Chapel Down Group has raised about £5.5 million in a share placing and opened a smaller retail offer alongside it, raising money to expand capacity at its winery in Tenterden, Kent. The company announced the results of the placing on 4 November 2026: 12,790,697 new shares at 43 pence each, taken up by institutional and professional investors.
The issue price matched the market. At 43 pence it was equal to the closing mid market price of the existing shares on 4 November, the latest practicable date before the announcement. Gross proceeds of about £5.5 million equate to roughly £5.1 million after fees and expenses.
A fifth press at Tenterden
Most of the money is earmarked for a soft pressing project at Tenterden costed at £4.5 million. The project adds a fifth press alongside the four already installed, together with extra tank capacity, automation and related infrastructure. Planning permission is already in place. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, after the harvest, with completion targeted for July 2027. The company is targeting about £2 million a year in additional gross margin from the project, with realisation building from 2030, and an internal rate of return above 20 percent.
Management says the extra pressing capacity brings forward by two years, to 2033, the point at which it aims to sell roughly 2.5 million bottles of traditional method sparkling wine a year. Chapel Down farms about 1,000 acres of vines, around 9 percent of the United Kingdom's vineyard area, of which 897 acres are fully productive.
Retail offer and timetable
On 5 November the company opened a separate retail offer of up to 1,162,790 further shares at the same 43 pence price, worth up to about £500,000 and taking the total raise to as much as £6.0 million. The retail offer is being run through BookBuild for eligible United Kingdom investors, and each investor must commit at least £100. Commitments close at 12.00 p.m. on 9 November and the company will announce the outcome the same day. The placing shares are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on 10 November, and the retail shares on 13 November, in each case by 8.00 a.m.
In the event, the company's directors subscribed for £505,000 of the placing between them. The fundraising follows first half results reported in September, when net sales for the six months to 30 June 2026 rose 19 percent to £9.4 million.
Retail offer completes the raising
Update, 12 November: the retail offer closed at midday on 9 November and was oversubscribed, the company announced that day. All 1,162,790 retail offer shares will be issued at 43 pence, raising about £0.5 million. Existing shareholders received their full pre-emption entitlement, while applications above that entitlement and applications from non shareholders were scaled back pro rata. Together with the placing, the capital raising issues 13,953,487 new shares for aggregate gross proceeds of about £6 million. Following admission of the retail shares, expected at 8.00 a.m. on 13 November, the enlarged share capital will be 185,477,803 shares, with directors holding 72,385,145 shares, or 39.03 percent.