Shares in Conviviality (CVR) leapt 10% today as revenues more than doubled to £864.5m and the drinks group said the integration plan for Matthew Clark and Bibendum was ahead of expectations.

Adjusted EBITDA in the 53 weeks to 1 May rose 135% to £30.2m, to go along with the 137% increase in the top line, thanks to the completion of the “transformational” acquisition of wholesaler Matthew Clarke in October. A deal post year end for Bibendum PLB, which extended Conviviality’s reach into the off-trade, pushed combined pro-forma sales to more than £1.4bn.

CEO Diana Hunter told The Grocer the might of the enlarged group, which is seeking to be a “one-stop shop” for all consumer drinking occasions across the on and off-trade, provided Conviviality with a natural hedge against any potential economic downturn and uncertainty post-Brexit.

“We look to the year ahead with a stronger and more resilient business able to thrive in uncertain economic times,” she said.

“If you just take wine alone, we have 450 suppliers and over 6,500 SKUs, as well as an equal balance between old and new world. We can work really closely with our supply base to manage our range and any currency fluctuations which puts us in such a strong position. If we start to see any shifts in currency or pricing differences we can work really closely with our customers and suppliers to mitigate that risk.”

Revenues at Matthew Clarke, which serves about 19,000 on-trade outlets, increased 4.9% in the seven months since the deal to £497m on a like-for-like basis. The wholesaler continued to trade at 4.8% above last year since the year end and Bibendum has brought in 110 new customers to its 3,500-strong base since the acquisition in May, Conviviality added.

There was a more modest 0.8% rise in revenues to £366.9m recorded by the Bargain Booze retail side of the business, but franchisee like-for-like sales improved to a -1.3% decline compared with -1.7% in the prior year.

Hunter said the increase in multi-site franchisees – which increased 42% to 364 – had been a big part of the strategy to halt the decline. The number of store closures also slowed to 34, almost half the prior year, and the number of sites increased by 15% to 716.

However, after a strong start to the new financial year for Conviviality Retail conditions toughened in June, with like-for-like sales to 3 July falling 2.1%. Hunter said it was consistent with the rest of the market – with the BRC seeing a 2.8% year-on-year fall in footfall on the UK’s high streets in June – and she was “not particularly worried”.

Reported pre-tax profits at Conviviality were just £100,000 higher than in 2014/15 at £9.1m after £9.9m of exceptional items related to the Matthew Clarke acquisition and £2.5m of finance charges for loans taken out to fund the deal.

Conviviality’s share price ended the day 11.1% up at 196p to get within touching distance of where the stock was pre-Brexit.

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