Constellation Slows Down Acquisition Pace

By Rachel Ward

Fairport, NY – Constellation Brands, the Fairport-based wine and spirits company, held its meeting with investors Wednesday.

The company says it's moving away from an aggressive acquisition strategy to focus on making its operations more efficient.

George Conboy is the president of Brighton Securities. He says the transition away from acquisition is "a very sensible move," and that it shows the company is maturing.

"Having Constellation take a few moments to pause and to digest would be a sensible thing for a company of their size, and the kind of the growth they have had. Constellation has grown enormously over the years, primarily because of acquisitions. And when you bolt together that many different brands, it makes quite a bit of sense to try to take some costs out of the pipeline, make things run more smoothly, and not spend as much time on acquisitions."

Constellation CEO and president Rob Sands says over the near term the company is going to focus on improving profitability, increasing efficiency, and paying down debt

In the past six weeks, Constellation has seen an uptick in sales of its "premium" brands. The firm says that's a sign of economic recovery as consumers move away from "value" brands - but it's still cautious going into the high-volume holiday season.