Strategy & Operations » Leadership & Management » Naked Wines secures $60m credit facility and announces CFO succession

Naked Wines secures $60m credit facility and announces CFO succession

Naked Wines , the online wine retailer known for its innovative business model, has announced two significant strategic developments aimed at strengthening its financial position and ensuring continued growth.

The company has completed a new credit facility agreement with PNC Bank, N.A., one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States. This new facility replaces the previous arrangement with Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank.

The key terms of the new facility include:

  • Facility Size and Security: A headline facility size of $60 million, secured against global wine assets, with available liquidity based on inventory holding value.
  • Term: A five-year facility term.
  • Interest Margins: Margins dependent on facility headroom, ranging from SOFR plus 2.75% to 3.25%.
  • Financial Covenant: A single financial performance covenant requiring fixed charge cover to be greater than 1.2x, tested only if outstanding available liquidity drops below $12 million.

The new facility brings several advantages over the previous arrangement, such as increased liquidity availability due to a higher advance rate and no minimum cash holding requirement. Naked Wines expects an increase of $25-30 million in unconstrained liquidity based on current inventory levels, which will enhance the company’s capacity to support trade and financial creditors. Additionally, the facility reduces interest costs and offers greater operational flexibility by reducing the number of financial covenants from three to one.

“I’m pleased to have agreed this new facility with PNC Bank and welcome them on board as our new financial provider. The new facility proves the strength of Naked’s balance sheet and business outlook while reinforcing our liquidity and ability to invest in bringing the best wines to our customers,” said Rodrigo Maza, CEO of Naked Wine.

Craig Stillwagon, Executive Vice President at PNC Business Credit, added, “We are delighted to support Naked Wines’ goals and growth needs through this new credit facility. We look forward to continuing to support the company with financial products and strategies that can help deliver differentiated value to its customers.”

CFO Succession Plan

Following the finalisation of the new credit facility, Naked Wines has announced that James Crawford, its Chief Financial Officer, will step down in the autumn of 2024. This decision aligns with the two-to-three-year incentive arrangement agreed upon when Crawford re-joined the Board as CFO in 2022. Crawford has played a pivotal role in strengthening the company’s financial position over the past year.

Crawford will oversee the completion of the FY24 audit and the presentation of the results before his departure. Naked Wines has already begun the recruitment process for a successor and expects to have a new CFO in place by the time Crawford leaves.

“James has been with the Company for over 10 years, as both CFO and a period as Managing Director of Naked Wines UK. During his tenure, Naked has grown from annual revenues of £40 million to £290 million in FY24. James’ leadership and expertise have been invaluable in navigating that growth and the subsequent challenges,” said Rowan Gormley, Non-Executive Chairman of Naked Wines.

CEO Rodrigo Maza echoed these sentiments, stating, “James has made an outstanding contribution to the business and has been instrumental in setting the platform for success we now have. His counsel and experience will be missed. I wish him the very best for the future.”

Crawford reflected on his time at Naked Wines, commenting, “I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved in the decade I’ve been at Naked. We’ve grown the business by an order of magnitude, overcome some significant challenges, and created an organisation that I believe can thrive for a long time to come.”

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