Wine retailer Majestic has announced a transformation plan which will see it focus on growth in its online arm, Naked, while releasing capital from its eponymous brand through store closures and sales.
The group said that since the acquisition of Naked in 2015 it has grown online sales to 45% of the total, with international representing 20%. Over that time Naked has doubled in size, with sales expected to exceed £175m this year.
It now intends to transition the business into one model and one management team, all under the Naked brand and increase spend on new customer investment, including a Naked face-to-face new customer recruitment channel.
This is expected to be funded by releasing capital from Majestic through a combination of migrating customers and stores to the Naked brand, asset sales and store closures.
Group chief executive Rowan Gormley said: “It is clear that Naked Wines has the potential for strong sustainable growth, and we will deliver the best results for our shareholders, customers, people and suppliers by focusing all our energies on delivering that potential.
“We also believe that a transformed Majestic business does have the potential to be a long-term winner, but that we risk not maximising the potential of Naked if we try to do both.
“Where we have no choice but to close stores we will aim to minimise job losses by migration into Naked.
“Therefore we have taken a decision to focus all of our capital and energies into delivering the long-term potential of Naked, and releasing value from Majestic. Our plans for doing this are well advanced, and we look forward to sharing the final details in June.”
