UK: Virgin Wines ready for sale

(Business-Sale) - The UK arm of Virgin Wines could be sold to a rival German company, according to recent reports from the Sunday Times.

The paper revealed that Direct Wines, the parent company of the online wine merchant, is understood to be reviewing its ownership of the business.

Although the British operation is likely to be sold, the US arm of the firm is not thought to be affected in any way.

Hawesko, an online wine seller based in Germany, is lined up to buy Virgin Wines if the sale goes ahead. Nothing has yet been confirmed, however, and the price of the company is not yet known.

Virgin Wines was founded in 2000 by Rowan Gormley but took its name after Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire bought into the business. It was sold to Direct Wines in 2005, however, but retained the distinctive Virgin branding.

Direct Wines, meanwhile, is one of the largest specialist online retailers in the world and turned sales of £353 million in the year to June 2012. In addition to Virgin Wines, it owns Laithwaite's wine merchant and runs the Sunday Times Wine Club.