The CEO of Naked Wines has admitted the company has made mistakes in pursuit of rapid growth, as the firm shakes up the board and makes redundancies.

In an operational and financial update, issued today, CEO Nick Devlin said: “We recognise that in pursuit of rapid growth we have made mistakes. Whilst the business today remains materially bigger than pre-pandemic, in 2021 we bought inventory and added to our cost base in anticipation of sustained growth which has not been delivered; today we are taking steps to reset our cost base and unwind inventory levels.”

Devlin said the operating environment remains challenging, with low consumer confidence and high levels of supply chain inflation.

As part of the plan, the company said it will reduce marketing activity and it has restructured teams in a bid to “create a leaner and more focused organisation”.  A spokesperson for Naked Wines confirmed to Drinks Retailing there were 30 redundancies across the Naked Wines group (c.6%).

Also today, Naked announced the immediate departure of Darryl Rawlings, who will step down as chairman of the board. He will be replaced by David Stead. The board is also in discussions with James Crawford to assume the CFO role on a permanent basis.

The company has revised down revenue guidance for full-year 2023.