Naked Wines PLC on Tuesday said Chair David Stead will step down after just nine months in the role.

Shares in Naked Wines fell by 5.1% to 93.90 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

The Norwich-based online wine seller said the move comes as it looks to ‘deliver sustainable, profitable growth.’

Naked Wines has appointed Rowan Gormley as Stead’s successor, who commented: ‘My thanks to David and the team for executing a challenging transition in a turbulent market. With a proven ability to deliver profit we now progress to the next stage, and develop plans to deliver profitable, sustainable growth. I am excited to return to a much larger business that has an exciting future ahead and I look forward to working closely with the reshaped board to deliver on Naked’s full potential.’

This comes after the company appointed UK Managing Director James Crawford as Chief Financial Officer back in December after Shawn Tabak stepped down in July following a stark sales warning. Meanwhile, Chair Darryl Rawlings left the company in October with immediate effect and was replaced by Stead.

The company also announced on Tuesday the publication of its audited results for the year ended April 3 has been delayed, but provided no further details.

Naked Wines reiterated its guidance for the year ended April 3, which includes revenue of around £350 million, unchanged from revenue in financial 2022 of £350.3 million. The company added sales in the first quarter of financial 2024 were below expectations, largely due to reduced levels of new customer recruitment. If current trends continue, full-year sales would be around £300 million, Naked Wines said.

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax is expected to be between £15 million and £18 million, an increase from £5.6 million the year before. Naked Wines also expects closing cash for financial 2023 of £10 million, with £49 million total liquidity.

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