Copestick Murray doubles business on back of increased supply

Distributor Copestick Murray has seen its business double in the last two years after boosting its supply of wines from parent company Henkell by around 35%.

Robin Copestick, co-founder & director of Copestick Murray

The business had grown substantially since German firm Henkell & Co Gruppe acquired a 60% stake in the business in August 2013, according to managing director Robin Copestick.

“We now feeling the benefit of the Henkell partnership, and it’s full steam ahead,” Copestick told the drinks business. “They didn’t have good distribution in the UK, whereas we do, and we didn’t have much sparkling wine.”

Around 35% of the products now come from Henkell “and rising”, he said, noting that this was all incremental volume growth. Much of this has been driven by Henkell’s Prosecco brand Mionetto, along with Spanish cava brand Cava Hill and Alfred Gratien Champagne.

The business is trading at 50% above where it was last year, according to Robin Copestick. In July it reported turnover up 15% to £23.6m during 2014, on the back of a strong performance of the Mionetto and the ‘i heart’ wines range.

On the back of the growth spurt, the company recently announced a raft of new role and appointments to boost its UK team.

“We are conscious of the need for more people to give it more attention,” Copestick said.

In August, David Percival was announced as the new national account manager for on-trade, with James Griffith set to take on the off-trade from next month. Griffiths will work with Stuart Bond, who is stepping into the role of commercial director when David Peek leaves the company at the end of the year. In addition, Karl von Molendorff will head up business development, with Mike Ebdey appointed to technical and production manager.

It follows the appointment of Ian Dunn who joined the company in July from Direct Wines.