Sula Vineyards Founder and CEO Rajeev Samant has increased his stake in the wine-maker, buying a total of 1.78 lakh shares for more than ₹3 crore through open market purchases between February 12 and March 9, according to market data reported by The Economic Times. The latest stake acquisition marks the first time Sula Vineyards promoter Rajeev Samant has bought additional shares in the company since the company's market debut in 2022. The shares bought by the promoter would be worth more than ₹2.7 crore at the stock's previous closing price of ₹152.70 apiece on BSE.
After the stake acquisition, Samant's shareholding in the company increased to 23.27%, up from the 23.06% stake held at the end of the October-December quarter of the ongoing financial year 2026. According to The Economic Times, the other promoters, Mia Samant and Margarita Samant, held 1.29% and 0.01% stake in the company at the end of the previous quarter respectively.
The shares of the company dropped nearly 7% to close at ₹142.54 apiece on Monday, as reported by The Economic Times. The stock has fallen around 19% in the past one month and more than 49% in the past six months. These declines reflect the challenging market conditions facing the wine industry and the company's recent performance issues.
India's largest winemaker reported a sharp decline in net profit for the fifth consecutive quarter for the October-December quarter of FY26, citing one-time tactical destocking in Karnataka as the key reason for the weak performance. According to The Economic Times, net profit fell 67.6% year-on-year to ₹9.1 crore, compared with ₹28 crore in the same period last year. Revenue declined 9.7% YoY to ₹195.7 crore from ₹216.6 crore a year earlier.
Commenting on the results, Rajeev Samant said, as reported by The Economic Times, "Q3 was a challenging quarter, with performance primarily impacted by one-time tactical destocking undertaken in Karnataka, our second-largest market, with the objective of right-sizing channel inventory and optimising working capital amid subdued demand in Bengaluru. Excluding the one-time destocking impact, our Q3 revenue was in line with last year."
