Naked Wines has appointed former CEO Rowan Gormley as chairman of the board, with immediate effect. Gormley, who announced his departure from Naked in 2019, later returned as an advisor in 2022.

He will replace David Stead, who will step down as chairman and leave the board.

The news comes as the wine subscription company announced a delay to full-year results, which were scheduled to be reported on July 6. In a trading update, Naked reiterated previous guidance for the 53 weeks to April 3, with adjusted EBIT expected to be at the upper end of the £15-18 million guidance range. Meanwhile, sales are down 6-8% on a comparable basis. 

Naked said sales in the first quarter of the financial year have been below expectations, largely as a result of reduced levels of new customer recruitment.

As part of the board changes, Naked said that in order to deliver sustainable, profitable growth, the group needs to recruit new customers at a higher rate.

“Having founded Naked Wines in 2008 and built the business to nearly £200m of revenues, Rowan is well placed to support that goal,” the statement said.

Gormley, incoming chairman, said: “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.”

Gormley owns 1.8 million shares in the business.

Additionally, Jack Pailing has been appointed to the board, as an independent director. Pailing, represents Colebrooke Partners, which owns 368,116 shares.