Britain’s oldest wine merchant has posted bumper sales but said customers were being more cautious.
Berry Bros & Rudd, founded in 1698, said revenues hit £254.3million in the 12 months to the end of March, up 11 per cent from the year before.
The London firm, which sells bottles of wine and champagne for as much as £10,000 each, said fine wine and spirits performed particularly well.
Christmas cheer: Berry Bros & Rudd, which was founded in 1698, said its revenues hit £254.3m in the 12 months to the end of March, up 11% from the year before
Chief executive Emma Fox said: ‘We’re seeing some trading down’, adding: ‘The average price of a bottle of wine across the whole of our customer base is £27, so we’re not talking about trading down to £5.
I think everybody’s becoming a bit more canny. People are just being more risk-averse because there’s so much economic uncertainty.’
Berry Bros is still owned by the Berry and Rudd families and has two shops in London and Basingstoke, Hants, as well as an online shop.
Profits fell 30 per cent in the year to £11.9million, weighed down by its investment in its new multi-million-pound facility in Andover, Hants, which can store up to 14m bottles.
