Virgin Wines starts review of business as profits plunge

VIRGIN Wines will conduct a review of its business after profits plunged as tech issues and postal strikes hurt its Christmas trading.

The wine company said it would focus on growing its UK market share and avoid buying other companies after pre-tax profits fell to £100,000 for the second half of 2022.

Jay Wright, chief executive, said the review would not be “a cost-cutting exercise”, however. He added: “It’s not about selling anything or changing the ownership structure at all.”

He said shoppers’ behaviour had changed significantly since the company floated two years ago. They were spending less on non-essentials.

Mr Wright added: “The world was in a very different place … It’s about making sure that we can take advantage of any opportunities we think we’ve got to grow the business moving forward and drive revenue growth and drive profit.”

Pre-tax profits at the wine delivery company plunged from £3.2m to £100,000 over the six months to Dec 30 2022, Virgin Wines said yesterday, as revenues fell by £7m to £33.6m.