Naked Wines’ CFO departs role immediately after wine seller’s gloomy sales forecast
Naked Wines has said its chief financial officer has left his position immediately by mutual agreement, following a bleak sales forecast from the online wine seller.
The London-listed company said Shawn Tabak, who held the position of director as well as the top finance job, departed his roles last week on 22 July.
Former CFO James Crawford has taken on the job on an interim basis through to June 2023, after serving in the role from April 2015 to November 2020.
“Shawn’s experience in leading finance organisations in high-growth U.S. environments has been valuable. During his time at the company we have achieved significant growth which we have consolidated in our most recently completed fiscal year,” Nick Devlin, chief executive officer, said.
The company’s shares sunk five per cent on Monday afternoon, with its price down some 80 per cent in the past year.
It comes after the retailer issued a stark sales warning last month, cautioning investors that sales could tumble by as much as four per cent in the year to the end of March.
Naked Wines would “not pursue growth at any cost,” Devlin said, with the company intending to trade “at or around breakeven this year.”
The wine boss said this was the “responsible balance to strike” in the 2023 financia year.
Naked Wines had to be “mindful of the levels of macro-economic uncertainty but also of the opportunities we see ahead and the potential for disruptive models like ours to gain traction in tough times as consumers reevaluate their purchasing choice,” Devlin added.
In full-year results posted at the end of June, the retailer revealed that total sales had increased five per cent year on year to £350.3m.
The company’s ‘Active Angel’ subscriptions swelled by nine per cent to 964,000, versus the previous year.