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.

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.

Nasty.

N+1 Singer Buy 408.75 590.00 590.00 Under Review

Panmure Gordon note:
Trading update.
The group has experienced challenging trading conditions since the start of the 2014 calendar year and LFL sales growth has slowed from 0.8% YTD to flat and as such earnings are likely to be broadly similar to last year.

Outlook.
The group also expects a flatter profit growth profile next year reflecting investment in the business as it scales to 300 stores and capitalises on the digital opportunity. These investments will include new office space, a larger and more efficient distribution facility to handle higher volumes, establishing its own in-house e-commerce development team and increasing the size of its Commercial sales team. The group is also increasing investment in both staff training and in CRM and data analytics capabilities. FY 2014E results will be reported on 16 June.

Forecasts.
We anticipate a c5% downgrade to FY 2014E earnings to c£23.5m PBT and a c13% downgrade to FY 2015E earnings to £24-25m PBT. We will firm up our forecasts following a conversation with management.

Valuation.
Pre-downgrades the stock trades on a FY 2015E P/E of 15.6x an EV/EBITDA of 9.4x and yields 4.0%. The stock retains attractive long-term growth characteristics and we are inclined to view this as a blip – notwithstanding the need to invest in some of the older stores – and we reiterate our Buy recommendation but reduce our target price from 635p to 550p."

MJW Majestic Wine, gone long. Technical breakout on chart, Strong broker backing.

16 Jun 14 Majestic Wine PLC Investec Add 391.75 460.00 460.00
31 Mar 14 Majestic Wine PLC N+1 Singer Buy 391.75 - 470.00

StockMarketWire.com
Majestic Wines has reported an H1 pretax profit of £8.5m, from a year-earlier profit of £9.5m. Total group sales were £133.8m, from £130.2m. Its interim dividend was flat at 4.2p a share.

"Majestic has a compelling proposition with a differentiated model, strong customer service ethos and a clear strategy to deliver growth," said CEO Steve Lewis in a statement.

"The 2015 financial year is one of investing to put in place the building blocks to deliver future growth and shareholder value and we are progressing to plan."

Operational Highlights:

o Active customers up 1.9% to 643,000 (2013: 631,000)

o Average spend per transaction is £130 (2013: £127)

o Average bottle of still wine purchased at Majestic £8.02 (2013: £7.71)

o Market share gains supported by significant increase in sales of Picpoul from France, up 127%, Malbec from Argentina, up 41% and Rosé from Provence, up 32%

o Online sales increased 12.3% to £12.9m, now representing 10.8% of UK retail sales (2013: 10.3%)

o Sales to business customers up 4.9% to £26.8m (2013: £25.6m)

o Sales of fine wine (priced at £20 per bottle and above) increased by 22.0% to £9.0m (2013: £7.4m)

o Four new stores opened during the half (2013: 3)

Majestic Wine (AIM:MJW) - cracking little business but clearly changes need to be implemented http://tinyurl.com/mleowrq

i concur about this company, though the retail wine trade is notoriously tough especially with the supermarkets now having very diverse ranges in both quality and price

of course the staff at MJW are well-trained and knowledgeable, but what else can they offer that the supermarket does not?

StockMarketWire.com
Majestic Wine said total UK store sales for the 10 weeks of Christmas trading from 28 October to 5 January 2015, were up 3.7%.

Over the same period like for like UK store sales growth was 1.1%. This performance brings the like for like UK store sales growth to 2.0% forthe first 40 weeks of the financial year.

The Christmas trading period was particularly challenging characterised by increased levels of competitive promotional activity to attract customers into store and online.

Whilst Majestic traded effectively over the period the Company invested 50 basis points of gross margin ensuring pricing remained competitive in this more promotional environment.

Steve Lewis, Chief Executive, said:
"Majestic delivered like for like sales growth of 1.1% in a difficult Christmas trading period characterised by promotional activity and we are now focused on delivering our final quarter's trading. We anticipate this competitive pricing environment will continue throughout much of 2015."

Investec note yesterday:
"Majestic’s Christmas performance has fallen short of our H2 forecast with a far more promotional environment hitting margins. We downgrade FY15E PBT by 6% to £22m and FY16E by 8%. This is clearly disappointing as H1 results pointed to a stable business with positive KPI movements. With yet another downgrade, concern over strategy & future growth potential is likely to overhang the shares until the actions from the expected strategic update in June start to come through. TP and recommendation placed under review.
UK store LFL + 1.1% for the 10 weeks to 5 Jan, which is behind our H2 LFL estimate of +2.2%. While disappointing, last year’s LFL comparable was reasonably strong (+2.8%). However, the market was particularly competitive with increased promotional activity resulting in a gross margin fall of -50bps vs our H2 forecast of -14bps. B2B fared better according to management, accounting for about one third of LFL growth, with the real pressure on the direct to consumer side.
Downgrade FY15E PBT by 6% to £22.0m (FY14 PBT £23.8m). While sales comparables are easier for the rest of FY15 (an estimated LFL of -1.1% in the last 16 weeks of FY14) and with infrastructure investment weighted to H1, we now assume recent sales momentum and price investment continues in FY15. The company expects the competitive pricing environment to remain for much of 2015, so we cut FY16E PBT by 8%, though we still expect year-on-year PBT growth to resume as there are c. £1m of non-recurring costs in FY15E.
Target price and recommendation under review. 2015 was always flagged as a year of infrastructure investment. However, with yet another downgrade, strategic concerns and a question over growth prospects is likely to weigh on the share price. Key for improving sentiment, we believe, is that the actions from the expected strategic update in June, together with the recent implementation of CRM targeting and a £5 price point, kick start growth again."

StockMarketWire.com
Majestic Wines is to acquire Naked Wines for total consideration of up to £70m, which includes about £50m payable on completion in cash, plus up to £20m contingent consideration payable in Majestic shares.

Cash consideration is being funded by new debt facilities. Naked Wines is a customer-funded international online wine business to create an international, multi-channel specialist wine retailing group.

The transaction is expected to be enhancing to fully diluted earnings per share in FY 2017. Rowan Gormley, founder and CEO of Naked Wines, has been appointed as CEO of the enlarged Majestic. Highlights:

· The transaction creates a significant strategic opportunity for both businesses by sharing complementary strengths: Naked Wines' online and e-commerce skills and Majestic's national store network. The transaction also opens up attractive international growth in the USA and Australia. Majestic and Naked Wines will continue to operate as independent brands

· Naked Wines has an excellent growth track record. For the year ended 31 December 2014 sales of £74 million, were up 40% year on year, with an EBITDA loss of £3.3 million. It currently has over 300,000 customers funding over 130 winemakers, underpinned by large and growing wine markets

· The Naked Wines senior team will remain with the business and will receive over 70% of their potential consideration in Majestic's ordinary shares, which will all be subject to performance criteria

· Majestic expects to announce adjusted pre-tax profit of approximately £21 million for the year ended 31 March 2015

· The final dividend for FY 2015 and the interim dividend for FY 2016 will be withheld, with future dividends to be progressively re-instated by FY 2018

A radical move that was perhaps needed by Majestic but a shame that it has come at the cost of dividends in the short term at least.

Read our latest research note at http://tinyurl.com/mseew2u