The past six months have been tough for home furnishings and fashion retailer Laura Ashley (ALY). Comparable retail sales fell 2.2 per cent, thanks to a double whammy of cold weather at the start of the period which knocked spring clothing sales, and the summer heatwave later on, which kept shoppers away in July, the key trading period for the home furnishings segment.
This left group underlying pre-tax profit down 6 per cent to £7.8m, but while finance director Sean Anglim admits that blaming the weather sounds like an excuse, he insists that home furnishings, which accounts for 80 per cent of turnover, was trading positively until the end of June, when the warm spell set in, while the hot weather came too late to improve fashion sales, which slumped 6.9 per cent.
E-commerce sales disappointed too, falling from £20.4m to £19.7m, compared with 20 per cent growth last year, although demand picked up in the second quarter. In the UK, retail sales fell 5.9 per cent to £120m, and overseas, licensing revenue from franchisees fell 3.6 per cent. So far in the second half, home furnishings has traded well, but fashion continues to struggle.
Cantor Fitzgerald has downgraded full-year forecasts by 5 per cent and expects flat pre-tax profit of £20m and EPS of 2.04p.
| LAURA ASHLEY (ALY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 25p | MARKET VALUE: | £183m | |
| TOUCH: | 24.3p-25p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 29.5p | LOW: 22.5p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 8.2% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 7p | NET CASH: | £17.8m | |
| Half-year to 27 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 145 | 8.3 | 0.85 | 1.0 |
| 2013 | 137 | 7.4 | 0.76 | 1.0 |
| % change | -6 | -11 | -11 | - |
Ex-div: 2 Oct Payment: 30 Oct | ||||
