Clothing retailer Bonmarché (BON) has reached a fork in the road. After months of sluggish sales and a profit warning last December, this is the last set of annual results from current chief executive Beth Butterwick. Ms Butterwick announced her departure at the end of 2015, along with her intention to join high-street chain Karen Millen. Helen Connolly, a senior buying director for George at Asda, will take her place later in the year.
For the year to March, like-for-like sales squeaked out a 0.7 per cent improvement, with total sales up more than 5 per cent and online sales showing a 3.6 per cent rise. However, chairman John Coleman admitted it had been an "unusually difficult" year, as changing shopping tastes, along with a chilly summer, had prompted greater emphasis on the group's cost levels. This wasn't entirely successful: costs rose 7.8 per cent last year, gross margins contracted by 10 basis points and even underlying pre-tax profits (which exclude one-off expenses) plunged by nearly 15 per cent to £10.6m.
Cantor Fitzgerald expects pre-tax profits of £12m for the year ending March 2017, leading to EPS of 18.8p, compared with £10.6m and 15.7p in FY2016.
BONMARCHÉ (BON) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 131p | MARKET VALUE: | £65m | |
| TOUCH: | 126-135p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 317p | LOW: 120p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.5% | PE RATIO: | 8 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 64p | NET CASH: | £12.4m | |
| Year to 26 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013* | 147 | 4.8 | na | nil |
| 2014 | 164 | 8.0 | 23.4 | 2.1 |
| 2015 | 179 | 12.4 | 20.7 | 6.8 |
| 2016 | 188 | 9.6 | 16.1 | 7.1 |
| % change | +5 | -23 | -22 | +5 |
Ex-div: 23 Jun Payment: 5 Aug | ||||
