Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The wine warehouse chain said that pre-tax profits for the 53 weeks to April 2 increased over 14 per cent to £16.2m , with the average spend per customer increasing to £123 from £118 last time, helped by a 16p increase in its average price per bottle.

It said that it plans to add a further eight stores to the one that has opened since the end of the year, with a further three re-sites, to supplement its 136 UK stores.

It added that web sales had jumped 35 per cent during the year, accounting for seven per cent of total sales in the UK, but that its French Wine and Beer World operations showed a five per cent drop in lie-for-like sales.

Shares in Majestic have seen a modest drop of 2.25p to 377.75p.