Australian Vintage has refinanced its debt facilities, with the wine group eyeing the roll-out of its Poco Vino brand.
The company said it has “agreed facilities” of A$128m until March 2028. The deal has an option to extend for another year.
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In a stock-exchange filing, Australian Vintage said the “refinance facilities are in line with the previous interest rate”.
The new deal sees the facility available to Australian Vintage will grow by A$5m. The said the extra cash would support its “growing innovation” Poco Vino, a wine brand sold in a single-serve bottle. Australian Vintage is looking to take Poco Vino to more markets and has lined up the US for early next year.
In February, the McGuigan brand owner recorded widening half-year losses but cited one-off impacts and exchange rates. The company told the market at the time it was on track to meet its forecast for sales growth across the year as a whole.
Australian Vintage booked a net loss of A$21.9m for the six months to 31 December, compared with a loss of A$473,000 a year earlier.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and SGARA (EBITDAS) was a loss of A$268,000 versus a positive A$11.1m in the first six months of the previous financial year. Australian Vintage’s first-half EBITS swung to a loss of A$7.5m from earnings of A$4.2m in the earlier period.
Revenue came in at A$123.9m, down 1.7% on the first half of the company’s 2024/25 financial year.
Alongside the news of the refinancing yesterday (27 May), Australian Vintage said its “sales run-rate” for the second half of the financial year was 10% higher than the first six months.
The company is forecasting its revenues will grow 5% in the second half. It added: “With over 10% of sales set to go out in the last month of the financial year, the full-year net sales result is dependent upon shipping and container availability. There is some risk some sales might be delayed into fiscal year ’27 due to impacts of the war in Iran but the cash target is not at risk.”
Australian Vintage has set a target for free cash flow, “excluding investments”, to be “neutral” despite increased costs from the Middle East crisis.
“We remain on track to achieve the company’s core deliverable of neutral underlying cash flow. We are particularly pleased to see the growth in sales in the second half over the first half despite sales and cost impacts due to the Iran war,” the company said.
“Being net cash flow positive and reducing full-year net debt will be the first time the company has achieved positive group cash since 2021 during Covid.”
