The bottom-line profit was slightly lower than a year earlier because of fair-value adjustments required by accounting rules but records were set for the number of cases sold around the world, the operating after-tax profit, operating cashflows, international awards and the 2017 grape harvest.
Operating cashflow was a key performance indicator and it was $59.2 million in the year ended June 30, from $42.5m a year earlier.
Interest costs on borrowings used to fund vineyard and winery developments were five times covered by the operating earnings (Ebit) figure, down from the eight times cover previously, but still very strong.
NZX-listed Delegats sold a record 2.656m cases of wine during the year, a 10% lift on the 2.41m in 2016.
Executive chairman Jim Delegat was targeting a near 40% lift in sales to 3.685m a year by 2022.
The growth would be driven mainly by Oyster Bay sales to North America, the biggest super-premium wine market and Barossa Valley Estate sales globally, managing director Graeme Lord said.
In the latest year 43% of sales were to North America, 30% in the Australia/NZ/Asia region and 28% in Europe including Britain and Ireland.
Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc was a top-five white wine over US$10/bottle by value in the US and in Australia was the top selling sauvignon blanc and bottled white wine by value.
It was also one of the major super-premium brands in Canada with chardonnay number one in the above C$12 market.
During the second-half of the year Delegat opened an online store on the Tmall market in China, for Oyster Bay and Barossa Valley wines. It would take time to develop a significant customer base but the store was a promising venture in a growth market for super-premium wines, Lord said.
Oyster Bay was traditionally a leader across a range of varieties in the United Kingdom market where it had achieved price increases to offset the weak sterling currency but reduced sales were forecast because of the weak UK economy as part of the Brexit process.
The 2017 grape harvest was 37,355 tonnes, with the NZ harvest at 34,595, a 4% lift on the previous year. Barossa Valley lifted production 6% to 2760 tonnes. The NZ harvest was delayed because of a wet season but was of very good quality, Lord said.
The bottom-line profit for the year was $40.6m, down from $48.1m because of smaller fair-value gains on the grape harvest and foreign exchange transactions. On a straight operating after-tax basis the profit was up 6% to a record $38.5m after Ebitda rose 11% to $81.1m.
Delegat said $40.5m had been spent during the year on land acquisition and asset development in NZ and Australia and a further $46m would be spent this year.
