Britain passed another milestone in its journey from Blue Nun and Liebefraumilch to vintage and fine wine yesterday as Majestic announced a surge in sales of upmarket bottles, lifting it to a buoyant first-half profit.

Sales of fine wines costing more than £20 shot up by 17.5 per cent in the six months to October 1, the wine warehouse chain said. Analysts said that Majestic’s focus on premium wines was paying off, but said that it could be vulnerable to any downturn in the economy, when consumers might switch to cheaper drinks.

Tim How, the chief executive, said: “It’s not a rapid change, but both in the market and in our sales you can see an increase in the average bottle price. Consumers continue to try new wines.”

The average price paid for a bottle crept up 20p to £5.85, while the average spend per trip rose £7 to £128. Pretax profits increased to £7.5 million from £6.5 million last year on a revenue of £91 million. Like-for-like sales for the first half were up 2.4 per cent, but the strong figures masked weak trading in late June and July, when wet weather washed out barbecues and garden parties.

Sales picked up again in the eight weeks from July 31, improving 6.4 per cent against the same period last year. Orders on the website showed a 22 per cent rise on last year.

The shares slipped 9p to 325½p, as trading at the start of the second half slowed to 2.2 per cent, below analysts’ expectations of 4 per cent.

The chain opened four new stores last month and will open another before Christmas, bringing its total to 141. Majestic said that it expected tough trading conditions to continue, but it believed that the outlook for Christmas was good.

Ramona Tipnis, an analyst at Numis Securities, said in a note that Majestic had outperformed competitors by focusing on the premium end of the market. “Unwins has ceased trading, Threshers in in trouble and last week Oddbins reported flat sales and a trebling of its losses,” she said.

Robert Brent, an analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, said: “Majestic will not be totally immune to a downturn in consumer spending – its customers may go out less and drink at home more, but they will also probably drink less expensive wines.”

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