Cranswick Premium Wines will sell off its Haselgrove winery to refocus back onto the sub-$14 segment. Reports suggest that the company has found little benefit from its Haselgrove acquisition, which effectively put it in new price points in which it had little experience and limited ability to support future growth. Companies rumoured to be interested in the $20-$25 million acquisition include Banskia Wines, Piper’s Brook and Evans & Tate. Having failed to increase its earnings for the first time since its public listing in 1997, Cranswick is looking to use the proceeds from the sale to free up capital and reduce interest. Sales for the six months to 31 December 2000 of $27.3 million were less than the $27.7 million for the same period in 1999, with its EBIT reducing from $6.7 million to $5.3 million in that time. Reasons given for the downturn included poor domestic sales over the Olympic Games, price competition and the change in ordering practices of a major customer that delayed a $2.5 million sale into the second half of the year. Cranswick has also acquired a third of its UK distributor, with an option to acquire a majority in March 2002.
