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KWV joins forces with Myliko Wines in renewed UK focus

Published:  27 September, 2012

KWV is looking to re-invent itself in the UK with a new strategy centred on working through Manchester-based wine agency Myliko Wines.

KWV is looking to re-invent itself in the UK with a new strategy centred on working through Manchester-based wine agency Myliko Wines.

It hopes the move will act as a springboard for a new way of working, which, if successful, can be introduced to other key export counties like Scandinavia and the Netherlands.

The change in approach is part of KWV's new private equity owners Hosken Consolidated Investments' strategy to re-engage with the vital UK market, which it concedes had fallen into difficult times.

Jonathen Ralph, KWV's regional business manager for Europe, told Harpers at this week's Cape Wine in South Afica, that, in effect, it wanted to start again in the UK.
"We are treating the UK as a brand new market for us. We do not want to be stung by the stigma of things that went wrong in the past. We are looking to work completely differently in the UK, which is why we have taken on Myliko Wines as our UK representative."

He added: "If the model works well in the UK then we can look to use it in other markets as well."

Hemant Kotecha, owner of Myliko Wines, said he would be looking to work with specifically targeted wines for all channels of the trade from independents, on-trade, cash and carry, online, direct and national multiple accounts. "We want to have a very open and flexible approach," he said.

KWV is to now target its portfolio around five key brand ranges including KWV Classics, Pearly Bay and Laborie. Ralph said the driving force of the new strategy was to be far more commercially focused and it had brought in a number of senior management team from FMCG and senior drinks companies, such as Diageo and Distell, to help take the company forward.

He said the changes had affected all parts of the business. "We are not looking at putting a plaster over a wound that needed stitches," he said.

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