“Very early” merger talks for Australian Vintage, Accolade Wines

Australian Vintage says its strategic review identified several initiatives, including “potential transformational mergers”, and is in “very early stage” exploratory discussions with Accolade Wines, but there is no certainty any transaction will eventuate.

Australian Vintage brands include Nepenthe, Tempus Two, McGuigan.  

At the beginning of the month, Accolade Wines was taken over by the consortium Australian Wine Holdco, led by Bain Capital. Bain is now the largest stakeholder in the company, having started buying Accolade’s debt for 38-40 cents in the dollar late last year.

In its 1H24 report last week, Australian Vintage CEO, Craig Garvin, said results had been in line with expectations given the tough trading environment and challenging industry conditions. The company managed to keep revenue in line with 1H23 at $136 million.

Its 1H24 reported income statement had 1H23 results including asset sales to reduce debt, so there was a 78 per cent drop in profit before tax in 1H24, from $18.4 million in 1H23 to $4 million, and an 83 per cent drop in net profit after tax (NPATS) from $16.7 million pcp to $2.8 million. Its EBITDAS fell 49 per cent from $28.3 million pcp to $14.4 million.

In its underlying income statement, the figures look a little less dramatic, with EBITDAS up 27 per cent from $13m in 1H23 to $16.5 million, and NPATS up 85 per cent to $4.2 million, from $2.3 million in 1H23.

There was $2 million spent on transformational costs including consultancy fees, redundancies, and a full market review. Australian Vintage called in E&P Advisory in 2023 after what Garvin said was “one of the toughest vintages”.

The lower than anticipated vintage saw a non-cash winery production fixed cost write off of around $9 million.