BRITONS’ thirst for the French booze cruise helped Majestic Wine, the bulk wine and beer retailer, to lift profits by 42 per cent in the half year to September 29.

The Watford-based company said that sales in its three French stores had risen 21.7 per cent during the first half of its financial year, against an underlying sales rise of 12 per cent in the UK.

Paul Rossington, of Williams de Broë, the broker, said Majestic was gaining a bigger share of the booze-cruise market because it offered wines differing from nearby French hypermarkets’ stock.

He said: “Provision of New World wines is very poor in the hypermarkets, which tend to focus on French products. Majestic Wine has a very similar product offer in France to the range it has in the UK and so it has a competitive advantage.”

An increasing number of Britons cross the Channel to find bargains. Research from Switch, the debit card operator, has shown that about 14 per cent of British people go to France to buy alcohol and other goods, with a quarter of those surveyed intending to shop overseas for Christmas.

Majestic’s pre-tax profits before one-off items, tax and goodwill rose 42 per cent to £3.96 million in the half year.

Total sales rose 22 per cent to £69.1 million. However, the shares fell 2½p to 830p on the news that underlying sales growth fell to 7.5 per cent in the six weeks to November 15.

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