Premium wines fuel Peller's earnings

Article Excerpt

ANDREW PELLER LTD. $9.93 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.9 million; Market cap: $148.0 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Vincor Canada. Peller operates wineries in B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia. It also imports wines and sells home-winemaking kits. In its 2012 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2012, Peller’s sales rose 4.3%, to $276.9 million from $265.4 million in fiscal 2011. That’s because the company continues to launch new wines, particularly higher-priced premium wines. Its sales also benefited from a new joint venture with Wayne Gretzky Estate Winery and a recently purchased home-winemaking business. These gains helped offset new taxes on certain wines sold through company-owned stores in Ontario. These taxes lowered sales by $2.4 million in fiscal 2012, and by $2.0 million in fiscal 2011. The company earned $13.0 million, or $0.93 a share, in fiscal 2012. That’s up 15.8% from $11.2 million, or $0.78 a..