Unsurprisingly, given the sharp drop in its turnover, the wine supplier announced degraded annual results on Thursday evening. Both for the production of corks and for the manufacture of barrels, Oeneo deplores “a gloominess on the wine market and its consumption around the world”, according to Philippe Doray, the financial director. In addition, the economic dynamism that followed the pandemic, combined with tensions in supply chains, led distributors and direct customers to overstock, then to sell these stocks when wine consumption weakened and interest rates rose. Oeneo’s turnover therefore contracted by 12.2%, to 305 million euros, at the end of the financial year ended March 31, and its operating profit, by almost 22%, to 42 ,8000000. The margin stood at 14%, limiting its decline compared to 15.6% for 2022-2023, despite the fall in volumes and the sharp rise in cork prices.
The latter was “compensated by gains in productivity and material yield”, explains Philippe Doray. Corks (nearly 70% of revenues), moreover, had a better second half, with a stabilization of sales in January-March favored by a return to growth for Diam, the range “no cork taste”, and one “well-oriented product mix”. The Closure margin increased from 13% to 20% between the first and second half-years and could gain 1 point this year.
