Majestic Wines looks to exit from UK retail business

Majestic Wines are looking to exit from the UK retail business as they are to focus on Naked Wines their online brand, according to Sky News.

Rothschild bankers has been appointed by the board of directors to explore a sale in their UK retail portfolio of 200 stores.

A spokesperson for Majestic said a sale was “just one of a range of options we’re looking at.”

Majestic wine announced last month their plans to close a number of stores and to undertake a major rebrand to Naked Wine that they acquired in 2015.

The wine retailer reported a 6.3% rise in underlying sales for the 10-week Christmas trading period ended 31 December 2018, compared with 4.1% in the same period in 2017.

Much of the sales growth was thanks to its overseas markets in the US and Australia.