Majestic’s chairman bows out as revival ‘passes its tipping point’

Majestic Wine chairman Phil Wrigley today announced his departure from the retailer as it declared it was “past the tipping point” of its turnaround.

Wrigley, who oversaw the 2015 takeover of crowdfunding platform Naked Wines, will retire in August and be replaced by board member and Charles Tyrwhitt boss Greg Hodder.

Chief executive Rowan Gormley praised Wrigley’s contribution to Majestic’s revamp, which has so far involved overhauling staff pay and upgrading stores.

Those efforts helped offset a poor first half, marred by a botched marketing campaign, and deliver an 11.4% rise in sales to £465.4 million.

However, Majestic swung to £1.5 million pretax loss due to costs associated with the Naked Wines deal.

Gormley said the riskiest phase of its three-year revival plan was through, with the focus “now on execution rather than discovery”. A new app and website are on the way.

Majestic is yet to see any slowing in consumer spend caused by the rising cost of living, but Gormley acknowledged the trading environment remained “uncertain”.

Still, he reiterated a target to reach £500 million in sales by 2019 and said he was “confident about the medium term outlook”.