Profit plummets at Virgin Wines after tough Christmas

Christmas proved rough for Virgin Wines, which revealed yesterday it had lost around £1.5m in revenue because it had to cut off festive sales a week earlier than usual amid software problems in its two warehouses. A cold snap that snuck in across the UK in December also created challenges, as did the widespread postal strikes during the month. The company’s pretax profit was almost obliterated, hitting just £90,000 in the six months to the end of December from £3.2m the year before. It came as revenue also dropped off significantly, falling by 17 per cent to £33.6m. The company said: “The business is currently undertaking a full business review to ensure we are fully leveraging the opportunities available to us and that we are positioned as positively as possible for future growth and profitability.”