Any one know why the share price for MJW has fallen off a cliff? They had a good year to March 2004 and prelim results are coming out soon. Don't tell me we are all so upset by Iraq that we've all stopped buying booze.

..Fewer, but better lifts Majestic Wine sales

Telegraph – 1 hour 44 minutes ago

MJW.L 401.50 +52.50

......
Majestic Wine (LSE: MJW.L - news) raised a glass to a solid Christmas as consumers treated themselves to top quality bottles despite the squeeze on incomes.

The company said like-for-like sales in the nine weeks to January 2 were up 4pc, with total sales excluding VAT 8.4pc higher. The strong end to the year saw total sales in the first 40 weeks of Majestic's financial year rise 2.7pc, the group said.

Steve Lewis, Majestic's chief executive, said: "We are very pleased with our sales performance over the Christmas period. I ... trust that they enjoyed the wines they purchased over Christmas."

He said shopper numbers were up and although the retailer sold fewer bottles than last year over the festive period, the amount that people spent on each individual bottle increased.

The average bottle price rose from £6.67 to £7.13.

Investec (Frankfurt: A0J32R - news) said in a broker note: "Normal service has been resumed at Majestic with a typically robust sales performance over the key Christmas trading period."

Majestic shares were up around 14pc to 398.5p a share in afternoon trading.

..

Majestic Wine will be providing us with its full-year results on Monday, and we should be expecting a further improvement on 2011 figures. There's likely to be a dividend of around 3.5% from the 416p shares, which is not the best around. But then, despite having been effectively flat over the past 12 months, the shares have actually almost four-bagged from the 110p level at the start of 2009.

Not invested here watching at the moment -

A company doesn't need to break new ground to be a big success. Majestic Wine has proved that good management and a twist on an old business model can still deliver.

Majestic Wine shareholders have cashed in on the roll-out of the 'by the case' wine retail model. The company now operates 181 stores across the UK and three in Northern France. Management believe that the ultimate size of the store portfolio could top 330.

Alongside the stores, Majestic also runs a growing online business. In a fractured market, Majestic grew online sales 7.8% last year, meaning 10% of all UK sales are now online. Majestic's bricks-and-mortar presence provides free marketing for its internet business, something its online-only competitors cannot match.

Majestic currently trades on 15.9 times the consensus estimate for 2013. The dividend is expected to hit 17.2p per share, more than twice the amount paid for 2007.

Preliminaries out today http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4614747

Ex-divi on wed 17th July, 11.8p.

Interims http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4707608

Investec Buy 0.00 547.50 495.00 620.00 Retains

These usually have a good end of the year.

stan - no doubt the thought will rankle with your socialist sensibilites, but i think you're right that christmas could prove to be a bumper time as public optimism improves as it perceives that the economy is indeed gathering pace - and a damn sight faster than predicted or elsewhere in eu

cynic don't forget the saying about statistics and damned lies.

so long as the plebs believe it (so do i actually) then that's all that matters - confidence breeds confidence like the converse

Blimey Alf, some of you Tories really are quite desperate for attention, Read the post again and then continue your thinking if you can... The word "usually" is the clue.

stan - perhaps i'm being unusually thick - blame the cold weather! - but i fail to see the point you're trying to make

... Yes, I think you probably do -):

But to be serious, Followed this lot on and off for a few years, not very much these days but think I'm right in saying that around Christmas their share price hits its high point of the year, so a good trade is in the offing if you're timing is right for a profit. Please check their 10 year chart for reference.

whatever old bean :-)
have added these to my watch list, but am trying to keep a lid on my pot, so would currently need to make a sale to find room (and for EZJ)

Yes, I'm doing the same thing at the mo.

Majestic Wine PLC ("Majestic" or the "Company") the UK's largest wine specialist, today announces a trading update.

On 16 June 2014 the Company will announce its results for the year ending 31 March 2014 and the Board now expects to report that profit before tax will be broadly in line with the previous financial year.

Although the 10 week Christmas trading period was satisfactory and we achieved like for like sales growth of 2.8%, we have experienced challenging trading conditions since the start of the 2014 calendar year. With two weeks to go until our year end we now expect like for like sales to be flat for the financial year as a whole. The latest market data published by Nielsen indicates that we have maintained our market share at 4.1%.

Furthermore, as part of our longer term growth strategy to increase the store footprint to over 300 and expand our e-commerce operations, the Board has decided to invest in the necessary infrastructure enhancements to underpin our future growth plans. These include new office space, a larger and more efficient distribution facility to handle higher volumes, establishing our own in-house e-commerce development team and increasing the size of our Commercial sales team. Building on our strong customer service ethos we are also increasing our investment in both staff training and in our CRM and data analytics capabilities. These investments are necessary to ensure that we can drive further growth although the costs in the short term mean that the Board now anticipates a flatter profit growth profile in the 2015 financial year.

Steve Lewis, Chief Executive, said:

"The Majestic proposition remains compelling to the consumer and our future growth prospects remain bright. I am confident that the investments we are making over the course of the next twelve months will drive future shareholder value."

Down nearly 20% on the back of that statement!

Worth a punt Harry?

So long as there was nothing in the budget to knock the sp even further, I reckon this drop is a little overdone.