Majestic's winning streak ends

British wine warehouse chain Majestic Wine announced its half-yearly results today, featuring a slide in profitablity that reflects the grim economic conditions of recent times. For the six months to 29 Sep, profits are down by 25.5% to £5.6m. For years, the wine warehouse chain has been a barometer of success in the UK wine market, posting consecutive years of growth in the face of fierce competition from supermarkets and struggling performance from other off-licence chains. For example, in the annual report published only in June of this year, profits were up 3.4%.

Today’s stumble will hardly come as a...