Vintage numbers boost Majestic

Shares in Majestic Wine hit a 52-week high after the wine merchant uncorked impressive half-year numbers. Pre-tax profits were up 20% to £7.3m, with like-for-like sales up 7.6%. The wine retailer recently moved to reduce its minimum purchase to six bottles rather than 12, and CEO Steve Lewis said the move was driving sales: We have seen a substantial increase in the number of customers on our database who have shopped in the past year, up 14% to 496,000. The change to a six bottle minimum purchase has been extremely popular with existing customers and has also made Majestic more accessible to new customers. The shares were up 8p this morning to £3.70.