Naked Wines CEO eyes growth despite 14% revenue drop

Despite Naked Wines’ revenue plummeting by 14% according to its FY25 trading results, its CEO claims the wine retailer has taken “big steps” to stabilise the business and rebuild the team.

Naked Wines has reported a year-on-year revenue drop of 14% in its latest trading results, but the firm claims this is in line with management expectations.

Overall, revenue plummeted to £250.2m in FY25, while the gross profit margin stayed largely flat at 18.4%. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding inventory liquidation and associated costs, slid by 23% to £6.7m (FY24: £8.7m).

Furthermore, the statutory loss before tax only bottomed to £4.9m, versus FY24 loss of £16.3m, reflecting the £9.9m impairment costs in prior year.

Commenting on the results, Naked Wines CEO Rodrigo Maza said the company had taken “big steps” to stabilise the business, rebuild the team, and ground its strategy in data and insight. 

‘Exciting year’ ahead

He said: “We’ve announced a clear disciplined plan to reach in excess of £70m cash.  We are already executing with more focus, more discipline, and more conviction than ever. And while there’s still  work to do, I genuinely believe we have built the platform to take Naked to the next stage of growth; FY26 will be  an exciting year.” 

The online wine retail also made progress in reducing its excess inventory, which was down £37m at £108m (FY24: £145m); supported by inventory liquidation costs of £6.5m.

The company reported that net cash, excluding lease liabilities of £30.1m up £10.5m on prior year (FY24: £19.6m), while positive free flow cash stood at 18.5m versus £6.7m for prior year, primarily driven by inventory reduction.

The past few years have seen the Norwich-based firm shake up its management team to bounce back from excessive drops in expected revenues. Last year, Rodrigo Maza took to the help of the Norwich-based firm as CEO, after former boss Nick Devlin left the role with immediate effect in November 2023. Dominic Neary, formerly of Gym Mind, also joined the C-suite as CFO.

He said: “We are now seeing what is underneath after the customers attracted during the pandemic have receded. Building on this by convincing old and new customers to stay will provide lenders and shareholders confidence to support the company through the peaks and troughs that are driven by external factors such as the pandemic.”

Senior team shakeup

In April 2025, Rowan Gormley, founder of Naked Wines, also exited the company, as interim chair Deidre Runnette rolled out a new transformation strategy. Jack Pailing took his place as non-executive chair in July.

In 2024, the retailer issued a performance review after revealing sales slid 15% in the first half of the year to £112.3 million.

However the company noted that early peak season trading had been “solid” with liquidity and cash continuing to improve, and the performance was in line with previous guidance for the FY25.

The statutory loss before tax was reported as £5.6m, compared to 2023’s first half loss of £9.7m, while liquidity also improved to £22.9m, up from £20.1m in the same period the previous year.

Rocky results

In August 2023, the company reported a pre-tax loss of £16.3m for the 12 months to 1 April 2024 up on £15 million on the 2022/2023 financial year, with sales down 18% to £290 million and repeat business also a quarter on the previous year to to £65 million. 

The company appointed debt advisors in March 2024, to explore refinancing options and assess a possible restructuring of the wine company following the value of Naked shares plummeting by nearly a third over the last 12 months.

In December 2023, Gormley significantly upped his stake in the firm by snapping up £7,700 worth of shares in the firm. This was the second round of shares Gormley bought, after he and other senior board members snapped up a significant number in early November following a fall in the value of share after the company announced it was reducing its revenue expectations for full-year to -12% to -16%. 

Three of the then leading team members collectively invested £75,000 in the company’s stock at the time.

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