Aiming for Scandinavia

Oct 22 2009 By The Journal

EU good cheer

CHANGES to European legislation look set to help a North East drinks firm expand its empire Down Under and increase its turnover by £6m to £24m within a year.

Somewhere in the "approved" pile of paperwork in the Brussels lawmakers’ office is a ruling which barely warrants the status of a footnote, never mind a major milestone, in the ongoing development of the union.

But in the boardroom of one factory in County Durham the recent decision to allow 187ml bottles of wine, most commonly found on planes and trains, to be sold in the wider retail world was toasted and a huge opportunity to grow was seized.

Lanchester Wine Cellars (LWC) – which employs 125 people at its 230,000sq ft plant near Annfield Plain – has invested £1m in a new product which it hopes will steer it through the recession and help it uncork exponential growth figures.

On the back of the European ruling over the 187ml bottle, LWC is aiming to tap into the market for small plastic bottles of wine at public events, such as festivals and concerts, with Inspiral.

The fully-recyclable PET bottle which has a two-year shelf life has already attracted interest from a wholesale firm in Australia – a market which LWC currently only buys supplies from rather than sells into. It is also going to be marketed across Asia in Taiwan and China as the firm looks to boost its overseas trade from the current 5% of annual turnover to about 20%.