Duckhorn Wine Co. ($NAPA) made its public debut Thursday at $18 per share, marking the first IPO out of California's famous Napa Valley in decades.
CEO Alex Ryan told Cheddar that the company, which owns Kosta Browne, Decoy, Goldeneye, and other individual winemakers, has stayed profitable during the pandemic that forced wineries to rapidly adapt their business models.
He said the company chose now to go public to gain further exposure to "luxury consumers."
"We've been creating a one-of-kind luxury winery asset for 40 years now, and I think it's a great time to introduce luxury wine to Wall Street and beyond," Alex Ryan, president and CEO of Duckhorn, told Cheddar. "We've created some really nice scale. The customers are telling us they want more of it, and so we're poised to give it to them."
While wineries have generally avoided public markets in the past, Duckhorn isn't the only California-based producer making the leap this spring. Santa Rosa’s Vintage Wine Estates plans to go public this May via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
Ryan explained how Duckhorn's whole operations and retail partners have helped maintain demand through the pandemic, even as restaurant sales fell off.
"We find people have embraced buying larger amounts of wines through grocery stores, taking them home, having the experiential time with their favorite brands, and then they're going to go back and buy some more," he said.
As for the spate of wildfires that ripped across the West Coast in 2020, Ryan said the company's efforts to diversify its sources throughout the region have prepared it for the disruption.
This diversity has also softened the volatility inherent in agricultural production, he added, which has been a challenge for public wine companies in the past when it came down to providing reliable guidance on quarterly earnings.
"We think we've got the recipe so we can again manage volatility and be able to share with investors what they want to hear moving forward," he said. "We really don't find that to be a stumbling block. It has been for others in the past. We think we've got a way around that right now."
Duckhorn's stock finished the day at $17.50 per share.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
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Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
