Delegat's Group has earned its biggest net profit to date.

Jim Delegat has upped his offer for Oyster Bay Marlborough Vineyards by 28 cents per share– now offering to pay $2.08 for each share in the grape grower.

The offer is 28 cents higher than the original offer of $1.80 when the takeover was launched last month and values the company at $18.7 million.

Wine company Delegat's Group has made a play for the 45% of Oyster Bay Marlborough Vineyards it does not already own.

Delegat's, majority-owned by Jim Delegat, has offered to pay $1.80 for each Oyster Bay share, with a alternative scrip offer for Australian and New Zealand shareholders of one Delegat's Group share for every Oyster Bay share.

The offer values Oyster Bay at $16.2 million and is outlined in a notice of intent for full takeover lodged with the NZX today.

Delegat’s profit, revenue and dividend payments are all on the rise, but the wine company’s share price stubbornly refuses to budge very far.

Currently sitting at the $2.50 level, the company’s share price has not changed all that much since reaching that mark soon after it listed in 2006, despite continued growth.

The impact of the recession must be driving people the world over to drink – and they are pouring New Zealand wines, the Delegat’s Group results show.

Profit from ordinary activities after tax attributable to shareholders is up a staggering 146% to $15.6m for the six month period to 31 December 2008.

“The banks are very pleased with us,” Jim Delegat says of his company.

Delegat’s profit revenue from ordinary activities increased 49% to $127.3m, from $85.5m generated during the same period in 2007.