Good morning, it's Paul here.
I hope everyone is coping alright with the extreme heat this week. My apartment is unbearably hot at the moment, so I had to abandon work yesterday by mid-afternoon.
Let's start today with an interesting results statement from yesterday.
Please see the header above for companies reporting today which I'll be covering here later.
Joules (LON:JOUL)
Share price: 249p (down 2.4% yesterday, at market close)
No. shares: 87.8m
Market cap: £218.6m
Annual Results - 52 weeks ended 26 May 2019
This "preppy" fashion brand is a bright spot in an otherwise rather grim sector. I was wondering how Joules was faring, after reading press reports that competitor Jack Wills looks to be in financial trouble, and might be offloaded by its private equity owner.
Maybe Joules should not be seen as "preppy". Doing some googling, it is mentioned when I search for preppy, but looking at the product & lifestyle imagery, Joules actually seems more focused on middle/upper-class families, outdoor activities & countryside lifestyles.
There's a useful results presentation slide pack here, which also includes lots of nice photos of the product, in lifestyle shots. Worth a look. Slide 17 is interesting, in that the group spends a bomb on marketing, £9.5m, which could help explain its brand appeal.
As you can see below the key P&L figures for JOUL look really good;
At 249p per share, that's a PER of 17.7 - rather expensive these days, for this sector.
Outlook - sounds reassuring;
We are pleased with the Group's performance to date in the early stages of our new financial year, with trading in line with our expectations.
Looking ahead, whilst the consumer retail environment is anticipated to remain challenging, particularly in the UK, the Board and I believe that Joules remains well-positioned for continued success both in the UK and our target international markets."
It sounds as if JOUL must be gaining market share from struggling competitors, perhaps? As weaker competition drops out of the market, and close stores, then that leaves more business for the survivors.
KPIs table - this is a really good idea, presenting some key metrics in 5-year tabular format. I'd like to see this adopted by other companies in their…
