Majestic Wine crowdfunding platform achieves £100m annual sales

Wine crowdfunding platform Naked Wines was eyeing up an exceptional financial year on Tuesday, breaking through the £100m annual sales barrier for the first time.

The AIM-traded Majestic Wine, which owns and operates the Naked platform, said the milestone had been achieved since the start of the current financial year on March 31 2015.

It had been on a drive to recruit ‘angel’ customers by providing direct access to independent winemakers through divisions in the UK, US and Australia, and now had more than 300,000 ‘mature angels’, who had supported winemakers through Naked for at least four months.

The achievement was in line with market expectations for the year ending 28 March, the company’s board confirmed.

"Hitting this latest milestone proves once again that crowd-funded, social wine distribution can deliver brilliant outcomes for all our stakeholders at the same time - from those who pick the grapes to those who discover and drink our wines,” said Majestic Wine chief executive Rowan Gormley.

“We'd like to thank our angels for being part of the Naked Wines' journey so far and supporting independent winemakers whilst discovering some fantastic wines,” he added.

“We will continue to invest in Naked Wines and remain very excited about the opportunities ahead for the whole group."