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This time last year Broadland’s profits were down by more than 70%

Broadland Wineries profits have surged by £1.7m, as the wine supplier shook off a major hit to its profits last year. 

Profits before tax at the wine supplier rose to £2m for the year ending 31 March 2019, latest results reveal – this time last year Brexit’s effect on the pound had sent profits plunging 74% to just £324k. 

Sales for the year to March 31, meanwhile, were up 11.6% to £70.6m, which director Mark Lansley dubbed “a good performance given the continuing fall in UK wine consumption, the political uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the highly competitive retail sector”. 

He highlighted the installation of a new £700k waste water treatment facility at Broadland’s base that was “now delivering reductions in operating costs and carbon footprint”, and that Broadland had installed an additional 500,000 litres of additional wine processing and storage capacity.

Having recently launched NPD such as the lower-abv Three Mills Botanicals and Three Mills 0.05% alcohol-free wines, Broadland added it was “in a good position to take advantage of the recent surge in demand for fruit wine flavoured products and the no & low alcohol movement.

“The Christmas Advent Calendar (a box of 24 small bottles of wine) and Proudly Vegan, the UK’s first 100% vegan wine, have also performed well. This strong performance across the board has enabled the company to significantly broaden its customer base, particularly through the multiple grocers.”  

The business’ turnover outside the UK hit £4.6m over the year – a rise of 43.9%, with the US a particular area of growth. “Trends are translating both ways, putting Broadland, as innovators, in a perfect position – for example, cans and bag-in-box are more accepted in the US, whereas the UK leads on no & low alcohol and fruit fusion,” said Broadland.