Naked Wines PLC on Thursday said its sales continued to fall in its third quarter, and it plans to axe jobs as part of a cost saving measure.
Shares in Naked Wines were up 6.6% to 55.41 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.
The Norwich-based online wine seller said trading over its third quarter, the peak quarter for the firm, was in line with company expectations. The company’s financial year runs to March 28.
In the quarter, constant currency sales fell 10% versus the prior year. Despite a drop, Naked Wines said that this was in line with expectations, showing an improving trend from an 18% drop seen in the first half of the financial year.
It said that quarterly adjusted earnings before interest and tax is expected to be between £3 million and £5 million, also consistent with expectations.
Chair Rowan Gormley said: ‘I’m delighted with how the team pulled together to deliver a well-executed peak trading season. As we saw at the half year, the reason sales are down on prior year is entirely due to a smaller repeat customer base reflecting lower investment in customer recruitment in the previous year. But for the first time we are seeing signs of new customer acquisition coming back to life which should support further improvement in the top line trend.’
However, Naked Wines also announced a further £7 million in cost saving actions.
‘Notwithstanding this, we have to recognise that we are a smaller company post Covid and our cost base has to reflect this. We have therefore taken the painful but necessary decision to reduce SG&A costs by £7 million per year, securing our profit potential. Sadly this means that we will be losing a number of valued colleagues who have been informed of our plans,’ Gromley said.
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