growth in wine and spirits is expected to be flat overall, Enotria highlighted the growth in the premium side in the on-trade, which made it “cautiously optimistic” for a strong 2016.

“Every country of origin of wine in the on-trade has seen growth in £price/ litre, reflecting a trend towards premium casual dining where Enotria and Coe have a strong presence,” Christensen stated.

The directors decided against issuing a dividend.

In January the company rebranded as Enotria&Coe, which it said marked the “final piece of the jigsaw” in the integration of the two companies, and would better represent its vision and branding in the future.