The Californian wine company, Golden State Vintners, has reported a net loss for the third quarter of US$6.34m, which included a one-off charge of US$8m relating to the write-off of the company’s RTD bottling operations.
The company said for comparative purposes, the net loss in third quarter as US$1.45m, against a net loss in the third quarter of last year of US$0.66m. Sales in the third quarter rose slightly from US$16.20m to US$16.62m.
Sales for the nine months to the end of March 2003 fell to US$65.78m from US$69.56m in the corresponding nine months of the previous fiscal year. The company recorded a net loss for that period of US$2.24m. However, excluding the US$8m one-off charge taken in the most recent quarter, the company recorded net income for the nine- month period of US$2.65m, up from net income of US$2.54m in the first nine months of fiscal 2002.
Jeffrey O’Neill, GSV’s CEO, said: “We continue to make solid progress with initiatives to strengthen our competitive and financial position. Our year-to-date financial results reflect marked improvement in our core wine and brandy outsourcing operations, where gross profit from operations increased 9% compared to the previous nine-month period. While we continue to face extremely challenging wine industry conditions, we are generating improved results and are better positioned to maximise our outsourcing capabilities in the coming fiscal year.”
