‘Something awry’ at Naked Wines as director quits and shares tank 

‘You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out,’ billionaire stock picker Warren Buffett once said.

Now investors in Naked Wines may be finding that advice –about how companies’ weaknesses can be exposed in a downturn – could be taken more literally than they would like.

A director quit yesterday after less than three weeks and the firm has launched a review of plans, prompting Wayne Brown, an analyst at Liberum, to comment: ‘Something has gone somewhat awry.’

As shares fell 37.7 per cent, or 54.7p, to 90.4p, Naked Wines said Pratham Ravi was resigning. 

He is an analyst with Florida investor Punch Card Capital, one of the largest shareholders, with an approximately 10 per cent stake.

Naked Wines also said it is trying to ‘address’ a credit facility that lets it borrow money from its banks. 

It comes after the Norwich company warned in June that retention rates had fallen from 88 per cent to 80 per cent in the last financial year. 

Days later the chief financial officer left. Shares fell 40 per cent that day, and are down more than 87 per cent in the last year.

Naked said: ‘The company is reviewing potential operational and financial plans for the next 18 months and will update on these alongside our trading update.’

This is due next month. Brown added: ‘This could imply a smaller business in the future and reining in ambitions, which makes sense considering how poor key performance indicators are.’