CONSTELLATION BRANDS SET FOR ‘MOST TRANSFORMATIONAL DEAL IN ITS HISTORY’

(TheDrinksBusiness) - Since the turn of the year Constellations Brands’ share price has jumped by almost 40% on Wall Street. However, this surge has only a marginal relationship to the group’s recent results; investors are basing their optimism on the fact that the company is at last about to pull off a transformational deal after a number of disappointments over the years.

When it announced its results for the three months to the end of March, Constellation beat analysts’ expectations but it has done no more than match the progress being made by competitors in the resurgent North American market. Sales rose by 11% to $696m, with wines and spirits putting on 8% based on price increases and line extensions. For the full year total group sales were 5.4% ahead with organic growth in wines and spirits of 3%.

Although the sales figures beat analysts’ forecasts, Constellation’s predictions for 2014 were viewed as pedestrian. In wines and spirits, for instance, it is targeting matching market growth and predicting organic profits rises in the ”mid single-digit range.”