RE:Ward of the StateBrief look at report:
1) SG&A has improved by $1.6MM QoQ
2) Increased margins
3) Inspite of price increases, Sales are down 2% - not good. Attributed to loss of collecting the excise tax... but in an inflationary environment, with price increases, either overall wine sales are down or they are being out competed. With France destroying wine, one can see that the world is awash in wine and without protection, domestic wineries will struggle to compete without relief from government imposed costs.
While this report shows that the company is not imminently going to go bankrupt, there don't appear to be any real vectors for growth. Without a competitive advantage, there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to invest other than as a dividend stock, of which there are many others with lower risk profiles. The real problem remains in the hefty SG&A burden that the company carries, as well as the leveraged balance sheet, neither of which are going to be easy to get out from under.