Naked Wines, the online wine retailer based in London, has announced a widened pretax loss for the first half of its fiscal year 2024. The company attributes this loss to reduced investment in acquiring new customers amidst a challenging business environment.
Financial Performance
For the six months ended October 2nd, the company reported a pretax loss of £9.7 million. This represents a significant increase compared to the loss of only £200,000 for the same period in the previous year. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), which exclude exceptional and other one-off items, also declined by 52% from £4.6 million to £2.2 million. Naked Wines expects its full fiscal year adjusted EBIT to range between £2 million and £6 million.
Revenue Decline
The company's revenue fell by 20% to £132.3 million during this period, as all markets experienced a decline.
Future Outlook
Despite these challenges, Executive Chairman Rowan Gormley remains hopeful. He stated, "We are moving towards a period of sustained cash generation. We have already reduced costs by £3 million, with an additional £10 million in cost savings expected. Furthermore, we anticipate generating £40-50 million in cash from inventory over the next 18 months. Additionally, we have made significant progress with testing an enhanced customer proposition that will propel us back into growth."
Naked Wines aims to restore its business to profitability and capitalize on potential opportunities in the market.
