Decanter World Wine AwardsLondon merchant Fine & Rare on the market
- Friday 8 October 2010
The company, which was established in 1994 by Mark Bedini and Bud Cuchet, has appointed London-based Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP to handle the potential sale of the company.
‘Earlier on this year we received some approaches, which were not particularly serious but it got us thinking,’ CEO Bedini said.
‘The shareholders decided it was a good time to get a return on our investment in the business.’
The latest accounts in Companies House show the company is in sound financial shape.
Its turnover, to the end of 2009, was £27.98m, up from £27.1m for the previous year, with an operating profit of £1.1m, up from £650,000 in 2008.
F&R’s net funds also increased sharply in 2009, rising to £1.7m compared to £700,000 the previous year.
Bedini is predicting that turnover will nearly double in 2010, jumping to between £47 and £48m.
It is thought that Fine & Rare may attract bids around £35 to £40m.
Fine & Rare mainly offers a brokerage service, although it has between £2.5-3m stock for immediate delivery.
Bedini said UK private customers are the main growth area.
He added that he expected the sale to take some time, and that he and Cuchet were ‘still fully committed to the business’ and would expect to stay on after the sale.
Have your say!
Giles Cadman
October 08 18:55
Thats absolutely ridiculous, the business cannot surely be worth 40 times profits and earnings! Is it the same Bendini that ran Mad about Wine? I wish them luck and if they can sell the business for that level good luck to them, but to my mind its utter nonsense. A company could set itself up from scratch for less than two million and be operating at the same level in under 24 months. Wine buyers are fickle and there should be no lifetime value attributed to a client base. The only possible strength this business has is their wine buying contacts, but again wine is a fickle business and the relationships will stay with the individuals not the brand. I hope Cavendish do their due diligence properly.
Anthony Rose
October 08 17:59
Are you better off investing in fine & rare or Fine & Rare?, I wonder?