All Majestic stores face axe

MAJESTIC Wine could abandon the High Street after appointing bankers to explore a sale of all 200 of its British stores.

Rothschild will sound out buyers and has approached private equity firms to see if there is any interest in its shops, many of them sprawling warehouses.

The 39-year-old company said last month that it was ditching the Majestic brand and shifting its focus to its successful online business Naked Wines.

It has faced stiff competition from online rivals and discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl. But the appointment of Rothschild bankers means the firm could disappear from the High Street entirely, as Majestic has said it was planning to turn some branches into Naked Wines outlets.

Majestic is still considering different plans for the future of its retail operations, including some form of a sale, closing stores, rebranding current sites – or a mixture of all three.

A spokesman said: ‘ Naked Wines has significant potential for long- term, sustainable growth. While a total sale of Majestic Retail continues to be a potential option, it would be wholly unwise to pursue a single-track process and materially limit the potential value that can be realised to drive growth.’

The company will announce its decision when it reports its fullyear results on June 13.

Majestic bought Naked Wines for £70m in 2015. Naked was founded by Rowan Gormley, who has been chief executive of Majestic since the takeover.

When Majestic announced the strategy change last month, Gormley told the Mail that ‘ regardless how the sale of Majestic plays out, we want a store presence’.