Category: Retail

Profit Warnings: They’re just not all made the same…

Crawshaw & Premier Foods warned on trading in Sept & Oct respectively: Negative profit (or sales) warnings are never good Nor are they neutral but, even if they are all negative, some are more negative than others Existential, business-model threatening warnings: See Monetise, Jessops, Blockbuster, Woollies etc. as existentially-challenged companies More recently, Crawshaw (high PER…

Tread carefully; recent FTSE rally inflates already hard-to-justify valuations

A stock picker’s market? Stock prices — when did 25x EPS & a 2% yield become ‘cheap’? Recent and regular profit warnings hint at a degree of fragility re. stretched valuations. Restaurant Group, Whitbread, Next, and Sports Direct have all seen their share prices come undone after being rated in the high-teens to mid-twenties on…

Innovation & brand extension in casual dining. Change is the only constant…

Innovation & Brand Extension in Casual Dining… Franco Manca opens in Debenhams Westfield, sharpens click & collect offer… The fast-growing Franco Manca might soon be opening concessions in up to 30 Debenhams sites, as highlighted in the retailer’s latest trading update (see 3rd last para – http://tinyurl.com/hgfqnt5) Debs’ Westfield White City store will shortly house…

Margin watch. Rising costs threaten profitability over the medium term…

Some costs are rising but the CPI isn’t… Labour & commodity prices up, CPI stuck at 0.3% The oil price has doubled in 3mths, sugar is +71% on a year, OJ is +41% Soybeans are +19% & even coffee, corn & pigs (+6%, +9%, +15%) cost more NLW and NMW are jacking labour costs by…

Langton eats Deliveroo

Langton looks at……….Deliveroo: Replete as it is with Generation Y talent, Langton Capital looks to have its finger on the pulse of the evolving UK restaurant industry. It was this commitment to the cause in mind, coupled with an unwavering passion for burgers, which led the team to sample the food on offer at online…

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