After talking up the vast potential of Naked Wines for a decade, it seems somewhat cruel that Rowan Gormley was not at the helm of the business he founded when its sales really started to fizz.
With bars and restaurants shut, sales at the online wine merchant have soared by 76% over the past four months, putting Naked firmly in the Covid-19 winners’ enclosure.
Although he has moved on, that must taste sweet for Gormley, who encountered plenty of naysayers in the City before stepping down as chief executive last November. The South African passed the baton to Cambridge graduate Nick Devlin, his 35-year-old protégé. Can Naked’s new boss turn a short-term boom into long-term gains?
Gormley, 58, was something of a maverick in the