(March 23, 2000)
Hamburg, 23 March 2000. Hawesko Holding AG (HAWG.F, 604270), the wine retailing group based in Germany, announced today that it was beginning its mail-order operations in Austria with a new Vienna-based subsidiary, The Wine Company. The first mail advertisements would go out this week with premium wines from all over the world, especially Bordeaux and Champagne. The product assortment also includes special Austrian and Italian wines to meet the tastes of the Austrian market.
The Austrian wine market shows a higher wine consumption per capita, at 32 liters per year, than the German market (22 liters). This, together with a growing appreciation of premium wines and the the mail-order format, make the market attractive. The Wine Company expects sales of about 35 million Schillings (4.5 million Deutsche Marks) in 2000.
Elisabeth Kamper is managing director of The Wine Company and comes with years of experience with one of the largest wine-store chains in Austria: "We are able to build on Hawesko's 30 years' of experience in product sourcing and direct marketing. This will give us a unique position in the Austrian market."
Hawesko Management Board Chairman Alexander Margaritoff: "This is an important step for Hawesko as we move outside Germany and begin to play an international role in the premium wine trading business. "
Hawesko Holding AG is Germany's leading seller of premium wines and champagne. With three distribution channels - mail-order and internet (main brands: Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor, Winegate.de), wine stores (Jacques' Wein-Depot) and wholesale (Wein Wolf; Champagner Wein Distribution) - the Group achieved sales of DM 413 million in 1999 with 450 employees.