Naked Wines finance boss quits in wake of sales alert

Naked Wines has confirmed its chief financial officer has quit just a month after seeing its shares tumble by almost 40%.

The wine retailer said Shawn Tabak left the company “by mutual agreement”, stepping down on Friday last week.

It follows a sales alert from the group, which predicted sales could fall by up to 4% in the year to the end of March 2023 as it warned customers were tightening their belts during tough times.

The company said last month it expects to only break even on an underlying earnings basis, which sent shares plummeting.

Mr Tabak will be replaced provisionally by the current managing director of the UK division, James Crawford, but the group said his board position will not be filled.

Mr Crawford served as chief financial officer for five years until November 2020 and will be returning to the role temporarily until June 2023.

Chief executive Nick Devlin said Naked Wines had achieved strong growth during Mr Tabak’s time as chief financial officer.

“During his time at the company we have achieved significant growth which we have consolidated in our most recently completed fiscal year”, Mr Devlin said.

But last month he shut down expectations of any further growth in what’s expected to be a difficult year ahead.

Mr Devlin said at the time: “Naked Wines is well positioned to continue to grow amidst a changing consumer environment.

“At the same time, we will not pursue growth at any cost, and our guidance is that we intend to trade the business at or around breakeven this year.”

Shares in Naked Wines fell by another 4% on Monday following the announcement of Mr Tabak’s departure.