Wine distributor expecting sales boost as demand grows for rosé

CASSIDY Wines, a family-owned wine distributor based in Dublin, is expecting to grow its turnover this year to around €21.5m following an increase in off-trade sales.

The company, founded by the Cassidy family in 1977, saw turnover hit just over €20m, with a profit of €106,000, according to results it has published for the year ended February 2020.

Its previous results, for the 17 months to the end of February 2019, saw turnover hit nearly €28.6m, with a profit of around €117,000.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, managing director Neil Cassidy said the results for the 2020 financial year were “not too bad”. He added that the Covid-19 period had been an interesting one for the business.

“Obviously, these are very unusual circumstances but our on-trade, including hotels and restaurants, was zero business for a number of months. That’s coming back now and is probably trading at about 50-60pc of what we would normally expect at this time of year.

“The off-trade has been very strong,” he added. “That’s the independent off-licences and supermarkets, and that is trading well ahead. We are looking at an increase in turnover at the moment. We reckon we will be up to around €21.5m to the end of February for the next financial year.”

Cassidy said that he is projecting sales to the on-trade side of the business would be down about 50pc compared to normal over the coming months, despite the reopening.

The managing director added that Cassidy Wines is more weighted toward the off-trade, meaning it is getting more of an upside to the current surge in demand for wine to be consumed at home.

Cassidy said that the off-trade had grown by about 30pc.

“Rosé wine has been incredible,” he said. “At the beginning of June this year we had sold more rosé wine than we had done over the entire of 2019.

“It’s been a nice trade up as well. It is as if people were cooking nice meals at home and treating themselves.

“So they weren’t buying the €8 to €10 bottles of wine, they were more in the €12 to €15 range at off-licence prices.”

Cassidy Wines, which is based in Citywest, Co Dublin, also includes a logistics business. It employs 30 staff.

As well as sourcing wines from across the world, including South America, Australia, Europe and South Africa, Cassidy Wines also distributes other alcohol and mixers.

It includes a range of beer from Hope Brewing, based in Dublin, and whiskey from Barr an Uisce in Co Wicklow.