Naked Wines reported a widened loss and sales decline in its half-year results, as it seeks to return the company to growth.
The retailer pulled in a pre-tax loss of £9.7m in the six months to 2nd October, compared to £200,000 the year before.
Adjusted EBIT for the company plunged more than 50% to £2.2m.
Total sales plummeted 20% to £132.3m, with the wines specialist blaming the slump on a reduction in repeat customer sales, which slipped 16%.
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Going forward, Naked Wines said it would “continue to drive toward sustainable profitability” and lower costs while moving towards cash generation.
The company insisted “a lot of good work has already been done” and it predicts it will “outlay £50m less cash on inventory” in its 2024 financial year as well as £38m less in 2025.
Naked Wines executive chairman Rowan Gormley said: “We are moving towards a period of sustained cash generation. We have taken out £3m of cost with £10m more to come and expect to generate £40 to 50m of cash from inventory over the next 18 months.
“In addition we have made good progress with testing an enhanced customer proposition to restore us to growth.”
The results come after the retailer lowered its full-year guidance last month, due to “weaker than anticipated” US sales.
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