Maggie Beer’s retail empire has recorded a $9.53 million full-year loss after a website migration caused a sharp drop in online traffic during the Christmas trading period.

Maggie Beer Holdings share their latest financial report, and revealed that while it was an improvement on the $14.2 million loss recorded the previous year, revenue fell slightly to $75.7 million.

The biggest setback came after the company moved its hampers and gifts website to Shopify in June last year.

The change was followed by a significant fall in Google search rankings, with organic website traffic dropping by up to 38 per cent.

The company spent about $800,000 on emergency advertising in an effort to bring shoppers back to the site, but hamper sales still fell by 6.3 per cent.

There were brighter results across the company’s supermarket business, with Maggie Beer Products recording an 8.2 per cent increase in net sales.

Demand for staples including stocks and cheese, along with the launch of a new crackers range, helped drive the growth.

Maggie Beer Holdings also finished the financial year debt-free, with $1.9 million in cash and an unused NAB credit facility.

Chair Mark Lindh acknowledged the overall result was disappointing but said the business had made progress in several areas.

“The overall FY26 result is not where we want it to be,” he said.

“However, the underlying business improved across a number of key financial measures with a better gross margin, a smaller trading loss, a materially reduced statutory loss, no debt and a stronger balance sheet.

“This provides the right platform to focus more fully on strategic growth opportunities and operational priorities, particularly margin improvement, cash generation and a return to positive EBITDA trading.”

Beer is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the business but remains a shareholder.

The company has appointed Chris Illman as its new managing director. Illman previously held senior roles at Bickford’s, Kraft Foods International, Foster’s Group and Southcorp Wines.

“Chris has made a strong contribution to the Board since joining in November 2025 and brings deep FMCG and customer experience to the executive leadership of the group,” Lindh said.

“He takes on the role of managing director to lead the company into the next phase of its strategy.”

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