Despite the worst grape harvest in living memory and a continued shortage of wine, Gloucestershire-based Off-Piste Wines has increased its turnover by more than 50 per cent to nearly £60 million in 2021.
The Cheltenham-headquartered business, which supplies wine to retailers globally, said turnover had increased from £37.3 million to £58.4 million and might have been even greater, if not for supply-chain factors such as Brexit.
Its latest set of accounts, for an extended 14-month period to the end of March 2021, show profit was also up from £2.3 million for the year ended Friday 31 January 2020 to £3.6 million.
Off-Piste Wines managing director, Andrew Talbot, said: ‘The previous financial year to Friday 31 January 2020 was suppressed by the worst global harvest in a generation and, for the first time in living memory, demand was greater than supply, which made it hard to find available wine to grow the business.
‘The increase in the performance of the company in the current period is partly driven by the correction of this as well as the extended period as noted.
‘However, the unprecedented situation in the UK caused by Covid-19, coupled with the UK and global off-trade market increasing by 20 per cent, meant that demand continued to outstrip supply for the current period. This therefore impacted the growth of the company.’
The firm was founded by Ant Fairbank and Paul Letheren in 2007 and currently employs 29 staff.
By Andrew Merrell
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