At the time of writing, Digital Wine shares are 1.67% lower at 6 cents apiece. In comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is hovering 0.28% higher to 7,712 points.

What did Digital Wine announce?

According to the update, Digital Wine advised it has opened up a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) following a successful placement.

On October 15, the company revealed that it has received overwhelming support to raise $12.625 million via a share placement. The firm commitments came from institutional, sophisticated and professional investors.

About 225.45 million shares will be issued at a price of 5.6 cents per share. This represents a 15.2% discount to the last traded price of 6.6 cents before the announcement on 12 October.

Furthermore, Digital Wine directors also subscribed for an additional 2.23 million shares at the same price offered. However, this is pending shareholder approval at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held in the near future.

The company decided to allow its remaining shareholders to participate in a $2 million SPP based on the same terms.

Eligible investors will be able to apply for up to a maximum amount of $30,000 worth of new shares.

The closing date for the SPP will fall on 26 October and the results will be announced on 2 November.

The funds raised under the placement will be used support the acquisition of leading wholesale alcoholic beverage platform company, Kaddy. This includes the following:

• $6.75 million to fund the cash consideration for the acquisition of Kaddy;
• $5.3 million for expansion capital for the Kaddy marketplace; and
• $0.70 million in capital raising costs.

The monies collected from the SPP, however, will be allocated towards extra sales and marketing activities and general working capital.

About the Digital Wine share price

Over the past 12 months, Digital Wine shares have rallied around 15% higher, reflecting modest investor sentiment. However, since the start of 2021, the company's share price is up almost 40% alone.

On valuation grounds, Digital Wine presides a market capitalisation of roughly $112.9 million with approximately 1.8 billion shares outstanding.

The post Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price edges lower despite Share Purchase Plan opening appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

It comes after the company shed further light on its previously announced acquisition and capital raise.

Here are the details.

Digital Wine's new acquisition and cap raise

Digital Wine announced today it had "accelerate(d) its penetration of the $17 billion Australian wholesale liquor market" via the acquisition of wholesale beverage marketplace Kaddy Australia Pty Ltd.

Kaddy is "Australia's leading B2B (business-to-business) beverage marketplace enabling discovery, ordering and payments", according to Digital Wine.

The venture capital specialist closed the transaction on a $6.75 million cash consideration and approximately 484.9 million of its own shares.

It believes the transaction is a "transformational opportunity to bring together two high-growth technology businesses to create the market-leading online marketplace" servicing the wholesale liquor market in Australia.

Digital Wine also ran through an extensive list of reasonings and justifications as to the key drivers of the acquisition.

Most of these are centred around synergies the two businesses lend each other. This will enable a mix of diversification and competitive advantages for each.

For instance, Kaddy does not have a logistics platform in situ and is reliant on third-party fulfilment by its suppliers.

Digital Wine's WINEDEPOT asset solves this issue. It brings together its "tech-enabled logistics solution and Kaddy's market-leading technology platform…to unlock significant value for its users and support the rapid scale of the merged businesses".

In addition to the acquisition, Digital Wine is set to provide expansion capital to Kaddy. This will help the company grow its operations.

Digital Wine has therefore initiated a $14.75 million capital raising round to finance the expansion of Kaddy's growth engine. It has received commitments of $12.75 million already via a share placement. All eligible shareholders are able to participate on the same terms.

What did management say?

Commenting on the news, Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor said:

The combination of a world class B2B marketplace with a tech-enabled national logistics platform will create an unrivaled value proposition that's relevant to every liquor licence holder in the country. Kaddy strongly complements our technology ecosystem and fast-tracks our ability to develop a stronghold in Australia's $17 billion wholesale liquor market.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

The Digital Wine share price has gained 46% this year to date. It has climbed 5% during the past 12 months.

That's well behind the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX: XJO)'s gain of around 19% in that time.

The post Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price plunges on acquisition and cap raise appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The company is expected to announce news of its latest addition and equity boost sometime between now and Friday.

Until then, the Digital Wine share price will stay halted at its previous closing price of 6.6 cents.

The wine distributor and operator of wholesale distribution platform, WINEDEPOT, is no stranger to acquisitions. Let's take a look at Digital Wine's most recent acquisition and capital raise.

Digital Wine share price freezes over

The Digital Wine share price has been put on ice this morning ahead of the company announcing a new acquisition and capital raise.

Unfortunately, market watchers eager for more details might be waiting until Friday. If the company doesn't release the announcement by then, its shares will resume trading as per normal.

Though, it hasn't been that long since Digital Wine graced the market with news of its most recent acquisition and capital raise.

In July the company acquired Parton Wine Group. While Digital Wine's consideration for Parton is through earn-outs via scrip, the company still raised $7.5 million.

Around $7.38 million was raised through a share placement for institutional and sophisticated investors. Within the placement, Digital Wine offered new shares for 6.5 cents apiece. The leftover $125,000 came from director participation.

Of the $7.5 million, $2.8 million was to pay Parton's existing liabilities and $1.2 million to repay Parton's debt. Another $1 million would fund Parton's planned projects. The remaining $2.5 million went towards expanding the merged logistics business.

At the time, the 6.5 cent price tag represented a 28.6% discount to Digital Wine's last traded share price and a 20% discount to its 15-day volume weighted average price.

Unfortunately, the market reacted poorly to Digital Wine's most recent acquisition and capital raise. Digital Wine's stock was frozen in preparation for the news, as it is today. It fell 11% when it emerged.

So, it's safe to say that plenty of eyes will be fixed on the Digital Wine share price between now and Friday morning.

The post Why is the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price on ice? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

However, it did announce its earnings for financial year 2021 (FY21) yesterday.

Luckily, the wine distributor's shares recovered in the nick of time. The Digital Wine share price finished the day trading at 6.4 cents, flat with its previous close.

Let's take a look at the latest news from Digital Wine.

Digital Wines share price flat despite posting 410% increase to income

Here's how the wine distributor performed during FY21:

• $2.6 million of revenue, 410% greater than that of FY20
• Net loss after tax of $6.9 million, a 240% great loss than the company reported for  the prior financial year
• Gross profit of $19,414

According to the company, its net loss for FY21 was intensified by the expansion of its WINEDEPOT business and employee share options.

Over the period, Digital Wine's assets increased by $8.3 million to reach $8.8 million worth, mostly due to a capital raise.

The company shipped 204,962 cases of wine in FY21. That's 761% more than it did the prior financial year.

The company ended the period with $6.3 million of cash.

What happened in FY21 for Digital Wine?

It's been a busy year for Digital Wine and its share price.

Digital Wine underwent a $6.15 million capital raising in July 2020.

The company signed up its first French winery and, in doing so, expanded its addressable market early in FY21.

It also announced it would make credit as a service available within its direct-to-trade marketplace.

Additionally, Digital Wine partnered with Earlypay Ltd (ASX: EPY) to launch a payment management system for its wholesale customers and with Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) to offer a buy now, pay later solution.

It finalised its plan to roll out a national network of temperature-controlled depots and expand its delivery fleet to ready itself for expected growth. Digital Wine later partnered with Direct Couriers to develop a dedicated delivery fleet for its wine.

It agreed to acquire Wine Delivery Australia, which Digital Wine expected to increase its customer database by 186 suppliers. Digital Wine also expanded its addressable market by providing wineries the ability to list their products across a broad range of direct-to-consumer sales channels and allowed corporate small-to-medium enterprises and registered businesses to purchase wine on a membership model.  

It also partnered with Vivino, the world's largest wine app and marketplace, and Bibendum, a fine wine and beverage distributor. Additionally, Digital Wine signed a memorandum of understanding with eBay. The company also added Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) to the list of direct-to-customer channels serviced by Digital Wine's WINEDEPOT DIRECT

It also allowed its shareholders to buy its products at better prices through its 'Insider Trading' wine club.

Finally, Digital Wine obtained official climate neutral status from Leaders for Climate Action.

What did management say?

Digital Wine's chair, Paul Evans, commented on the results that didn't manage to spur much excitement for the company's share price. He said:

It has been a year of further strong growth. We have accelerated organic growth in our WINEDEPOT LOGISTICS platform…

Our sales pipeline remains strong, notwithstanding a challenging environment for many of our customers stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the constraints on winery visitation and forced closures for on-premise operations…

The Company in a strong liquidity position and has the resources to execute its vision. We continue to consider a range of merger and acquisition opportunities. The key principles that must drive these is that they will either add value to our customer experience and/or drive efficiencies and scale in our core business.

What's next for Digital Wine?

Here's what those interested in the Digital Wine share price might want to keep an eye out for in FY22.

The company commented in its FY21 results that it expects to ship 1 million cases of wine in FY22. That would be a notable milestone that might have an effect on the Digital Wine share price.

Additionally, the company plans to develop WINEDEPOT's presence in Australia and New Zealand for the time being. Though, it eventually hopes to expand into other key markets.

In the future, Digital Wine might be updating the market on launches in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

The Digital Wine share price has gained 60% year to date. It is also, coincidently, 60% higher than it was this time last year.

The post Why the Digital Wine (ASX: DW8) share price wobbled today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares in the online beverage supplier have been buoyant after the company released a market update earlier today.

Let's take a look at what Digital Wine announced.

Market update fuels Digital Wine share price

The Digital Wine share price received a boost after releasing an exciting market update.

The company says it has successfully completed the acquisition of Parton Wine Distribution.  

In addition, Digital Wine noted plans to expand its presence in Adelaide by opening an additional warehouse in Edinburgh Parks.

According to the update, the new facility is a purpose-built wine bottling warehouse in Adelaide with storage and distribution features.

Digital Wine also notched up a new record. For the month of July, its Wine Depot logistics division shipped 30,468 cases.  

In addition, the company noted that 24 new suppliers have joined Wine Depot since the last company update.

Digital Wine also provided investors with an update on its integration with eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).

According to the update, the company expects its eBay and Amazon integrations to go live in August and September respectively.

The company's management also highlighted the latent demand despite COVID-19 induced lockdowns.

Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor said:

Despite the uncertainty and disruption associated with ongoing lockdown restrictions in NSW and Victoria, we have managed to sign up more than 300 venues and generate pleasing levels of orders. The feedback from users on both sides of our marketplace has been extremely positive and demonstrated there's latent demand for a solution like the one we've created.

Snapshot of Digital Wine

Digital Wine is an online beverage supplier that provides end-to-end supply chain solutions for wine producers, distributors, importers and retailers.

The company's Wine Depot business operates as a cloud-based software-as-a-service, providing a marketplace platform.

At the time of writing, the Digital Wine share price is trading more than 1.39% higher for the day at around 7.3 cents.

Shares in the online beverage company soared more than 8% higher earlier, having hit an intra-day high of 7.8 cents.  

The post The Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price storms 8% higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Digital Wine shares sank 6.1% to an intraday low of 7.6 cents at the opening of trade. Apart from a late morning rally they have stayed down and, at the time of writing, are trading hands for 7.7 cents a share.

How did Digital Wine perform in Q4 FY21?

Investors appear to be heading for the hills, selling Digital Wine shares despite the company reporting impressive numbers.

For the three months ending 30 June 2021, Digital Wine achieved $1.02 million in revenue from its WineDepot platform. This reflects a 33% increase on the prior quarter, and a mammoth 274% jump on the previous corresponding period (Q4 FY20). The outstanding result came on the back of strong orders received, along with a number of new suppliers.

WineDepot shipped a total of 75,377 cases throughout the fourth quarter, resulting in a 22% lift on Q3 FY21 (61,939 cases). That's also a significant increase compared to this time last year, when the business shipped 13,840 cases in Q4 FY20.

The average number of cases shipped per order stood at 2.33, however this will likely surge over the coming months. As WineDepot Market grows, trade buyers typically place larger orders than consumers, leading the volume of orders processed.

During Q4 FY21, the company acquired 68 new suppliers, bringing the total number of suppliers using WineDepot's platform to 375.

In addition, Digital Wine touched on some previous achievements that occurred during the quarter. This included securing a liquor licence to launch a wine club called Insider Trading. This is an invitation-only membership program that allows access to private tastings, dinners, master classes and other events.

Furthermore, Digital Wine's WineDepot went live in Melbourne and Sydney, offering a direct-to-trade marketplace for consumers. The company notably partnered with Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) for a buy now, pay later credit solution, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) for its logistics network.

Management commentary

Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor highlighted the company's strong performance, saying:

There's been a noticeable lift in our key metrics over the last 3 months as existing and new suppliers embrace new functionality offered via our platform, such as MARKET & DIRECT. The combination of the new revenue streams generated by these products together with very strong customer growth, generated organically and via strategic acquisitions, provides the basis for a very exciting year ahead in respect of revenue growth.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

In the past 12 months, Digital Wine shares have outpaced the broader All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) to post a 92.5% gain. So far in 2021, the company's share price is up 79%.

Based on today's price, Digital Wine presides a market capitalisation of roughly $128 million, with 1.6 billion shares on issue.

The post The Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price sinks 6% on quarterly report appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares in the company were placed in a halt late last week, having last traded at 9.1 cents. After being reinstated to the market, shares in Digital Wines dumped more than 14%, hitting an intra-day low of 7.7 cents.

At the time of writing, the Digital Wines share price has recovered slightly trading at 8.3 cents.

Investors were triggered after the company announced a strategic acquisition earlier today.

Shares in Digital Wines tank on strategic acquisition

Digital Wines announced to the market that the company intended to undertake a strategic acquisition of Parton Wine Group.

Parton Wine was established 14 years ago with more than 23,000 square metres of warehousing around Australia. The company is one of Australia's largest specialist wine and beverage logistics with over 200 unique suppliers.

In an investor presentation, Digital Wine highlighted that the acquisition would bolster its WINEDEPOT business. According to Digital Wine, the acquisition will provide a lift in key performance metrics and support the company's growth strategy.

As part of the acquisition, Parton Founder Richard Raddon will join WINEDEPOT's senior executive team as General Manager of logistics.

Digital Wine CEO, Dean Taylor, commented on the acquisition;

"Along with an immediate lift in key metrics, the acquisition provides us with another 225 customers that can be leveraged to drive further growth across our platform. The scale of the merged operation, overlaid with our investment in state-of-the-art technology, will undoubtedly help position WINEDEPOT as the market leading supply chain solution, focused on supporting the eCommerce shift in the wine industry.".

Digital Wine was able to raise $7,500,000 via a share placement at 6.5 cents. The capital raising was constructed as a two-tranche placement, with the funds used to fund the acquisition of Parton and support the company's growth strategy.

More on Digital Wine

Digital Wine is an online beverage supplier that provides end-to-end supply chain solutions for wine producers, distributors, importers and retailers. The company's WINEDEPOT business operates as a cloud-based software-as-a-service. The WINEDEPOT technology platform removes inefficiencies in supply chains and empowers direct-to-market sales.

In addition to details on the acquisition, Digital Wine also provided an update on its WINEDEPOT business.

The company highlighted that WINEDEPOT has completed the 2nd stage of its rollout in Melbourne. In addition, WINEDEPOT Logistics shipped record 27,000 cases in June. Digital Wine also noted that WINEDEPOT signed up 25 new suppliers and expects WINEDEPOT DIRECT to go live in July.

The post Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price dumps on acquisition appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Digital Wine shares are currently sitting at 9.1 cents a share. That's exactly where they ended up in yesterday's afternoon trading. And that's where they will be staying, at least for a while.

That's because Digital Wine announced it had requested a trading halt for DW8 shares just before market open this morning.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all we know at this stage.

All the company said on the matter was the following:

Digital Wine Ventures Limited… requests an immediate trading halt over the company's securities pending the release of an announcement in relation to a material acquisition and capital raising. The trading halt is requested until the earlier of commencement of trading on Monday, 19 July 2021, or the company releasing the announcement.

So it looks as though Digital Wine is undertaking an acquisition, which will be (either partly or fully) funded by a capital raising program. We will have to wait for more information from the company before we know much more.

About the Digital Wine share price

Digital Wine Ventures is an online-only retailer of alcoholic beverages, primarily wine (as its name suggests). While dabbling in bulk wine production and processing, its primary business is selling wine in the growing Asian wine market.

Last month, the company caused quite a stir of excitement when it announced it had formed a partnership with the e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN).

This deal will involve Digital Wine using Amazon's logistic and payments infrastructure and will enable wine suppliers to more easily enter the Australian marketplace. Investors reacted very positively to this news at the time.

At the current Digital Wine share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $149.9 million. Digital Wine shares are currently up 127.5% year to date, and a whopping 203% over the past 12 months. However, the Digital Wine share price is also down almost 50% since early April.

The post Why isn't the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price trading today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The price rise comes after the company released impressive sales figures for May and announced a new deal with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Let's take a closer look at today's news.

Why the Digital Wine share price is rising

May sales figures

In a statement to the ASX, Digital Wine Ventures said cases shipped in May were up 619% on the previous year to around 25,200. Shipped cases are also up on the previous month by 9.9%. However, this figure is still slightly lower than its March record of 25,300. The Digital Wine share price crashed on its lower sales in April.

The company also says approximately 11,700 orders were processed in May – up an impressive 23.4% on the previous month. Average cases per order did fall from 2.42 to 2.15.

Amazon deal

The second piece of news out today is a partnership with Amazon.

Digital Wine says it provides wine suppliers using Amazon's integrated trading, logistics, and payment solutions the ability to make their products available for sale on its Australian marketplace by simply clicking a single checkbox.

WineDepot, a Digital Wine subsidiary, will manage product storage and packing, according to the statement. Amazon's fulfilment network will then be utilised to deliver the products ordered on Digital Wine's marketplace to the customer.

The company says it expects to release further details on the partnership soon.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Digital Wine share price has increased more than 1,200%. However, it's down 50% since hitting a record high of 21 cents in mid-April. Last month, Digital Wine announced it would be expanding into the bBuy now, pay later (BNPL) industry.

Given its current valuation, Digital Wine Ventures has a market capitalisation of $179 million.

The post Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price jumps on bumper sales and Amazon deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The precipitous fall comes after the company provided an update on its trading during April.

Let's take a closer look at the announcement and what it means for the Digital Wine share price.

Digital Wine share price crashes on lower sales

In a statement to the ASX, Digital Wines says it sold just over 23,000 cases of wine in April. The company was at pains to point out that this figure is up 580% on the same time last year. However, sales are down 9.1% over March. Back in March, sales increased 540% month on month (MoM). However, orders processed in April are up 350% MoM compared to 504% MoM in March. From March to April, orders processed also fell 22.5% to around 9,500 orders.

Digital Wine largely attributed the fall in sales and orders processed in April to "the extended vintage preoccupying many winemakers."

Investors did not seem to be buying this, however, judging by the Digital Wine share price.

Other announcements

Along with the sales figure, Digital Wine also had another few announcements in today's update.

Firstly, 19 additional suppliers have signed with the company since its last update in March. This includes 14 producers and 5 importers/wholesalers.

Digital Wine also reports it has "soft launched" its direct-to-trade marketplace on its Wine Depot platform. First orders were delivered in Sydney and Melbourne last week. Over the next few weeks, the company will progressively roll out access to the trading floor in Sydney before making the platform available in Melbourne.

Finally, the company received a liquor licence allowing Wine Depot to sell alcohol to the general public. With the licence secured, Digital Wine will launch an invitation-only membership program called Insider Trading. Shareholders, staff, and suppliers will be able to purchase wine directly from the business at discounted rates.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Digital Wine share price has increased an astonishing 1,733.33%. In mid-April, shares reached an all-time high of 21 cents each.

Digital Wine Ventures has a market capitalisation of $176.3 million.

The post Why the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price is crashing 12% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The wine distributor advised that its subsidiary, WINEDEPOT, has partnered with ASX listed financial technology company Earlypay Ltd (ASX: EPY). Together, they will create a BNPL service for WINEDEPOT's business-to-business marketplace.

Let's take a closer look at the news released this morning.

New BNPL service

Digital Wine's WINEDEPOT is set to launch LIQUIDITY, its brand new BNPL service, in partnership with Earlypay.

LIQUIDITY will be accessible to businesses buying wine and other alcoholic products from the WINEDEPOT platform.

The company said its BNPL service will mean cost won't be a barrier to sales, keeping its average order value high.

LIQUIDITY will be backed by Earlypay's comprehensive credit insurance. The fintech company will also provide back-end technology and operational support for LIQUIDITY.

Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor said the BNPL service would make WINEDEPOT more appealing to businesses, as many aimed to simplify and stabilise their operating costs after the coronavirus pandemic.

Taylor said the average fine dining restaurant sourced alcoholic products from around 50 to 200 different suppliers, and suppliers often spent several days each month chasing overdue invoices. He described WINEDEPOT and its multitude of payment options as a "game-changer" for businesses and suppliers.

The agreement between WINEDEPOT and Earlypay will be in place for 3 years after LIQUIDITY's launch.

Earlypay will charge WINEDEPOT an initial implementation fee and monthly fees thereafter. The fees are said to be market-standard and not considered material to Digital Wine Ventures.

Digital Wine Ventures also advised it has scrapped its partnership proposal with Trevipay (formerly known as Multi Service Pty Ltd).

The Trevipay partnership was proposed before WINEDEPOT's launch. It would have seen WINEDEPOT providing its customers with credit as a service.

Commentary from management

Dean Taylor commented on Digital Wine's agreement with Earlypay, saying:

What attracted us to Earlypay is that they are an innovative Australian owned and operated company with 20 plus years of experience in supporting Australian businesses…

We know that credit terms are a critical element for success on B2B marketplaces and are excited to be able to partner with Earlypay to offer the Australian wholesale beverage market a much simpler payment solution.

Earlypay CEO Daniel Riley also commented on the agreement, saying:

We're really excited to support a fast growing and innovative business like WINEDEPOT as they use technology to reinvent the supply chain of Australia's wine industry. For many Australian businesses, managing cash flow is a challenge so we're proud to provide additional payment flexibility for marketplace buyers and facilitate early payment for suppliers. 

Digital Wine share price snapshot

The Digital Wine share price is having a roaring performance on the ASX in 2021. Today's news may just bring it another boost.

Currently, the Digital Wine share price is up 275% year to date. It's also up a mammoth 1,400% over the last 12 months.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $249 million, with approximately 1.6 billion shares outstanding.  

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The Digital Wine share price is currently trading at 18.5 cents, down 5.13% today.

Digital Wine Ventures is engaged in distributing premium wine and has been a key benefactor of the digital disruption to the global wine industry.

It also undertakes bulk wine production and contract wine processing. The company focuses on the Asian retail wine market. Digital Wine enables its customers in China to purchase wine from around the world through their personal computers, tablets, and mobile phones.

Digital Wine results

It's been a busy month for Digital Wine's WINEDEPOT brand. WINEDEPOT shipped 25,311 cases in March, up more than 550% on the same month last year (MoM) and 21.3% on February 2021. 

It processed 12,272 orders during March, up 504% MoM and 29.3% on January 2021. This equated to an average of 2.06 cases shipped per order.

It also signed up another 27 suppliers and appointed James Munn as chief operating officer (COO).

But the company had seen rapid drops in revenue from December until January, so the current results – while strong – are recovering on November's highs, leading to a slightly less exciting results period.

WINEDEPOT's 27 additional suppliers are almost entirely New Zealand and Australian based, with the majority in South Australia.

Digital Wine Venture's new COO

Digital Wine says its new COO, James Munn, is a "highly experienced" supply chain professional with more than two decades of experience in the warehousing and logistics sector.

He replaces former COO Steven Alexander, who has taken a general management role at Lineage Logistics.

Digital Wine Venture share price snapshot

The Digital Wine Ventures share price has been a high performer over the past 12 months, rising 1750%. It also increased 54% this month and 362.5% in 2021 so far.

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Digital Wine says the partnership with Bibendum Wine Co. will introduce WINEDEPOT to thousands of trade buyers. The company also announced that it would roll out its own delivery fleet.

The Digital Wine share price hit an intraday high of 19 cents this morning, up 31%. At the time of writing, shares are 27.5% higher, trading at 18.5 cents.

Let's have a closer look at today's news.

Bibendum and WINEDEPOT

The partnership between the two beverage suppliers means WINEDEPOT will stock a large part of Bibendum's portfolio. 

Bibendum represents 160 local and international wine producers and craft spirits. It will invite its customers to join the WINEDEPOT platform, offering a $250 voucher as an incentive. The voucher will have minimum spend restrictions and will have to be used within a time frame.

The companies will also link their IT systems so WINEDEPOT customer accounts can be opened easily. The integration of IT will delay the partnership until late April. However, Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor believes a faster uptake will offset any delay.

In return for its partnership with WINEDEPOT, Bibendum will have access to WINEDEPOT's logistics service, as well as a particularly large incentive: Should the partnership fulfil a number of achievements within 2 years, Bibendum will receive 20 million shares in Digital Wine.

These include Bibendum listing more than 280 products on WINEDEPOT and sending at least 4000 WINEDEPOT referral vouchers – of which at least 800 must be activated, thereby generating at least $800,000 in sales.

WINEDEPOT delivery fleet

Digital Wine also announced a partnership between WINEDEPOT and Direct Couriers.

The two companies will develop a dedicated WINEDEPOT delivery fleet for commercial customers. Deliveries will be dedicated to metro areas, allowing customers fast access to orders regardless of freight congestion.

Commentary from management

CEO Dean Taylor is excited about the potential the partnership with Bibendum has to fast-track WINEDEPOT's uptake.

Bibendum are without a doubt one of the most successful wholesale beverage businesses in Australia. You only need to look at the calibre of brands in their portfolio or speak with any major wine buyer to get a gauge on their position within the industry.

This partnership allows us to leverage Bibendum's unique product range, highly experienced sales force, long-term customer relationships and revered presence within the industry to drive rapid awareness of the benefits that our marketplace provides to trade buyers.

Bibendum founder and owner Robert Walters also welcomed the partnership.

I honestly believe that the wine and beverage trade has been crying out for an integrated trading, logistics and payment solution like WINEDEPOT market.

To play a key part in the launch of this revolutionary platform is exciting. It offers the potential of allowing us to service our client base at an even higher level, and this is one of the keys to our involvement.

Digital Wine Venture share price 

The Digital Wine share price has had a remarkable year so far, and today's news has brought only the latest boost.

On Friday, the company announced that WINEDEPOT had partnered with eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY), which saw its share price soar 27% by the close of trade.

With today's gain included, the Digital Wine share price is up 375% year to date. It is also up a huge 1800% over the last 12 months.

The company boasts a market capitalisation of around $241 million, with approximately 1.6 billion shares outstanding.

The post Why the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price has surged 31% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are charging higher:

AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL)

The AGL share price is up 2% to $10.38 after announcing plans to split into two businesses – New AGL and PrimeCo. New AGL will be Australia's largest multi-product energy retailer, leading the transition to a low carbon future. Whereas PrimeCo will be Australia's largest electricity generator, supporting the economy as the energy market evolves. Management believes the proposed separation will give each business the opportunity to execute their own respective strategies and growth agendas.

Digital Wine Ventures Ltd (ASX: DW8)

The Digital Wine share price has jumped 24% to 18 cents. This morning the wine-focused technology investment company announced that it has entered into a foundation agreement with Bibendum Wine. It is one of Australia's leading fine wine and beverage distributors. Under the partnership, Bibendum will list a substantial part of its portfolio of international and Australian wines and craft spirits on the company's Wine Depot market.

REA Group Limited (ASX: REA)

The REA Group share price has risen 3% to $141.41. This appears to have been driven partly by a broker note out of Credit Suisse this morning. In response to its plan to acquire Mortgage Choice Limited (ASX: MOC), the broker upgraded REA Group's shares from an underperform rating to a neutral rating.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

The Xero share price has climbed over 3% to $126.93. This is despite there being no news out of the cloud-based accounting platform provider today. However, on Monday, Xero was the subject of a bullish broker note out of Morgan Stanley. It retained its overweight and lifted its price target to $140.00. The broker appears pleased with the company's recent acquisitions of Planday and Tickstar.

The post Why AGL, Digital Wine, REA Group, & Xero shares are charging higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The news comes on the back of a remarkable month for the company that has seen its share price rise by an impressive 107%.

What's happening?

Shares in the company are at a standstill pending the release of an announcement regarding a material partnership agreement. 

The trading halt will remain until this Wednesday or when the company releases its news. Whichever comes first.

Investors will have to remain patient until the announcement is made. However, the Digital Wine share price has been performing well as of late.

Last week, the company signed a significant agreement with global giant eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY). The agreement will enable eBay shoppers to choose wines on its platform. They then are packaged and transported by Digital Wine's WINEDEPOT platform.

This follows a major international deal in February when Digital Wine announced a partnership with Vivino, the "world's largest wine app and marketplace". 

About the Digital Wine share price

Digital Wine is a Sydney-based company that invests in early-stage, tech-driven ventures that can potentially disrupt the global beverage market. To this end, the company's primary project is WINEDEPOT.

WINEDEPOT is engaged in the distribution of premium wine. It also undertakes bulk wine production and contract wine processing. The company's focus on the Asian retail wine market allows its customers in China to purchase wine from around the world. All at the press of a button from phones, tablets or laptops.

The Digital Wine share price has had a great year on the ASX, up 1,350% over the last 12 months. As such, the company currently boasts a market capitalisation of around $240 million.

The post Why the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price is on ice appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The online beverage distributor has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with online shopping giant eBay to partner with Digital Wine Venture's WINEDEPOT.

At the time of writing, the Digital Wine share price is up 50%, trading at 16.5 cents.

Let's look further into the potential eBay partnership.

WINEDEPOT and eBay

Under the MoU, eBay and WINEDEPOT will negotiate the terms of a partnership in which Australian wineries would be able to sell their products on eBay without an account of their own.

Instead, WINEDEPOT's trading platform, DIRECT, would enable wineries to list products on a range of channels, including eBay. WINEDEPOT would then pick, pack, and deliver wine orders made on eBay to customers.

Digital Wine Venture said this would allow eBay's 12 million monthly visitors to purchase from multiple wineries at the same time and take advantage of WINEDEPOT's same and next day deliveries in selected locations.

Commentary from management

Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor says he was confident a partnership with eBay would help local producers generate more sales. He also mentioned that, in time, the partnership could benefit international wine lovers as WINEDEPOT looks to begin overseas delivery.

eBay Australia's managing director Tim MacKinnon also commented on the MoU:

We know bushfires and COVID border closures along with limited venue capacities have left countless Australian businesses doing it tough.

eBay exists to create economic opportunity, which is why we're excited to partner with WINEDEPOT, enabling local wine producers – many of which are located in regional areas – to scale their online offering and giving their local regions a much-needed economic boost.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

The online beverage distributer's share price opened at just 11.5 cents this morning; it is currently trading at 16.5 cents.

The Digital Wine share price has had a great year on the ASX, up 312% year to date and up 1,550% over the last 12 months.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $182 million, with approximately 1.6 billion shares outstanding.

The post How eBay has sent the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price up 50% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

In comparison, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index is up only 0.7% in morning trade.

Let's take a closer look at what's sent the Digital Wine share price soaring today.

What did Digital Wine announce today?

In a statement to the ASX, Digital Wine announced a monumental 931% year-on-year rise in the number of wine cases shipped via its platform WINEDEPOT during February. The company confirmed that 20,864 cases of wine were shipped last month. The company also stated this was a 28% increase on January 2021.

In further good news for investors, 9,494 orders were processed in February. That's a 918% increase on February 2020 and a 32.4% increase on January 2021. The average amount of cases per order shipped is 2.2.

As well, the announcement detailed that 26 new suppliers are signing deals with the WINEDEPOT platform.

What is WINEDEPOT?

Digital Wine's WINEDEPOT aims to streamline wine and beverage distribution through technology. It is both a consumer-facing and business-to-business operation. Many of its customers are wine traders, as well as traditional retailers and consumers.

The company generates revenue through a mixture of market trading fees, channel management fees, logistics fees, subscriptions, and liquidity fees.

Digital Wine half-yearly report

For the 6 months ending 31 December 2020, Digital Wine recorded a net loss of $2.4 million. In the prior corresponding period (pcp) it was an approx. $830,000 loss.

A $14,000 gross profit in the pcp became a $60,000 loss. However, revenue was up 1041.8% on the pcp to total $991,000.

Losses from administration expenses were up 76% to total $815,000. Advertising expenses were up 247.7% totalling $265,000 for the half year.  Significantly, salaries and wages went from $66,00 in the pcp to $948,000. This equates to a 1,336.4% rise.

Digital Wine share price snapshot

This time last year, shares in the venture were trading at half a cent each. If an investor bought back then, they would be sitting on a jaw-dropping 1,760% increase on their investment.

Digital Wine has a current market capitalisation of $151.4 million.

The post Why the Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price is up an astonishing 18% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What is management clinking glasses to?

Described as "the world's largest wine app and marketplace", Vivino can be accessed via an app or online and has amassed 50 million users worldwide in 17 countries. Vivino's uniqueness lies in its recommendation feature to customers based on searches and purchases.

Through the partnership, WineDepot will offer access to Australian wineries without integrating Vivino's systems into the winery operations. Instead, as the company has now completed technical integration, WineDepot will manage and fulfil the orders itself.

The value-add for local wineries is the broader sales channels now offered through WineDepot's singular system. Reportedly, the partnership allows producers to generate higher margins due to the direct-to-consumer nature of the integration. This typically leads to higher margins than distributing to retailers.

CEO commentary

WineDepot/Digital Wine Ventures CEO Dean Taylor noted his excitement towards the new partnership and its possibilities. Significantly, the potential to help local producers unlock direct-to-consumer sales.

Mr Taylor went on to say:

In short, it's a symbiotic relationship that should accelerate the growth and expansion of both our businesses, not just here in Australia but hopefully over time in other major wine markets.

WineDepot has not supplied forecasts for the partnership given there are no minimum fees or maximum order limits involved. WineDepot will pay Vivino a fixed percentage marketing fee on each sale that a WineDepot-affiliated supplier makes through the platform.

Digital Wine share price like a fine wine

Over the past 12 months, the Digital Wine share price has aged like a fine wine, returning 400% to its shareholders. That must be a very palatable payoff for those holding Digital Wine shares.

The question is, will the next 12 months entail big, bold red days or champagne showers for shareholders?

The post Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price flies 13% higher on partnership deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Digital Wine share price has soared by more than 14% over the past month.

A growing customer base

Digital Wine aims to identify and invest in early-stage technology-driven ventures that have the potential to disrupt and digitally transform segments within the global beverage market. The company supports these ventures providing access to capital, expertise and share services.

Since its last company update, Digital Wines has racked up 16 new customers. The business recently acquired Wine Delivery Australia, which is presently being rebranded as WineDepot. Nearly half of the new customers gained through the acquisition are McLaren Vale-based wineries.

Commenting on this, CEO Dean Taylor said, "McLaren Vale is a prime example of how word of mouth, positive testimonials and customer referrals have helped us develop a dominating market share in a very short amount of time."

WineDepot shipped close to 25,000 cases in December 2020. December 2020 orders in total came in at 12,884, a 113% increase over November 2020.

The Wine Delivery Australia acquisition

Upon completion of the Wine Delivery Australia acquisition announced 30 November 2020, WineDepot added an additional 180 new brands to its platform. 

The essence of the Wine Delivery Australia service is to dispatch orders directly from cellar doors to customers. This saves money by cutting out the need for a mainstream carrier. This 'door-to-door' service was a new offering for WineDepot, enhancing the company's value proposition by breaking into new territory. 

Mr Taylor commented on the acquisition:

While it's a relatively small acquisition, I expect the synergies, value proposition improvements and customer relationships will generate a lot of value for DW8 shareholders in due course. It also shows the potential for us to accelerate the development of the WINEDEPOT business through carefully selected strategic acquisitions.

At the time of writing, Digital Wine shares are swapping hands for 4.8 cents. The current Digital Wine share price gives the company a market capitalisation of $74.99 million.

The post Digital Wine (ASX:DW8) share price rises as wine shipments boom appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

About Digital Wine Ventures 

Digital Wine Ventures identifies and invests in early stage technology driven ventures that have the potential to disrupt and digitally transform segments within the global beverage market and support them by providing access to capital, expertise and share services. WINEDEPOT is the company's coronership investment. 

WINEDEPOT is a cloud-based software-as-a-service technology platform that empowers direct-to-market sales. It provides value to customers by removing layers of inefficiency in the supply chain. The company operates a network of strategically located deposits servicing key markets, supported by bulk storage centres. Its depots are combined with a software offering that provides customers with direct-to-trade marketplaces, order management systems and smart logistics solutions.  

Company update 

On Monday, the WINEDEPOT business shipped a total of 9,749 cases in October, up 34% on the total cases shipped in September. WINEDEPOT also processed another record number of orders in October at 5,817, up 23% on the previous record breaking month in September. 

The WINEDEPOT platform also added 57 new brands to the platform including various Australian and New Zealand producers, craft spirit & beverage producers and wine distributors. 

Poised for growth 

Digital Wines is creating a springboard for growth for its WINEDEPOT business and goal to disrupt the global beverage market. The company's quarterly update, announced on 27 October, points to the series financial, operational and acquisition actions taken by management to secure its future growth prospects. 

On 14 October, it entered into an agreement to acquire Wine Delivery Australia Pty Ltd, a South Australia based fourth-party logistics provider servicing the wine industry to accelerate WINEDEPOT's growth. 

During the quarter, the company also successfully completed a $6 million capital raising to accelerate WINEDEPOT's growth strategy through the launch of its marketplace and expansion of smart logistic business required to support the marketplace. 

Furthermore, the company quadrupled its sales and market team with several new high profile executives joining the team. 

The Digital Wines share price has retreated slightly from its intraday high, and is trading up 8.7% at the time of writing.

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