James Williamson backs Australian Vintage with major investment

Former investment fund manager James Williamson has given strong backing to Australian Vintage, the country’s third largest wine group, by buying 10.9 million shares for AU$1.36 million (£680,000). The post James Williamson backs Australian Vintage with major investment appeared first on The Drinks Business.

Feb 28, 2025 - 11:29

James Williamson backs Australian Vintage with major investment

Former investment fund manager James Williamson has given strong backing to Australian Vintage, the country’s third largest wine group, by buying 10.9 million shares for AU$1.36 million (£680,000). Business growth concept art collage vector illustration

Williamson became the group’s interim chairman last August when he said he hoped to find a replacement within three months. Prevented from dealing in the shares by the stock market in the run-up to the recent results, he says Australian Vintage’s prospects make it a “screaming buy” and has invested as soon as he was free to do so. Just a year ago Australian Vintage was in dire straits in the wake of the national wine glut, drinkers moving away from its brands such as McGuigan at the cheaper end of the price spectrum and boardroom tensions which resulted in the firing of chief executive Craig Garvin. The company was subsequently jilted at the merger altar by the new owners of Accolade, Australian Wine HoldCo, suffered several boardroom departures and then reappointed Garvin last autumn.

Stock price decline

The shares were severely battered and last week fetched just AU$0.13, valuing Australian Vintage at AU$43 million. In June 2021 they stood at AU$0.83, valuing it at AU$234 million. The company made an operating cash loss of AU$7.8 million for the six months to December 31, while net debt soared to AU$73 million, versus cash on hand of just AU$4.7 million on December 31. However, they were the best results for four years and after drastic restructuring, the group is projecting a strong recovery. In an interview in Australia, Williamson said “In fiscal 2025 [which ends in June] we can be more or less free cashflow neutral and in the following year [fiscal 2026], our target is to hit somewhere around AU$10 million free cashflow” “Our target after that [in fiscal 2027] is around AU$20 million in free cash flow." If those figures are achieved, analysts agree with Willaimson’s bullishness. One said they make the company look “scarily cheap”.

New innovations

Garvin said when announcing the results last week that” China and the rest of Asia represent a significant upside to our business in the short to medium term,” He also revealed big hopes for a big breakthrough in a new category for the wine industry. Australian Vintage is already a large player in the no and low sector and is targeting “mid-week wine occasions”, “millennials” and “lapsed wine drinkers,” with the launch of its single-serve Poco Vino, which Garvin says will be “the most exciting launch in AGV’s history”. A selling point will be its “made where sold” feature. Initially, wine sourced from France and Italy will go on sale in Europe, and, notably, the UK. Napa Valley will supply the US product while Australian wines will be used for the Asia Pacific region.