Majestic Wine defies grim weather to post increase in sales

Britain's love for wine appears to have been undiminished by the grim weather in December, with Majestic Wine defying the rash of profit warnings spreading across the retail sector this week. Chief executive Steve Lewis paid tribute to customers who had braved last month's Arctic conditions to stock up for the festive period. While Mothercare and Clinton Cards both hit the City with profit warnings today, Majestic posted a healthy 3.7% rise in like-for-like sales between 2 November and 3 January. "We are very pleased with our sales growth over the Christmas period," said Lewis. "I would like to thank our loyal customers for battling through December's dreadful weather conditions to purchase their wine from Majestic." Nick Bubb, analyst at Arden Partners, said Majestic's performance was "perfectly decent", suggesting that other retailers were too keen to blame the snow for their own underperformance. It also appears that Lewis's decision in 2008 to cut the minimum purchase at a Majestic store from 12 bottles to six is continuing to pay off. Majestic recently reported that it has nearly 500,000 active customers, 14% up on a year ago. Lewis enjoyed a "stunning" bottle of Bollinger Grande Année 2000 on Christmas Day – perhaps a popular choice, as it is no longer available at Majestic itself.