Wine company Australian Vintage has acquired the international ownership rights to the MadFish brand from local group Burch Family Wines.
In a stock-exchange filing, Australian Vintage described the deal as "strategically important" to the company in the UK, offering a counterpoint to its flagship McGuigan brand.
“It provides a scalable – over 200,000 cases – balance to red-wine centric McGuigan and gives the portfolio a much-needed lighter varietal range,” the group added.
Australian Vintage is also taking over the distribution of Burch Family Wines’ Howard Park Wines in the UK, Ireland, Europe and Canada.
Burch Family Wines will maintain the ownership and distribution rights for MadFish and Howard Park brands in Australia.
Australian Vintage CEO Tom Dusseldorp, who was appointed last month, said both brands “will complement Australian Vintage’s existing stable of award-winning labels, providing increased volume and value without increased overhead”.
Jeff Burch, CEO of Burch Family Wines, added: “Australian Vintage’s global customer relationships, distribution, bottling and network are world class and we are confident they can accelerate both MadFish and Howard Park’s presence across the globe.”
The two companies will also form a long-term sourcing and processing partnership to “to ensure continuity of quality as the MadFish brand grows”, Australian Vintage said.
In addition to the MadFish agreement, Australian Vintage has upgraded its net-sales forecast for its new Poco Vino brand from A$8m ($5.2m) to “conservatively” over A$10m, citing more than 4,000 confirmed distribution points for its launch.
Australian Vintage is launching Poco Vino brand in the UK in July and in Australia in October.
Meanwhile, Australian Vintage expects growth for its Lemsecco brand, projecting an additional 80,000 cases to be sold in its 2026 financial year.
However, the company cautioned that group sales are forecast to decline by 3% in its 2025 financial year.
It pointed to a subdued market and a lack of "significant innovation" during the current financial year.
In February, Australian Vintage reported a 7.4% drop in first-half revenue to A$126.1m and an 11% decline in gross margins to A$35.4m for the six months to 31 December.
Reported EBITDAS fell 22.7% to A$11.2m, while underlying EBITDAS dropped 20% to A$13.2m.
Underlying EBITS declined A$2m to A$6m and the group swung to a net loss of A$473,000 from a A$2.8m profit a year earlier.
