Naked Wines sales skyrocket as online orders boom during pandemic
Revenue for the first two months of Naked Wines’ current financial year has soared, thanks to an increase in online orders for home delivery as Brits get through lockdown.
Naked Wines said revenue in the two months to the end of May rose 81 per cent, but stopped short of providing full financial guidance due to the unpredictable nature of the virus and a possible consumer downturn in the second half of the year.
Shares in the company bounced more than five per cent this morning as trading began.
Profit for the year to the end of March 2020 came in at £8.2m, versus a loss of £9.4m a year earlier. Revenue climbed 13.7 per cent to £202.9m.
Naked Wines also said its current chief financial officer James Crawford will be made managing director of the UK business, having been operating in the role on an interim basis since its previous occupant moved to another position in the firm.
“We entered the new financial year with good momentum as Covid-19 has influenced customer shopping behaviour and driven increased demand for the Naked Wines offer,” the company said.
Naked Wines had to temporarily halt orders at the start of lockdown, as Brits rushed to stockpile goods in anticipation of a mandated quarantine.
“Whilst predictions are harder than ever this year, I am excited about our plans for growth and confident that the mission of Naked to connect everyday wine drinkers to the world’s best winemakers is more relevant than ever,” said group chief executive Nick Devlin.
“I believe the enduring impact of Covid-19 will be to accelerate trends towards direct, online models in categories like wine and that Naked is well positioned to deliver the combination of quality, value and community customers are looking for.”
Naked Wines was acquired by physical retailer Majestic Wine for £70m in 2015, but was split off from the business last year. Majestic in turn was sold to US firm Fortress Investment for £95m in December.