Naked Wines Plc raised its full-year sales forecast on Thursday after revenue surged nearly 80% in the first half as more households ordered wine online during coronavirus lockdowns.
The online wine seller reported revenue of £157.1 million (€175.5 million) for the 26 weeks ended September 28, compared with £87.5 million (€97.8 million) a year earlier, and said it expected sales growth of 55% to 65% for the current year.
The business, developed by Majestic Wine, said that the positive trading momentum has remained into the start of the second half, adding that the company was 'mindful of significant levels of political and economic uncertainty'.
Naked Wines, which has a customer base across three markets - the United States, the UK and Australia - also reported a narrower first-half adjusted loss before interest and tax of £3.2 million, compared with a loss of £4.5 million a year ago.
"Naked Wines is a bigger, better business than it was twelve months ago," commented Nick Devlin, group chief executive. "The last six months have been a critical period in the development of the company. We have delivered exceptional growth and a permanent step change in scale and efficiency for the organisation.
"We have a business today that is not only larger, but structurally improved and ideally positioned to deliver sustained growth in the coming years."
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Devlin added that the most significant impact of COVID-19 on the Naked Wines business has been on the effect it has had on the consumer, who is now more willing to purchase wine online.
"Delivering transformative growth, against a backdrop of new working conditions required by COVID-19, has required us to rapidly solve a series of operational challenges," he said. "We have done this whilst maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and I am tremendously proud of the resilience, flexibility and capability displayed by our staff around the world."
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