Naked Wines Christmas trading in line with expectations

Naked Wines announced on Thursday that Nick Devlin has taken over the role of chief executive following the retirement of Rowan Gormley, as it said trading over the Christmas period was in line with expectations.

The company, which recently changed its name from Majestic Wine and switched to being an online only business, said trading over the 10 weeks to the end of December was "within the range of expectations". Underlying revenue for the continuing business was up 11% on the same period a year ago, while total gross margin was up 1 percentage point due to a higher proportion of repeat customer sales.

Naked Wines said investment in new customers for the year is expected to be at the lower end of the £20m-25m range indicated at the interims, reflecting disciplined investment to maintain payback at its 4x target. The lower investment will flow through to higher profit in the year, it said.

Devlin said: "The team have worked hard over the Christmas period and delivered a good performance. With the important Christmas season behind us, we are now acutely focused on executing our plans and achieving our huge growth potential.

"Rowan leaves the business in great shape. We have the internal capability, clarity of purpose and financial resources to push ahead with our growth plans and deliver value for customers and shareholders alike."

At 1240 GMT, the shares were up 0.5% at 225.50p.