Gretzky factor spurs Peller growth

Article Excerpt

ANDREW PELLER LTD. (Toronto symbols ADW.A $28 and ADW.B $30; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $406.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Constellation Brands. It accounts for 14.2% of the country’s wine sales, and 37.1% of wines produced in Canada. Peller continues to benefit from strong sales of its premium-priced brands. These include its 2011 deal with hockey star Wayne Gretzky to make and distribute wines under his name. This brand is now one of the best-selling wines in Canada. To keep up with strong demand for Gretzky wines, the company is building a new winery next to its existing operation in the Niagara region of Southern Ontario. This new facility will open in the spring of 2017. In the third quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended December 31, 2015, sales rose 8.4%, to $91.8 million from $84.6 million a year earlier…