Item 1. Business
Our Company
Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. (“VWE”, “we”, “us”, "our" or “the Company”) is a leading vintner in the United States ("U.S."), offering a collection of wines produced by award-winning, heritage wineries, popular lifestyle wines, innovative new wine brands, packaging concepts, as well as craft spirits. Our name brands include Layer Cake, Cameron Hughes, Clos Pegase, B.R. Cohn, Firesteed, Bar Dog, Kunde, Cherry Pie and many others. Since our founding over 20 years ago, we have grown organically through wine brand creation and through acquisitions to become the 14th largest wine producer based on cases of wine shipped in California. We sell over 2.5 million cases annually.
Our key differentiator is our diversification—what we call our three-legged stool business model.
We are diversified in our brand collection, producing nearly 60 brands ranging in retail price from $10 to $150, with a focus on the growing segment between $10 and $20. More than eighty percent of our business is done in this critical segment.
We are diversified in our omni-channel sales strategy balanced between Direct-to-Consumer, 31.5% of sales, traditional Wholesale, 28.8% of sales and Business-to-Business at 38.8% of sales. Our Direct-to-Consumer segment is particularly robust. Where most wine companies have two direct sales levers to pull: tasting rooms and wine clubs, we have seven: tasting rooms, wine clubs, ecommerce, Cameron Hughes, Vinesse, Windsor/custom label design and engraving, and QVC/HSN and The Sommelier Company.
We are diversified in our sourcing with a strong asset base of 3,300 owned and leased vineyard acres located in the premier wine growing regions of the U.S. and 10 owned winery estates. These properties extend from the Central Coast of California to storied appellations in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, north to Oregon and Washington. We obtain fruit for our wines from owned and leased vineyards, as well as other sources, including independent growers and the spot wine market. During 2022, we expanded our production capabilities with the acquisition of Meier's Beverage Group ("Meier's"), a leading producer, bottler, importer and marketer of specialty beverage alcohol and non-alcohol products and added a ready-to-drink ("RTD") product line with the acquisition of ACE Cider, The California Cider Company ("ACE Cider").
We have completed over 20 acquisitions in the past 10 years and completed over 10 acquisitions in the past 5 years. We generally acquire the brands and inventories of a targeted business, eliminating redundant corporate overhead. We then integrate the acquired assets into our highly efficient production, distribution and omni channel selling networks, quickly increasing the sales and margins of the acquired business.
Our growth has allowed us to reinvest in our business and create the scale and infrastructure needed to successfully manage a variety of different wine brands and channels and reduce costs. Our owned winery facilities have the capacity to store up to 9.0 million gallons of wine per year. In addition, we have a high-speed bottling facility with the capacity to bottle over 13.5 million cases annually.
Additional bottling capacity is not only used for our products, but also allows us to further expand our bottling and fulfillment services offered to third parties on a contract basis. The additional capacity of the bottling facility may not be fully utilized but provides us with capacity consistent with our growth plans. Our scale and consolidated operations are expected to enable us to increase margins of the businesses that we acquire, providing
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accretive value promptly after the acquisition. We intend to continue to grow our business organically and through acquisitions, with a view towards making two to three acquisitions per year over the next five years.
Our acquisition strategy is to acquire brands and inventories while eliminating redundant corporate overhead, increasing gross margins of the acquired businesses by leveraging scale economies, and driving revenue growth through our distribution network. Gross margins improve by incorporating brands into a more efficient operating system. In addition, operating margins improve from synergies of acquisitions.
There are more than 11,000 wineries in the U.S., with the largest 50 wine companies controlling approximately 80% of the market share by volume, and 60% of consumer spending. We plan to use our financial capacity to: (i) continue to acquire family-owned brands from small wineries, (ii) acquire non-core brands from medium sized and large competitors, and (iii) potentially acquire one or more large businesses in our industry.
Our primary unique selling proposition for a seller is that we have a strong track record of closing once the price and structure are agreed upon. We also believe our managers are perceived as excellent brand stewards. We intend to be a disciplined acquirer, exercising cost discipline, with a focus on the industry’s growth in premium and super-premium wines. We expect that the fragmented nature of the wine industry, coupled with our infrastructure and experience, will enable us to continue to gain market share.
Our innovation strategy is focused on creating and building new wine brands for today’s wine consumer. In the past five years, we have launched over 35 new wine brands, which are primarily sold to major national retail accounts and through direct-to-consumer channels. We also develop private labels and produce wine for major retail clients, including Costco and Target, to sell as proprietary brands. The ability to create new wine brands and quickly bring them to market allows us to respond swiftly to trends and changing consumer tastes and needs.
Our mission is to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit, stay humble and focus on the customer. We respect the ways people buy wine—at the estate wineries, at retail, in restaurants, on the telephone, on the internet, on television and by mail.
Our Business Combination
We were formed in 2019 as Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp. (“BCAC”), a special purpose acquisition corporation incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia. BCAC was organized for the purpose of effecting an acquisition of one or more businesses or assets by way of a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or any other similar business combination involving BCAC.
On June 7, 2021, BCAC consummated its business combination (the “Business Combination”) with Vintage Wine Estates, Inc., a California corporation ("Legacy VWE"), pursuant to a transaction agreement dated February 3, 2021. As a result of the Business Combination and the related transactions, BCAC changed its jurisdiction of incorporation from the Province of British Columbia to the State of Nevada, BCAC changed its name to “Vintage Wine Estates, Inc.” and Legacy VWE became our wholly-owned subsidiary.
For accounting purposes, and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, BCAC was treated as the acquired company and Legacy VWE was treated as the acquirer.
Core Business Segments
We report our results of operations through the following segments: Wholesale, Business-to-Business ("B2B"), Direct-to-Consumer ("DTC") and Corporate and Other.
Fundamentally, we are an omni-channel consumer goods business that happens to operate in the wine industry. Unlike wine companies that solely or mainly sell to wholesale distributors, we sell our products through a number of different channels.
A description of our segments follows:
Wholesale
Our wholesale operations generate revenue from products sold to distributors, who then sell them to off-premise retail locations such as grocery stores, specialty and multi-national retail chains, as well as on-premise locations such as restaurants and bars.
We have longstanding relationships with our distribution network and marketing companies, including with industry leaders such as Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, Republic National Distributing Company and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. Through these relationships, our products are sold in all 50 states and in 41 countries outside the U.S. In addition to our geographical reach, our products are available for purchase at over 33,000 off-premise locations as of June 30, 2022 including leading national chains such as Costco, Kroger, Target, Albertsons and Total Wine & More. Our products were also sold at over 20,500 restaurants and bars as of June 30, 2022.
Our wholesale segment generated $84.5 million and $72.9 million of revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.
Business-to-Business
Our B2B sales segment generates revenue from the sale of private label wines and custom winemaking services.
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We work with national retailers, including Costco, Albertsons, Target and other major retailers, to provide private label wines incremental to their existing beverage alcohol business. Retailers generally earn higher margins on sales of their private label wines than on sales of third-party wines. Consequently, retailers are increasingly offering more private label products in their stores. We expect retailers’ demand for private labels to continue to increase and believe that our private label business will continue to grow. Retailers frequently request brand, label and product line extensions.
Our custom winemaking services are governed by long-term contracts with other wine industry participants and include services such as fermentation, barrel aging, procurement of dry goods, bottling and cased goods storage. Additionally, we believe that our custom winemaking services business allows us to maximize our production assets’ throughput and efficiency and thus improves profit margins for our proprietary brands.
Our B2B segment generated $113.9 million and $77.4 million of revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.
Direct-to-Consumer
Our DTC segment generates revenue from sales made directly to the consumer. DTC sales have higher gross profit margins than wholesale sales because DTC sales allow us to capture the profit margin that otherwise would go to our distribution partners on sales in the wholesale segment. As a result, our gross margins in the DTC segment are significantly higher than in our other segments while operating margins are consistent with other segments.
Our DTC sales are made primarily through our tasting rooms, wine clubs and e-commerce.
Tasting Rooms — We currently operate 12 tasting rooms that served over 233,000 visitors during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, up from over 135,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 as a result of COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. Our tasting rooms are designed to provide a welcoming atmosphere where we can introduce the consumer to our brands with a view towards developing an authentic relationship over time. These tasting rooms feature our exclusive, low-production wines, at higher-than-average price points, as well as our more accessible, higher-production, wines. Visitors are encouraged to taste, and then purchase, our wines.
Wine Clubs — We currently offer 21 branded wine clubs and had more than 95,000 wine club members as of June 30, 2022. Our wine club members sign up to purchase regular shipments of our wines and receive additional benefits such as volume discounts, exclusive visits to our tasting rooms, invitations to member-only events, access to winemakers and the ability to try each of our wines before they are widely sold in stores. We leverage digital technology through virtual tastings and mixers, giving members new ways to network with one another.
E-Commerce — Sales through our various brand websites are a growing part of DTC sales. We have an active email list with over 1,070,000 subscribers. Our digital marketing team drafted and sent over 5,116 unique emails that generated over 69.0 million impressions for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. We have used digital marketing since the early 2000s, recently achieved an e-commerce customer conversion rate of 8.0%, which is substantially above the food and drink industry’s e-commerce conversion rate of 1.8%, as of July 2022.
Custom Label Design and Engraving — We also offer custom label design and engraving services whereby customers can design and engrave wine bottles to their specifications. We believe that we are the only wine producer with the ability to do custom engraving on wine bottles. As a result, we are able to offer our services profitably at a lower price than competitors that need to outsource bottle engraving. In addition to our core private label customers, we have created custom bottles for weddings, major corporate events and other promotional opportunities.
Our DTC segment generated $92.4 million and $66.6 million of revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2021, respectively.
Corporate and Other
Our Corporate and Other segment generates revenue from grape and bulk wine sales and storage services. We record corporate level expenses, non-direct selling expenses and other expenses not specifically allocated to the results of operations in our Corporate and Other segment.
Our Corporate and Other segment generated $2.9 million and $3.8 million of revenue for the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Our Diversified Portfolio
Our asset base and product portfolio have been strategically built to provide significant flexibility throughout the business cycle. Our wine portfolio has three tiers: lifestyle brands, luxury brands, and digitally native brands. In addition to wine production and distribution, which is our core business, we also produce and sell craft spirits and ciders.
Lifestyle Brands
Our lifestyle wines primarily sell through off-premise channels at retail prices ranging from $10.00 to $25.00 per bottle. The lifestyle tier accounts for more of our branded case volume than the luxury tier due to the lifestyle tier’s wider distribution and lower pricing. Our lifestyle brands are designed
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to deliver a compelling price-to-quality ratio. We believe our infrastructure, sourcing network and bottling-on-demand capabilities allow us to adjust production in line with market demand.
Luxury Brands
Our super-premium to ultra-premium wines are generally smaller-production, estate-based wines. We also have a tier of more widely sourced and available appellation wines. Our luxury wines consistently garner 90+ scores, awards and accolades from top wine industry publications. They appeal to the wine aficionado who is intensely interested in the winemaker’s craft, the influence that vineyards and sites have on the wine, and the details of the vintage from budbreak to bottle.
Our luxury brands sell primarily at wine retailers, on-premise and through wine clubs and tasting rooms at prices ranging from $16.00 to $150.00 per bottle.
Craft Spirits
We own the brand No. 209 Gin and Splinter Group Spirits, whose brands consists of Straight Edge Bourbon Whiskey, Slaughterhouse American Whiskey, and Whip Saw Rye. We also team with leading spirits manufacturers and distributors to develop products for our customers. We have collaborated with another spirits manufacturer to create Partner Vermouth, which is a sweet vermouth from the gardens and vineyards of California wine country.
We believe that we can use the spirits business to further expand our private label business with existing B2B customers. We expect that interest in selling private label products (due to the increased margins that we earn relative to sales of third party products) will lead to more retailers selling private label spirits. We believe that we can use our significant distribution network and production capabilities to increase our spirits private label business with both existing and new B2B customers.
Cider
We added a RTD product line with the acquisition of ACE Cider. ACE Cider has a diverse and balanced product portfolio with award-winning, fruit-forward ciders featuring no artificial ingredients, less calories and significantly less sugar than the average hard cider.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe that our strengths include a diversified brand portfolio and infrastructure, a customer-centric and innovation-driven culture, a demonstrated success in acquiring and integrating new assets into our platform, strong working relationships with distributor and retail networks, access to low-cost and flexible debt financing, and an experienced management team assembled and led by Patrick Roney.
Diversified Brand Portfolio and Infrastructure
Our diversified wine sourcing, brand positioning and omni-channel sales strategy result in a nimble, scalable business model, enabling us to bring our products to market rapidly and navigate ever-changing consumer demand flexibly. We believe the efficiencies of our infrastructure have been reflected in our historical results.
Strong Relationships with Distributors and Retailers
We have longstanding working relationships with many of the wine industry’s largest distributors and retailers, which facilitates the distribution of our products to customers in as many locations as possible.
We believe that our existing arrangements with distributors also provide a scalable platform for us to introduce new products into the market and further expand our revenue and market share. The distribution market has experienced and continues to undergo significant consolidation. As a result, it is harder for newer or smaller wine and alcohol businesses to gain traction with major distributors, which limits their ability to get their products into the major wholesale and retail markets. We believe that our longstanding working relationships with the largest distributors and retailers—forged over many years—give us an advantage over newer and smaller competitors.
We also have powerful, long-standing relationships with national retailers, including Costco, Albertson’s, Target and others.
Customer-Centric and Innovation-Driven Culture
We have created more than 35 new brands over the last 5 years to address specific consumer needs and market opportunities. We take a holistic approach with new brands, evaluating key attributes such as price points, packaging format, demographic and psychographic trends. We create new brands organically through an efficient concept-to-launch process, which generally requires less than eight months and can often be completed in less than three months. We believe that our efficient new product development and rapid speed to market gives us and our private label retailers an advantage over competitors because it enables us to quickly address actual or perceived unmet consumer needs and can help us better align brand strategy with consumer demand.
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Demonstrated Success Acquiring and Integrating New Assets
We believe we have completed more brand mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. wine industry over the last 10 years than any other company in the industry. As illustrated in the following chart, we have completed more than 25 acquisitions since 2010.
Historically, our acquisitions have generated a strong return on equity. We review, on average, over 20 acquisitions per year, submit an average of four letters of intent and complete an average of two acquisitions per year. We have historically targeted a significant increase in the target company’s EBITDA within three years of the acquisition. To achieve these results, our acquisitions are subject to a rigorous, data-driven, due diligence and underwriting process, to assure that minimum financial thresholds with meaningful upside can be satisfied in each transaction.
Experienced Management Team
Our senior leaders have decades of experience in the wine and spirits industry and have gone through numerous economic and consumer cycles, providing them with unique insight and historical perspectives that less experienced leaders do not have. Vintage Wine Estates was founded by Patrick Roney and Leslie Rudd, who passed away in 2018. Mr. Roney has spent more than 30 years in the wine, spirits and food industries and has held senior leadership roles at leading brands such as Seagram’s, Chateau St. Jean, Dean & Deluca and the Kunde Family Winery. Throughout his career, Mr. Roney has demonstrated a keen understanding of and ability to anticipate market trends and consumer behaviors. Mr. Roney has also been able to attract some of the top talent in the industry, including President, Terry Wheatley. Ms. Wheatley has spent her entire career in the wine and spirits industry at leading firms, including at E.J. Gallo and the Sutter Home/Trinchero Family Estate. Ms. Wheatley also started her own wine brand, creation, sales and marketing company, Canopy Management, leveraging her long-term relationships with the wine industry’s top buyers to bring a portfolio of innovative wine brands to market. We acquired Canopy Brands in 2014.
Our Strategy
We are currently the 14th largest wine producer by cases shipped in California. We have been able to grow our business despite economic recessions. We intend to continue to grow our business by prioritizing the following goals: (i) increasing sales of our existing brands, (ii) continuing to develop new and innovative products, (iii) executing on our acquisition pipeline, (iv) continuing to grow our private label business, and (v) continuing to invest in and expand production capacity to meet the needs of our brands and our customers.
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Increasing Sales of Existing Brands
We seek to grow our existing brands by increasing penetration within existing on-premise and off-premise retailers, selling into new retailers and distributors and investing in and expanding our DTC segment. Given the strength of our brands and our strong reputation with consumers, we believe we can increase the number of varietals and blends that are offered in retail and on-premise locations. As consumer shopping behaviors continue to evolve and change, we believe we are well positioned to continue to increase sales and conversions through our off-premise retailers’ digital channels with the investment in a dedicated eGrocery team to manage and support the digital shelf online as well as in popular delivery apps and services. We will continue to invest in our DTC business and intend to capitalize on the consumer’s willingness to purchase more products online. Additionally, regulatory authorities across the U.S. have relaxed regulations regarding delivery of alcohol directly to consumers in response to COVID-19 related restrictions. As consumers have grown more used to obtaining alcoholic beverages this way, we expect DTC sales to continue to increase. While it is too soon to know if these relaxed regulations will be permanently enacted in each state, we believe we are well-positioned to take advantage of a consumer shift to DTC sales.
Developing New Brands and Innovative Products
We believe that we can continue to develop new brands and products that address consumer demand and sell these new products into our omni-channel distribution system. These new products are expected to diversify our revenue further and expand our addressable market to additional categories beyond wine. We believe our integrated infrastructure allows us to capitalize on emerging trends faster than many of our competitors, giving us an advantage in new product development. Additionally, upon federal legalization of cannabis, we expect to seek to produce and sell cannabis infused beverages through our distribution channels. We are at the early stage of developing this strategy and no material assets have been created from this initiative as of the date hereof. We do not intend to enter this sector unless cannabis is federally legalized in the U.S. and there is no assurance if or when cannabis will be federally legalized.
Executing our Acquisition Pipeline
There continues to be consolidation of distributors and retailers in the wine industry, creating uncertainty for smaller wine companies and further limiting their ability to garner attention in the wholesale channel. As a result, we expect more brands to look for buyers of their businesses, which may create more attractive acquisition opportunities for us in the future. Given our scale and infrastructure, we are generally able to increase margins of acquired businesses relatively quickly, adding value to the enterprise from the outset. While other, larger wine companies have recently been preoccupied with other strategic initiatives, we remain committed and highly active with our merger and acquisition ("M&A") strategy.
Growing Private Label Sales
We intend to expand our private label business by increasing sales of existing products, creating product line extensions and developing new brands for new customers. We believe the largest retailers will continue to increase their private label offerings. We also believe that, in addition to private label wine sales, we are well-positioned to expand our private label options to include spirits and other products.
Expanded Production Capacity
We believe we have opportunities to make capital investments that satisfy our financial return objectives while expanding our capacity to meet additional demand for our private brands and private label customers over time. We completed a $45.0 million investment in state-of-the-art technology upgrades to our Ray’s Station production facility. The upgraded facility, together with existing facilities, will allow us to produce and ship approximately 13.5 million cases of wine per year and store over 3 million cases of wine. The recently completed facility put our production and distribution capacity at levels comparable to the top 10 wine producers in the U.S. This facility also allows us to automate a number of processes that were previously completed manually, leading to increased efficiencies and margins.
We have also expanded our production capabilities and capacity with the acquisition of Meier's. Meier's has nearly 40,000 square feet of production, bottling, warehouse and office space. Along with enhanced production capabilities and supply chain efficiencies, Meier’s offers significant additional warehouse and storage space. The central Midwest location provides more efficient access to Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast markets, allowing for rapid expansion of points of distribution for products such as recently acquired ACE Cider.
We are one of a few vertically integrated winery companies that has our own DTC pick-and-pack capabilities, leading to substantial per case cost savings. Notably, we have recently added a second warehouse facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is significantly more efficient than outsourcing this work and is currently the fastest growing portion of the wine business versus wholesale or private label.
Our capital expenditures have been at elevated levels in recent years, and as projects are completed, we expect to see increased margins with modest platform investments required going forward.
Competition
The wine industry and alcohol markets generally are intensely competitive. Our wines compete domestically and internationally with premium or higher quality wines produced in Europe, South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as North America. We compete on the
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basis of quality, price, brand recognition and distribution capability. The ultimate consumer has many choices of products from both domestic and international producers. Our wines may be considered to compete with all alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.
At any given time, there are more than 400,000 wine choices available to U.S. consumers, differing with one another based on vintage, variety or blend, location and other factors. Accordingly, we experience competition from nearly every segment of the wine industry. Additionally, some of our competitors have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources, offer a wider range of products, and have greater name recognition, which may give them greater negotiating leverage with distributors and allow them to offer their products in more locations and/or on better terms than us. Nevertheless, we believe that our diverse brand offerings, scalable infrastructure and relationships with the largest wholesalers and retailers will allow us to continue growing our business.
Seasonality
There is a degree of seasonality in the growing cycles, procurement and transportation of grapes. The wine industry in general tends to experience seasonal fluctuations in revenue and net income. Typically, we have lower sales and net income during our third fiscal quarter (January through March) and higher sales and net income during our second fiscal quarter (October through December) due to the usual timing of seasonal holiday buying, as well as wine club shipments. We expect these trends to continue.
Human Capital Management
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We are strongly committed to creating opportunities at our Company to find, hire and promote diverse voices and lead with responsibility to the principles of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ("DEI"). Almost half of our positions at the Director level and above are women; with women strongly represented at the highest leadership positions, including as President and Chief Financial Officer. We are committed to fostering a work environment that values diversity and inclusion. This commitment includes providing equal access to and participation in, equal employment opportunities, programs and services without regard to race, religion, color, origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age or stereotypes based thereon. We welcome team members' differences, experiences, and beliefs, and we are investing in a more productive, engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce.
Employees
We monitor human capital metrics to ensure we are executing on our core values and making progress towards our diversity and inclusion commitments. As of June 30, 2022, we had 586 full-time employees. Among our employees, 37% identify as female, 60% identify as male and 3% are not specified. None of our employees are represented by a labor union, and none of our employees have entered into a collective bargaining agreement with us. We offer a highly competitive compensation and benefits program to attract and retain top talent.
Our talented employees drive our mission and share core values that both stem from and define our culture, which plays an invaluable role in our execution at all levels in our organization. Our culture is based on these shared core values which we believe contribute to our success and the continued growth of the organization. Our core values help reinforce their importance in our organization:
•Entrepreneurial in Spirit
•Results Driven in Practice
Employee Heath, Wellness & Safety
We work to prioritize the health, wellness and safety of our team members, and our environment. We continue to focus on workplace safety by providing training and bringing awareness to workplace best practices in our continuous efforts to prevent workplace injuries and accidents. The core elements of our employee health. wellness and safety strategy are risk analysis, incident management, documented processes, environmental programs, training and occupational health. We look to optimize safe operations, setting a new sustainability ambition and continued commitment to the governance of workplace health, safety and wellbeing, and a culture of leadership on safety across the Company. We provide bilingual feedback forms at all of our locations for employees to electronically submit safety recommendations or report unsafe work conditions. Additionally, our multilingual Whistleblower Hotline is available to report risks to health, wellness and safety. We continually strive to improve processes across safety training and incident training, among other areas.
Our comprehensive compensation and benefits package includes physical, emotional, financial and wellness programs including (for those eligible) a 401k match program, employer contribution to a Health Reimbursement Account, counseling through our Employee Assistance Program, and a flexible work program for hybrid or fully remote opportunities. We also encourage our employees and their families to lead a healthy lifestyle with a gym reimbursement program.
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Trademarks
Trademarks are an essential part of our business. We sell our products under a number of trademarks, which we own or use under license. We also have multiple licenses and distribution agreements for the import, sale, production and distribution of our products. Depending on the jurisdiction, trademarks are valid as long as the trademarks are in use and their registrations are properly maintained. These licenses and distribution agreements have varying terms and durations.
Government Regulation
The alcoholic beverage industry is subject to extensive regulation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB”) (and other federal agencies), each state’s liquor authority and potentially local authorities as well, depending on location. As a result, there is a complex multi-jurisdictional regime governing alcoholic beverage manufacturing, distribution, and sales and marketing in the U.S. Regulatory agencies issue permits and licenses for manufacturing, distribution and retail sale (with requirements varying depending on location), govern “trade practice” activity at each tier and also regulate how each tier of the alcohol industry may interact with another tier. In addition, these laws, rules, regulations, and interpretations are constantly changing as a result of litigation, legislation and agency priorities. We take regulatory compliance very seriously, and to facilitate compliance with applicable requirements, we have a team of eight compliance professionals. We also use leading compliance software providers (Avalara and SOVOS) to assist the compliance team with data management and reporting cycles. Additionally, we consult with outside regulatory counsel on compliance issues on a regular basis and utilize Compliance Connection, an outside compliance company, on an as needed basis.
We maintain licenses and permits to produce and sell wholesale wine and cider with state regulatory agencies and TTB. We maintain licenses and permits to import, produce, and to import, rectify and wholesale distilled spirits with California and Ohio regulatory authorities and TTB. In addition to licenses for our primary production activity, we maintain hundreds of ancillary permits to support our wholesale and DTC segments. Most states require permitting and registrations with the state for shipments to wholesalers or consumers within the state, and these permits often also require local registration and tax reporting. We manage our permit compliance internally, with our team responsible for managing renewals, tax payments and reporting in a timely manner. Specifically, we complete the following to satisfy our regulatory obligations: (i) prepare TTB’s monthly Report of Wine Premises Operations, (ii) complete monthly TTB export division reports which coincide with the monthly Report of Wine Premises Operations, (iii) complete bi-weekly excise TTB tax returns, (iv) prepare and complete California Department of Tax and Fee Administration’s (CDTFA) winegrower, beer/wine importer, and distilled spirits reports and tax returns, (v) prepares and completes Washington state’s winegrower, beer/wine importer, and distilled spirits reports and tax returns, (vi) file annual grape crush and purchase reports with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), (vii) regularly update corporate filings with the TTB, as well as state Alcohol Beverage regulatory agencies as required, and (viii) complete biennial registrations with the FDA.
In California, we maintain licenses with: (i) the California Department of Food and Agriculture to purchase grapes, (ii) a potable water system permit with the California Division of Drinking Water, (iii) a hazardous material business plan permit with the County of Mendocino California Division of Environmental Health, and (iv) a storm water pollution prevention plan permit with the State of California State Water Resources Control Board. Additionally, food processing facilities, which includes wineries and cideries, must register with the FDA, and we maintain such registrations for our facilities.
We believe that we possess all licenses and permits material to operating our business.
Sale of our products are subject to federal and state alcohol tax, payable at the time our products are removed from the bonded area of the production sites. In December 2017, the federal government passed comprehensive tax legislation that included the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act. This legislation modified federal alcohol tax rates by expanding the lower $1.07 per gallon tax rate to wines up to 16.0% alcohol content with wines containing higher alcohol levels being taxed at $1.57 per gallon. We are also subject to certain taxes at the state and local levels.
Available Information
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports are available free of charge on our website, www.vintagewineestates.com, under "Investors — Overview — SEC Filings" as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The SEC also maintains a website, www.sec.gov, where you can search for annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding us and other public companies.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
In addition to the other information in this report and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect us.
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Risks Related to Our Operations
The strength of our reputation is critical to our success and may be adversely effected by contamination or other quality control issues or other factors outside of our control.
Our reputation as a premier producer of wine and spirits among our customers and the wine industry is critical to the success of our business and our growth strategy. The wine market is driven by a relatively small number of active and well-regarded wine critics within the industry who have disproportionate influence over the perceived quality and value of wines. If we are unable to maintain the actual or perceived quality of our wines and other alcoholic beverage products, or if our wines otherwise do not meet the subjective expectations or tastes of one or more of a relatively small number of wine critics, the actual or perceived quality and value of one or more of our wines could be harmed, which could negatively impact not only the value of that wine, but also the value of the vintage, the particular brand or our broader portfolio. The winemaking process is a long and labor-intensive process that is built around yearly vintages, which means that once a vintage has been released we are not able to make further adjustments to satisfy wine critics or consumers. As a result, we are dependent on our winemakers and tasting panels to ensure that our wine products meet our exacting quality standards.
Any contamination or other quality control issue could have an adverse effect on sales of the impacted wine or our broader portfolio of winery brands. If any of our wines become unsafe or unfit for consumption, cause injury or are otherwise improperly packaged or labeled, we may have to engage in a product recall and/or be subject to liability and incur additional costs. A widespread recall, multiple recalls, or a significant product liability judgment against us could cause our wines to be unavailable for a period of time, depressing demand and our brand reputation. Even if a product liability claim is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, any resulting negative publicity could adversely affect our reputation with existing and potential customers and accounts, as well as our corporate and individual winery brands image in such a way that current and future sales could be diminished. In addition, should a competitor experience a recall or contamination event, we could face decreased consumer confidence by association as a producer of similar products.
Additionally, third parties may sell wines or inferior brands that imitate our winery brands or that are counterfeit versions of our labels, and customers could confuse these imitation labels with our authentic wines. A negative consumer experience with such a wine could cause them to refrain from purchasing our brands in the future and damage our brand integrity. Any failure to maintain the actual or perceived quality of our wines could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial results.
Damage to our reputation or loss of consumer confidence in our wines for any of these or other reasons could result in decreased demand for our wines and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operational results and financial results, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation, competitive position and winery brand strength.
Consumer demand for wine and alcoholic beverages could decline, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
We rely on consumers’ demand for our wine and other products. Consumer demand may decline due to a variety of factors, including a general decline in economic conditions, changes in the spending habits of consumers generally, a generational or demographic shift in consumer preferences, increased activity of anti-alcohol groups, increased state or federal taxes on alcoholic beverage products and concerns about the health consequences of consuming alcoholic beverage products. Furthermore, our ability to effectively manage production and inventory is inherently linked to actual and expected consumer demand for our products, particularly given the long product lead time and agricultural nature of the wine business. Unanticipated changes in consumer demand or preferences could have adverse effects on our ability to manage supply and capture growth opportunities, and substantial declines in the demand for one or more of our product categories could harm our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We are subject to significant competition, which could adversely affect our profitability.
VWE’s wines compete for sales with thousands of other domestic and foreign wines. VWE’s wines also compete with other alcoholic beverages and, to a lesser degree, non-alcoholic beverages. As a result of this intense competition, we have been subject to, and may continue to be subject to, upward pressure on selling and promotional expenses. In addition, some of our competitors have greater financial, technical, marketing and public relations resources available to them than we do. These circumstances could adversely impact our revenues, margins, market share and profitability.
Our wholesale operations and wholesale revenues largely depend on independent distributors whose performance and continuity is not assured.
Our wholesale operations and wholesale revenues depend largely on independent distributors whose performance and continuity is not assured. Our wholesale operations generate revenue from products sold to distributors, who then sell them to off-premise retail locations such as grocery stores, specialty and multi-national retail chains, as well as on-premise locations such as restaurants and bars. Sales to distributors are expected to continue to represent a substantial portion of our revenues in the future. A change in relationships with one or more significant distributors could harm our business and reduce sales. The laws and regulations of several states prohibit changes of distributors except under certain limited circumstances, which makes it difficult to terminate a distributor for poor performance without reasonable cause as defined by applicable statutes. Difficulty or inability with respect to replacing distributors, poor performance of major distributors or inability to collect accounts receivable from major distributors could harm our business. There can be no assurance that existing distributors and retailers will continue to purchase our products or
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provide ours products with adequate levels of promotional support. Consolidation at the retail tier, among club and chain grocery stores can be expected to heighten competitive pressure to increase marketing and sales spending or constrain or reduce prices.
The loss or significant decline of sales to one or more of our more important distributors, marketing companies or retailers could have adverse effects on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We derive significant revenue from distributors and marketing companies such as Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, Republic National Distributing Company and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, and from retail business customers such as Costco, Albertson’s and Target. The loss of one or more of these customers, or significant decline in the volume of sales made to them, could have adverse effects on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Decreases in brand quality ratings by important rating organizations could adversely affect our business.
Many of VWE’s brands are issued ratings by local or national wine rating organizations. In the wine industry, higher product ratings usually translate into greater demand and higher pricing. Although some VWE brands have been rated highly in the past, and VWE believes its farming and winemaking activities are of a quality to generate good ratings in the future, VWE has no control over ratings issued by third parties, which may or may not be favorable in the future. Significant or persistent declines in the ratings issued to VWE wines could have adverse effects on its business.
We may not be fully insured against catastrophic events and losses, which may adversely affect our financial condition.
A significant portion of our activities are in California and the Pacific Northwest, which regions are increasingly prone to seismic activity, landslides, wildfires and other natural disasters (collectively, “catastrophes”). Although VWE insures against catastrophes, including through our use of a wholly-owned captive insurance company and by carrying insurance to cover our own property damage, business interruption and certain production assets, we may not be fully insured against all catastrophes, the occurrence of which may (i) disrupt our operations, (ii) delay production, shipments and revenue and (iii) result in significant expenses to repair or replace damaged vineyards or facilities. Any disruption caused by a catastrophe could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Our inability to protect trademarks and other intellectual property rights could adversely affect its business.
VWE’s business relies on intellectual property, mainly consisting of trademarks, customer lists and business practices. VWE does not register its business practices or customer lists, but they are kept highly confidential and considered trade secrets and, as such, are accessible to a very limited number of people within VWE. Although VWE believes that it does not rely significantly on any individual intellectual property right, a breach of confidentiality with respect to the customer lists or business practices, or loss of access to them, or the future expiration of intellectual property trademark rights, could have adverse impacts on VWE’s business.
VWE relies in part on confidentiality agreements, ownership of intellectual property, and non-competition agreements with employees, vendors and third parties in order to protect its intellectual property. It is possible that these agreements could be breached and that VWE might lack an adequate remedy for breach. Disputes may arise concerning the ownership of intellectual property or the extent to which the confidentiality agreements remain in force. Furthermore, VWE’s trade secrets may become revealed to its competitors or developed independently by them, in which case VWE will not be able to enjoy exclusive use of some of its formulas or maintain confidentiality concerning its products.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its variants has had, and will likely continue to have, adverse effects on the economy and on our business.
The COVID-19 pandemic and it variants, are likely to adversely affect the economies and financial markets and could result in an economic downturn and a recession. It is uncertain how this would affect demand for our products. While VWE continues to see robust demand in its industry, and has seen little impact to its results of operations from the COVID-19 pandemic, the environment remains uncertain and it may not be sustainable over the longer term. The degree to which the pandemic ultimately impacts our business and results of operations will depend on future developments beyond our control, including the severity of the pandemic, the extent of actions to contain the virus, the availability and efficacy of a vaccine or other treatment, how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume, and the severity and duration of the economic downturn that results from the pandemic.
Rising inflation may result in increased costs of operations and negatively impact the credit and securities markets generally, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the market price of our common stock.
Inflation has accelerated in the U.S. and globally due in part to global supply chain issues, a rise in energy prices, and strong consumer demand as economies continue to reopen from restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. An inflationary environment can increase our cost of labor as well as our energy and other operating costs which may have a material adverse impact on our financial results. In addition, economic conditions could impact and reduce the number of customers who purchase our products as credit becomes more expensive or unavailable. Although interest rates have increased and are expected to increase further, inflation may continue. Further, increased interest rates could have a negative effect on the securities markets generally which may, in turn, have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.
New lines of business or new products and services could subject us to additional risks.
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VWE may invest in new lines of business, or may offer new products, such as within its spirits business or, upon federal legalization of cannabis, cannabis-infused beverages. There are risks and uncertainties associated with such efforts, particularly in instances where the markets are not fully developed or are evolving. In developing and marketing new lines of business and new products and services, VWE may invest significant time and resources. External factors, such as regulatory compliance obligations, competitive alternatives, lack of market acceptance and shifting consumer preferences, may also affect the successful implementation of a new line of business or a new product or service. With respect to cannabis-infused beverages, even if the federal government legalizes medical and/or adult-use cannabis, significant delays in the drafting and implementation of industry regulations and licensing and the costs associated with burdensome regulations and taxes could adversely impact VWE’s ability to operate profitably in the cannabis-infused beverage industry. Failure to successfully manage these risks in the development and implementation of new lines of business or new products or services could have adverse effects on VWE’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
Litigation relating to alcohol abuse or the misuse of alcohol could adversely affect our business.
Increased public attention has been directed at the beverage alcohol industry, which we believe is due to concern over problems related to alcohol abuse, including drinking and driving, underage drinking and health consequences from the misuse of alcohol. Adverse developments in these or similar lawsuits or a significant decline in the social acceptability of beverage alcohol products that could result from such lawsuits could materially adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Our Production Activities
Increases in the cost, disruption of supply or shortage of energy could adversely affect our business.
Our production facilities use a significant amount of energy in their operations, including electricity, propane and natural gas. Increases in the price, disruption of supply or shortage of energy sources, which may result from increased demand, natural disasters, power outages or other causes could increase our operating costs and negatively impact our profitability. VWE has experienced increases in energy costs in the past, and energy costs could rise in the future. In addition, we incur costs in connection with the transportation and distribution of our materials and products. Higher fuel costs will result in higher transportation, freight, and other operating costs, which could significantly increase our production costs and, correlatively, decrease our operating margins and profit.
If we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of grapes or other raw materials, or if there is an increase in the cost of such materials, or contamination to ingredients or products, our profitability and production of wine could be negatively impacted, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We source our grapes from the vineyards that we own and control and from independent growers. Our production activities also require adequate supplies of other quality agricultural, raw and processed materials, including corks, glass bottles, barrels, winemaking additives and agents, water and other supplies. A shortage of, or contamination to grapes of the required variety and quality, or an inability to obtain or significant increase in the price of other requisite raw materials, could impair our ability to produce wines in the quantity and quality demanded by our customers and reduce our profitability.
Any such occurrences could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Drought or inclement weather could reduce the amount of water available for use in our growing and production activities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Water supply and adequate rainfall are critical to the supply of grapes, other agricultural raw materials and generally our ability to operate our business. If climate patterns change or droughts occur, there may be a scarcity of water or poor water quality, which could affect production costs, consistency of yields or impose capacity constraints. VWE depends on enough quality water for operation of its wineries, as well as to irrigate its vineyards and conduct other operations. The suppliers of the grapes and other agricultural raw materials purchased by VWE also depend upon sufficient supplies of quality water for their vineyards and fields. Prolonged or severe drought conditions or restrictions imposed on irrigation options by governmental authorities could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Impacts from climate change and related government regulations may adversely affect our financial condition.
Our business depends upon agricultural activity and natural resources. There has been much public discussion related to concerns that carbon dioxide and other GHGs in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. Severe weather events and natural disasters, such as our experiences with drought, flooding, and/or wildfires in California, Oregon, or Washington, and climate change may negatively affect agricultural productivity in the regions from which we presently source our various agricultural raw materials or the energy supply powering our production facilities. Decreased availability of our raw materials may increase our cost of product sold. Severe weather events and natural disasters or changes in the frequency or intensity of weather events or natural disasters can also impact product quality and disrupt our supply chains, which may affect production operations, insurance cost and coverage, as well as delivery of our products to wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. Natural disasters such as severe storms, floods, and earthquakes may also negatively impact the ability of consumers to purchase our products.
We may experience significant future increases in the costs associated with environmental regulatory compliance, including fees, licenses, and the cost of capital improvements for our operating facilities to meet environmental regulatory requirements. In addition, we may be party to various
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environmental remediation obligations arising in the normal course of our business or relating to historical activities of businesses we acquire. Due to regulatory complexities, governmental or contractual requirements, uncertainties inherent in litigation, and the risk of unidentified contaminants in our current and former properties, the potential exists for remediation, liability, indemnification, and other costs to differ materially from the costs that we have estimated. We may incur costs associated with environmental compliance arising from events we cannot control, such as unusually severe droughts, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, or fires, which could have a material adverse effect upon our business, liquidity, financial condition, and/or results of operations.
We could be negatively impacted by the occurrence of wine contamination.
We are subject to certain hazards and product liability risks, such as potential contamination, through tampering or otherwise, of ingredients or products. Contamination of our wine could result in destruction of our wine held in inventory and could cause the need for a product recall, which could significantly damage VWE’s reputation for product quality. We maintain insurance against certain of these kinds of risks, and others, under various insurance policies. However, our insurance may not be sufficient to fully cover any resulting liability or may not continue to be available at a price or on terms that are satisfactory to us.
Risks Related to Information Technology and Cybersecurity
A failure of one or more of our key IT systems, networks, processes, associated sites or service providers could have a material adverse impact on business operations, and if the failure is prolonged, our financial condition.
We rely on IT systems, networks, and services, including internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities and tools, hardware (including laptops and mobile devices), software and technical applications and platforms, some of which are managed, hosted, provided and used by third-parties or their vendors, to assist us in the operation of our business. The various uses of these IT systems, networks and services include, but are not limited to: hosting our internal network and communication systems; tracking bulk wine; supply and demand; planning; production; shipping wines to customers; hosting our winery websites and marketing products to consumers; collecting and storing customer, consumer, employee, stockholder, and other data; processing transactions; summarizing and reporting results of operations; hosting, processing and sharing confidential and proprietary research, business plans and financial information; complying with regulatory, legal or tax requirements; providing data security; and handling other processes necessary to manage our business.
Increased IT security threats and more sophisticated cybercrimes and cyberattacks, including computer viruses and other malicious codes, ransomware, unauthorized access attempts, denial of service attacks, phishing, social engineering, hacking and other types of attacks pose a potential risk to the security of our IT systems, networks and services, as well as the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our data, and we have in the past, and may in the future, experience cyberattacks and other unauthorized access attempts to our IT systems. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access are constantly changing and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we or our vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement sufficient preventative or remedial measures.
If we are unable to maintain and upgrade our system safeguards, we may incur unexpected costs and certain of our systems may become more vulnerable to unauthorized access. In the event of a ransomware or other cyber-attack, the integrity and safety of our data could be at risk or we may incur unforeseen costs impacting our financial position. If the IT systems, networks or service providers we rely upon fail to function properly, or if we suffer a loss or disclosure of business or other sensitive information due to any number of causes ranging from catastrophic events, power outages, security breaches, unauthorized use or usage errors by employees, vendors or other third parties and other security issues, we may be subject to legal claims and proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information (also known as personal data), litigation, governmental investigations and proceedings and regulatory penalties, and we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage our operations and reputation, competitive or business harm, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial results. In addition, such events could result in unauthorized disclosure of material confidential information, and we may suffer financial and reputational damage because of lost or misappropriated confidential information belonging to us or to our employees, stockholders, customers, suppliers, consumers or others. In any of these events, we could also be required to spend significant financial and other resources to remedy the damage caused by a security breach or technological failure and the reputational damage resulting therefrom, to pay for investigations, forensic analyses, legal advice, public relations advice or other services, or to repair or replace networks and IT systems.
As a result of the growing normalization of hybrid and remote work, a greater number of our employees are working remotely and accessing our IT systems and networks remotely, which may further increase our vulnerability to cybercrimes and cyberattacks and increase the stress on our technology infrastructure and systems. Although we maintain cyber risk insurance, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses from any future breaches or failures of our IT systems, networks and services.
Our failure to adequately maintain and protect personal information of our customers or our employees in compliance with evolving legal requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We collect, use, store, disclose or transfer (collectively, “process”) personal information, including from employees and customers, in connection with the operation of our business. A wide variety of local and international laws as well as regulations and industry guidelines apply to the privacy and collecting, storing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of personal information and may be inconsistent among countries or conflict with other
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rules. Data protection and privacy laws and regulations are changing, subject to differing interpretations and being tested in courts and may result in increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.
Compliance with applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance. Our actual or alleged failure to comply with any applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations, industry standards or contractual obligations, or to protect such information and data that we process, could result in litigation, regulatory investigations, and enforcement actions against us, including fines, orders, public censure, claims for damages by employees, customers and other affected individuals, public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups, damage to our reputation and competitive position and loss of goodwill (both in relation to existing customers and prospective customers) any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Additionally, if third parties that we work with, such as vendors or developers, violate applicable laws or our policies, such violations may also place personal information at risk and have an adverse effect on our business. Even the perception of privacy concerns, whether valid, may harm our reputation, subject us to regulatory scrutiny and investigations, and inhibit adoption of our wines by existing and potential customers.
Risks Related to Regulation of Our Business
VWE’s failure to obtain or maintain necessary licenses or otherwise fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations could have adverse effects on its results of operations, financial condition and business.
A complex multi-jurisdictional regime governs alcoholic beverage manufacturing, distribution, sales, and marketing in the United States. The alcoholic beverages industry in which VWE operates is subject to extensive regulation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (and other federal agencies), each state’s liquor authority, and potentially local authorities depending on location. These regulations and laws dictate such matters as licensing requirements, production, importation, ownership restrictions, trade, and pricing practices, permitted distribution channels, delivery, and prohibitions on sales to minors, permitted, and required labeling, and advertising and relations with wholesalers and retailers. These laws, regulations and licensing requirements may, and sometimes are, interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other legal mandates or with VWE’s business practices. Further, these laws, rules, regulations, and interpretations are constantly changing because of litigation, legislation, and agency priorities, and could result in increased regulation. VWE’s actual or asserted non-compliance with any such law, regulation or requirement could expose VWE to investigations, claims, litigation, injunctive proceedings and other criminal or civil proceedings by private parties and regulatory authorities, as well as license suspension, license revocation, substantial fines, and negative publicity, any of which could adversely affect VWE’s results of operations, financial condition, and business.
Failure to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations would expose us to civil and criminal liability.
The laws and regulations concerning the environment, health and safety may subject us to civil liability for non-compliance or environmental pollution. Such laws may include criminal sanctions (including substantial penalties) for violations. Some environmental laws also include provisions imposing strict liability for the release of hazardous substances into the environment, which could result in VWE becoming liable for clean-up efforts without any negligence or fault on our part. Other environmental laws impose liability jointly and severally, which could expose us to responsibility for cleaning up environmental pollution caused by others.
In addition, some environmental, health and safety laws are applied retroactively such that they could impose liability for acts done in the past even if such acts were carried out in accordance with the law in force at the time. Civil or criminal liability under such laws could have adverse effects on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may also become subject to claims for personal injury or property damage arising from exposure to hazardous substances if personal injury or environmental contamination was ostensibly caused by activity at one of its production sites. Such legal proceedings could be instituted by private individuals or non-governmental organizations.
In addition, any expansion of our existing facilities or development of new vineyards or wineries, or any expansion of our business into new product lines or new geographic markets, may be limited by present and future environmental restrictions, zoning ordinances and other legal requirements.
New and changing environmental requirements, and new market pressures related to climate change, could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial results.
There has been significant public discussion related to concerns that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. Federal regulations govern, among other things, air emissions, wastewater and stormwater discharges, and the treatment, handling and storage and disposal of materials and wastes. State environmental regulations and authorities intended to address and oversee environmental issues are largely state-level analogs to federal regulations and authorities intended to perform the similar purposes. We are subject to state and local environmental regulations that address a number of elements of our wine production process, including air quality, the handing of hazardous waste, recycling, water use and discharge, emissions and traffic impacts. Compliance with these and other environmental regulation requires significant resources. Continued regulatory and market trends towards sustainability may require or incentivize us to make changes to our current business operations. We may experience future increases in the costs associated with environmental regulatory compliance, including fees, licenses and the cost of capital improvements to meet environmental regulatory requirements. In addition, we may be party to various environmental remediation obligations arising
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in the normal course of our business or relating to historical activities of businesses we acquire. We cannot assure that our costs in relation to these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial results.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, and if our remediation of such material weakness is not effective, or if we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable laws and regulations could be impaired.
In the course of our financial close process for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness identified relates to our process and controls over financial reporting related to balance sheet account reconciliations, which includes the prior year identification of certain inventory-related account balances and the current year identification of interest rate swap derivatives account balances. Management concluded that this material weakness arose because we did not have effective business processes and controls to perform reconciliations of balance sheet account balances.
See Part II, Item 9A “Controls and Procedures” for additional information about this material weakness and our remediation efforts.
If we are unable to further implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures, our ability to record, process and report financial information accurately, and to prepare financial statements within required time periods could be adversely affected, which could subject us to litigation or investigations requiring management resources and payment of legal and other expenses, negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements and adversely impact our stock price. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or, if and when required, our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an unqualified opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could be adversely affected, our common stock could become subject to delisting and we could become subject to litigation or investigations by the stock exchange or exchanges on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, any of which could require additional financial and management resources.
Furthermore, we cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, and actions we may take in the future, will be sufficient to remediate the control deficiencies that led to our material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting or that they will prevent or avoid potential future material weaknesses. Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of financial statements for prior periods.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to fund the operations and growth of our business on terms favorable to us, or at all.
We may require additional financing to fund our operations or growth. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on our continued development or growth. Such financings may result in dilution to stockholders, issuance of securities with priority as to liquidation and dividend and other rights more favorable than our common stock, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may adversely affect our business. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for current or future operating plans. There can be no assurance that financing will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. The inability to obtain financing when needed may make it more difficult for us to operate its business or implement its growth plans.
The terms of the VWE credit facility may restrict our flexibility, and failure to comply with such terms would have a variety of adverse effects.
The VWE credit facility contains various covenants and restrictions that may, in certain circumstances and subject to carve-outs and exceptions, limit VWE’s ability to, among other things:
•make loans to third parties;
•incur additional indebtedness;
•make capital expenditures in excess of agreed upon amounts;
•merge or consolidate with another entity;
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•make dividends or distributions to its shareholders;
•change the nature of its business;
•amend its organizational documents;
•make accounting changes; and
•conduct transactions with affiliates.
Under the VWE credit facility, VWE also is required to maintain compliance with a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio covenant (not less than 1.10:1.00).
As a result of the covenants and other restrictions contained in its credit facility, VWE is limited in how it may choose to conduct its business. VWE cannot guarantee that it will be able to remain in compliance with these covenants and other restrictions or be able to obtain waivers for noncompliance in the future. Failure to comply with the covenants and other restrictions contained in its debt instruments would likely have adverse effects on its financial condition and business by impairing its ability to continue financing its business.
Of particular significance, VWE could be forced to repay immediately and in full any outstanding borrowings under its credit facility if it were to breach its covenants and not cure the breach, even if it could otherwise satisfy its debt service obligations. Also, if VWE were to experience a change of control, as defined in its credit facilities, it could be required to repay in full all loans outstanding thereunder, plus accrued interest and fees.
VWE may be adversely affected by the phase-out of, or changes in the method of determining, the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), or the replacement of LIBOR with different reference rates.
LIBOR is the basic rate of interest used in lending between banks on the London interbank market and is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on U.S. dollar-denominated loans globally. The VWE credit facility uses LIBOR as a reference rate such that the interest due to VWE’s creditors under this facility is calculated using LIBOR.
On July 27, 2017, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (the authority that administers LIBOR) announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. The replacement of LIBOR with an alternative rate or benchmark, may adversely affect interest rates and result in higher borrowing costs. This could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. VWE cannot predict the effect of the potential changes to the establishment and use of alternative rates or benchmarks. VWE may need to renegotiate its credit facility or incur other indebtedness. The use of an alternative rate or benchmark, could negatively impact the terms of such renegotiated credit facility or such other indebtedness. If LIBOR ceases to exist, VWE might need to amend certain contracts and cannot predict what alternative rate or benchmark would be negotiated. This may result in an increase to VWE interest expense.
If VWE’s intangible assets or goodwill become impaired, then VWE may be required to record charges to earnings, which could be significant.
VWE has substantial intangible assets and goodwill on its balance sheet resulting from acquisitions that VWE has completed. VWE reviews intangible assets and goodwill for impairment annually or more frequently if events or circumstances indicate that these assets might be impaired. Application of impairment tests requires judgment. A significant deterioration in a key estimate or assumption or a less significant deterioration to a combination of assumptions or the sale of a part of a reporting unit could result in an impairment charge in the future, which could have an impact, possibly significant, on VWE’s reported earnings.
We may not realize the benefits anticipated from our recent business combination, which could adversely affect our common stock price.
The anticipated benefits from the recently completed business combination are, necessarily, based on projections and assumptions that may not materialize as expected or which may prove to be inaccurate. Our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits will depend on our ability to successfully implement our growth strategies, as well as the availability of cash. We may encounter significant challenges with recognizing the anticipated benefits of the business combination, including the following:
•potential disruption of, or reduced growth in, our historical core businesses;
•challenges arising from the expansion of VWE’s product offerings into adjacencies with which VWE has limited experience;
•coordinating sales and marketing efforts to effectively position VWE’s capabilities and the direction of product development;
•difficulties in achieving anticipated cost savings, synergies, business opportunities and growth prospects from combining VWE’s business with the capital resources resulting from the transactions;
•the increased scale and complexity of VWE’s operations resulting from the business combination;
•retaining key employees, suppliers and other stakeholders of VWE;
•retaining and efficiently managing VWE’s expanded distributor and supplier base; and
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•difficulties in anticipating and responding to actions that may be taken by competitors in response to VWE’s business combination.
If we do not successfully manage these issues and the other challenges inherent in operating a business of our scale, then we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the business combination, could incur unanticipated expenses and charges and the results of operations and the market price of our common stock could be adversely affected.
A significant aspect of VWE’s expansion plan is to grow through strategic acquisitions. If the liabilities VWE assumes as part of making strategic acquisitions are greater than anticipated, VWE’s financial results could be adversely affected.
When VWE acquires the equity, i.e., the stock of a corporation or the membership interests in a limited liability company, rather than the assets, of a target company, it also generally assumes the liabilities of the target company, which often include known, unknown, and contingent liabilities. VWE’s ability to accurately identify and assess the magnitude of these assumed liabilities may be limited by, among other things, the information available to VWE and the limited operating experience VWE has with these acquired businesses. If VWE is unable to accurately assess the scope of these liabilities or if these liabilities are neither probable nor estimable at the time of the acquisition, VWE’s projected financial results for the acquired company could be adversely affected. To the extent that VWE’s overall results of operations are affected by any of these events, the price of VWE common stock could decrease.
General Risk Factors
Mergers and acquisitions in which VWE might engage involve risks that could adversely affect its business.
As part of its growth strategy, VWE will continue considering and entering into discussions, negotiations and agreements regarding possible transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations. The purchase price for possible acquisitions of brands, other assets and businesses might be paid in cash, through the issuance of common stock or other securities, borrowings or a combination of these methods. Business combinations entail numerous risks, including:
•difficulties in the integration of acquired operations, supply and distribution networks, and products, which can impact retention of customer goodwill;
•failure to achieve expected synergies;
•diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;
•assumption of unknown material liabilities of acquired companies, which could become material or subject us to litigation or regulatory risks;
•amortization of acquired intangible assets, which could reduce future reported earnings; and
•potential loss of customers or key employees.
There can be no assurance that VWE will continue to be able to identify, consummate and successfully integrate business combinations.
A failure to comply with anti-corruption laws, trade sanctions and restrictions, or similar laws or regulations may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.
Some of the countries where we do business have a higher risk of corruption than others. While we are committed to doing business in accordance with all applicable laws, including anti-corruption laws and global trade restrictions, we remain subject to the risk that an employee, or one of our many direct or indirect business partners, may take action determined to be in violation of international trade, money laundering, anti-corruption, or other laws, sanctions, or regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or equivalent local laws. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted numerous local economies, government intervention in local economies and businesses has increased, which has elevated the risk of and opportunity for corruption. Any determination that our operations or activities are not in compliance with applicable laws or regulations, particularly those related to anti-corruption and international economic or trade sanctions, could result in investigations, interruption of business, loss of business partner relationships, suspension or termination of licenses and permits (our own or those of our partners), imposition of fines, legal or equitable sanctions, negative publicity, and management distraction or departure. Further, our continued compliance with applicable anti-corruption, economic and trade sanctions, or other laws or regulations, and our other policies could result in higher operating costs, delays, or even competitive disadvantages.
We compete for skilled management and labor and our future success depends in large part on key personnel.
Our future success depends in large part on our ability to retain and motivate to a high degree our senior management team. Our ability to deliver high-quality products also depends on retaining and motivating proficient winemakers, grape growers and other skilled management and operations personnel. The loss of such personnel or a labor shortage could adversely affect our business and our ability to implement our strategy.
VWE is an emerging growth company and can offer no assurance that the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will not make its shares less attractive to investors.
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VWE is an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”). For as long as VWE continues to be an emerging growth company, it may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that apply to public companies other than emerging growth companies, including exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. VWE will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the date (a) December 31, 2026, (b) on which VWE has total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) on which VWE is deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of shares of VWE’s common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which VWE has issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
VWE can offer no assurance that investors will not find its common stock less attractive because VWE may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find such less attractive as a result, then there may be a less active trading market for such stock and its market price may be more volatile.
VWE will continue to incur significant expenses and administrative burdens as a public company, which could have an adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.
VWE, as a public company, faces significant legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expense. VWE also is a reporting issuer in all of the provinces and territories of Canada, other than Quebec. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), and Nasdaq impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements will increase costs and make certain activities more time-consuming. In addition, expenses associated with public company reporting requirements will be incurred. Furthermore, if any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if the auditors identify a material weakness or a significant deficiency in the internal control over financial reporting), then VWE could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect VWE’s reputation or investor perceptions of it. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance in such a situation. Risks associated with VWE’s status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the board of directors or as executive officers. The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations will increase legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, accounting and administrative activities. These increased costs will require VWE to divert a significant amount of money that could otherwise be used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.
VWE is subject to financial reporting and other requirements that places increased demands on its accounting and other management systems and resources and for which VWE may not be adequately prepared.
VWE is subject to reporting and other obligations under the Exchange Act, including the requirements of Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and similar legislation imposed on reporting issuers under Canadian law, as applicable. Section 404 requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of VWE’s internal controls over financial reporting and, after VWE is no longer an “emerging growth company,” its independent registered public accounting firm may be required to express an opinion on the effectiveness of VWE’s internal controls over financial reporting. To the extent applicable, these reporting and other obligations will place significant demands on VWE’s management, administrative, operational, and accounting resources and will cause VWE to incur significant expenses. VWE is in the process of creating systems, implementing financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures, and hiring additional accounting and finance staff. If VWE is unable to accomplish these objectives in a timely and effective manner, then its ability to comply with the financial reporting requirements and other rules that apply to public reporting companies could be impaired. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls could have adverse effects on our business, results of operations and stock price.
VWE’s management has limited experience operating a public company. This could lead to diversion of time otherwise spent on business operations and could necessitate the incurrence of additional costs to staff for regulatory expertise.
Although several of the directors of the Company have substantial public market experience, as well as our new recently appointed CFO, VWE’s other executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. VWE’s management team may struggle to manage VWE successfully or effectively as a public company. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities, which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of VWE. It is possible that VWE will be required to expand its employee base and hire additional qualified personnel, or engage additional outside consultants and professionals, to support its operations as a public company, increasing its operating costs in future periods.
The terms of the investor rights agreement, VWE’s organizational documents and Nevada law could inhibit a takeover that VWE shareholders might consider favorable.
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Features of the investor rights agreement, the VWE articles of incorporation and bylaws and Nevada law will make it difficult for any party to acquire control of VWE in a transaction not approved by the VWE board of directors. These features include:
•until the 2028 annual meeting of shareholders of VWE, the Roney Representative (which will be Patrick Roney, so long as he is alive) may designate five individuals (the “Roney Nominees”), the former Bespoke shareholders may designate two individuals (the “Bespoke Nominees”) and the VWE nominating committee may designate two individuals ("the Nominating Committee Nominees") in the slate of nominees recommended to VWE shareholders for election as directors at any annual or special meeting of the shareholders at which directors are to be elected, subject to certain terms and conditions;
• the affirmative vote of shareholders holding at least 66-2/3% of the voting power of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of VWE will be required to amend or repeal certain provisions of the articles of incorporation and bylaws of VWE, including those relating to election, removal and replacement of directors, for five years following the closing of the transactions;
• the ability of the board of directors to issue and determine the terms of preferred stock;
• advance notice for shareholder proposals and nominations of directors by shareholders to be considered at VWE’s annual meetings of shareholders;
• certain limitations on convening shareholder special meetings;
• limiting the ability of shareholders to act by written consent; and
• anti-takeover provisions of Nevada law.
These features may have an anti-takeover effect and could delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that a VWE shareholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price of their common stock.
The VWE articles of incorporation provide that the Second Judicial District Court in the State of Nevada, located in Washoe County, Nevada will be the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between VWE and its shareholders, which could limit VWE shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with VWE or its directors, officers or employees.
The VWE articles of incorporation provide that, unless VWE consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Second Judicial District Court, in and for the State of Nevada, located in Washoe County, Nevada, will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action, suit or proceeding brought on behalf of VWE, (ii) any action, suit or proceeding asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or stockholder of VWE to VWE or to its stockholders, or (iii) any action, suit or proceeding arising pursuant to any provision of the NRS or the VWE articles of incorporation or bylaws (as either may be amended and/or restated from time to time). Subject to the foregoing, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Such exclusive forum provision will not relieve VWE of its duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and its shareholders will not be deemed to have waived VWE’s compliance with such laws, rules and regulations.
The VWE articles of incorporation further provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any VWE securities will be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions. Such articles provide that if any action whose subject matter is within the scope of clause (i), (ii) or (iii) above is filed in a court other than the courts in the State of Nevada (a “foreign action”) in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder will be deemed to have consented to (1) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Nevada in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the provisions of such clause and (2) having service of process made upon any such stockholder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such stockholder. These exclusive forum provisions may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring an action, suit or proceeding in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with VWE or its directors, officers, employees or stockholders, which may discourage such actions, suits and proceedings. None of the aforementioned provisions of the VWE articles of incorporation will apply to suits to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction.
If a court were to find the exclusive forum provision contained in the VWE articles of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, suit or proceeding, then VWE may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action, suit or proceeding in other jurisdictions, which could harm its business, results of operations, and financial condition. Even if VWE is successful in defending against such actions, suits and proceedings, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employee.
We cannot guarantee that we will repurchase our common stock or warrants pursuant to our repurchase program or that our repurchase program will enhance long-term stockholder value. Share and warrant repurchases could also increase the volatility of the price of our common stock and warrants and could diminish our cash reserves.
On March 8, 2022, our Board authorized a share repurchase program (the "Repurchase Program"), pursuant to which we may repurchase up to $30.0 million in aggregate value of shares of our common stock and/or warrants through September 8, 2022. The timing and amount of any repurchases will depend upon a number of factors, including price, trading volume, general market conditions and legal requirements, among others.
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The Company is not obligated to repurchase any specific number or amount of shares of common stock or warrants pursuant to the Repurchase Program, and it may modify, suspend or discontinue the Repurchase Program at any time. Repurchases pursuant to the Repurchase Program could affect our common stock price and warrant price and increase their volatility. The existence of the Repurchase Program could cause our common stock price and warrant price to be higher than they would be in the absence of such a program and, if securities are repurchased in the Repurchase Program, it will reduce the market liquidity for such securities. Additionally, the Repurchase Program could diminish our cash reserves, which may impact our ability to finance future growth and to pursue possible future strategic opportunities. There can be no assurance that any repurchases will enhance long-term stockholder value and the market price of our common stock or warrants may decline below the levels at which we repurchased any such securities.