The majority shareholder of English sparkling wine producer Gusbourne has notified the board he wants to explore strategic options, including a sale or a merger.
British-Belizean businessman Lord Ashcroft has a 66.76% stake in the English vintner, which has now entered an “offer period”.
Publicly listed Gusbourne said neither Ashcroft nor the company has been approached with an offer for his shares. It had neither party are currently in discussions with an interested suitor.
“Now at the tender age of 78 I am reviewing my future options,“ Ashcroft said. “At this time I have an interest in 40,628,009 shares representing 66.76% of the issued share capital of Gusbourne. In addition, a company 100% owned by me holds a £20m long-term secured deep discount bond.
“I am flexible as to the outcome. It may be a sale. It may be a strategic merger with a similar company. It may be a capitalisation or restructuring of all or part of my debt.”
If all of Ashcroft’s shares were to be acquired, it would trigger a mandatory offer for the remaining issued shares in Gusbourne.
“Our strategic vision remains unchanged and we have been pleased with the recent momentum across our three strategic pillars,” Gusbourne CEO Jonathan White said.
“We look forward to entering into constructive discussions which may arise from this process, at what is an exciting phase for the fast-growing English wine market. We would like to thank Lord Ashcroft for his support in helping establish Gusbourne into the business it is today.”
In 2023, Gusbourne generated revenue of £7m ($9m), up 13% year on year. Its adjusted EBITDA was a loss of £669,000, down from £1.1m the previous year.
UK trade sales were up 13% to £3.5m, DTC net revenue increased 18% to £2.0m and international sales grew by 7% to £1.5m.
While the vintner’s gross profit was up by 30% to £4.1m, it spent £3.5m on sales and marketing, plus £1.9m in administrative expenses. It recorded an operating loss of £1.3m in 2023.
When Gusbourne reported its annual results, White said: “The macro-economic environment remains complex with consumer confidence still affected by inflationary pressures and causing hesitancy in many markets.
“At the same time, consumer interest in Gusbourne wine and English wine generally continues to grow across the globe. Against this backdrop, we remain confident about Gusbourne’s future prospects and expect to deliver another year of good growth across all our distribution channels.
“The planned increased revenue base combined with anticipated improvement in gross margin and cost discipline is expected to deliver EBITDA breakeven for the current financial year. Longer-term, increases in production from new vineyards are expected to drive further revenue growth and margin improvement through scale.”
In January, Gusbourne promoted then marketing chief White to the position of CEO following a six-month search.
White joined Gusbourne in 2018 as head of marketing, later taking the job of marketing director. Previously, he held marketing roles with distributor Armit Wines and wine and spirits merchant Berry Bros & Rudd.
The publicly-listed Gusbourne announced in June last year that CEO Charlie Holland would step down on 6 September. Holland left Gusbourne for a position at Jackson Family Wines to lead a project for the US group to launch English wines.
It marked the Californian business’s first foray into the UK wine market. Jackson Family Wines said the UK’s climate would “complement its vineyard and winery holdings in cool-climate winegrowing regions around the world”.
Earlier today, Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates brushed off a media report it is looking to buy English wine producer Chapel Down.
Last month, Chapel Down said it would consider a sale of the company to find new ways to build long-term growth.
