Chapel Down slumps as CEO departs, profits slide

Chapel Down tumbled on Wednesday as it announced the departure of its chief executive and reported a drop in first-half profits and revenue.

The wine maker said Andrew Carter has resigned as a director and CEO as he heads off to become CEO of Timothy Taylor & Co Ltd next year.

The process to recruit a new CEO will begin "shortly", it said, and Carter will continue to lead the business until this process is completed in first half of next year.

The news came alongside results for the six months to 30 June, which showed that net sales revenue declined 11% to £7.1m, as strong performances in direct-to-consumer, on-trade and export were offset by a more challenging performance in off-trade, where sales slumped 36%. This was due mainly to one-off factors, particularly movement in retailers' stock holdings.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 58% to £1.36m.

Andrew Carter said: "Chapel Down continues to be the market leader in the English wine industry, with the leading brand, the deepest distribution and internationally celebrated wines. 2024 has seen continued strategic and operational progress with robust trading, particularly in the on-trade, export and direct-to-consumer channels which shows continued, strong consumer demand.

"In the first half, this has been offset by some challenges in the off-trade, predominantly caused by one-off factors."

At 0945 BST, the shares were down 14% at 60p.