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The wine trading group Hawesko Holding AG (Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor) suffered a slight decline in sales and profits in 2023. When announcing the annual report, CEO Thorsten Hermelink said that the company had succeeded in maintaining stable development at a high level despite a difficult economic environment. Cost discipline and intelligent pricing had been decisive factors in this.
At 660 million euros, the Group's turnover was two per cent lower than in 2022 (671 million euros), but significantly higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic (555 million euros). While the retail division was able to grow, particularly with the Jacques' brand and the B2B segment, the e-commerce division lost nine per cent in sales, following a drop of ten per cent in 2022. At 34 million euros, the operating result was nine per cent down on the previous year, while the margin of 5.1 per cent was half a percentage point lower than in 2022.
Despite the generally weak trend in the e-commerce market, the Hawesko Group was thus able to outperform the market as a whole. In order to drive forward its European expansion, Hawesko entered into a joint venture with one of the leading B2B wine retailers in the Baltic States, the Dunker Group (€ 77 million in sales). The "Hawesko Group's largest single investment to date" in the modernisation and expansion of the logistics centre in Tornesch will be completed in spring 2024. Robot technology and AI are to make logistics more cost-efficient and sales more targeted.
Sales in the first quarter of 2024 were down on the previous year. The Executive Board therefore expects the economy to move sideways in view of the continuing challenging conditions. It intends to recommend a dividend of EUR 1.30 per share for the 2023 financial year to the Annual General Meeting. This is in line with the current economic situation and the aim of distributing at least 70 per cent of net profit. Hawesko-Holding employs a total of around 1,300 people through its brands HAWESKO, Jacques', Wein & Co, WeinWolf, Abayan, Grand Cru Select, Vinos and WirWinzer.
(al / Hawesko-Holding)