Virgin Wines CEO Jay Wright has said the company is “disappointed” with its profitability performance as it reports a drop in its half year revenue.
The online wine retailers total revenue came in at £33.7 million in the six months to 31 December, down from £40.5m a year before.
According to Wright, this came as a result of a “difficult trading period”, which saw the business juggling rising inflation with the cost-of-living crisis and the busy run up to Christmas.
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He added that the period was “exacberated by one-off exceptional circumstances”, as it dealt with a backlog of orders at Christmas as a result of a new warehouse management system, as well as postal strikes and poor winter weather.
The revenue decline was also impacted by courier delivery cut-off dates as Virgin Wines Christmas orders had to be stopped a week earlier than usual, according to reporting by The Retail Bulletin.
However despite these challanges, Wright said its “underlying business model remains resilient as the consumer proposition continues to resonate strongly.”
“We are pleased to have attracted a significantly increased number of new customers onto our WineBank scheme, our strategic partnership with Saga has started promisingly and our other commercial partnerships continue to perform well.”
Virgin Wines said it gained 60,000 new customers in the trading period, while the Saga partnership saw a further 2,000 customers acquired during its launch.
He added that looking forward, “whilst being mindful of the pressures on the business, especially with regards to the high inflationary landscape, we remain confident in our future prospects, driven by the ongoing strength of the brand, our unique offering and loyal customer base.’’
