Micheal O Brien’s Post

'5 ways M&S has driven bumper profits 📈💰 How has M&S defied challenging market conditions to deliver remarkable results? 💪🚀 #ProfitGrowth #BusinessStrategy #MandS' by Retail Gazette about Marks and Spencer

The Hot Sale Going on at Department Stores: Their Shares Private buyers might have more stomach for the struggling retail sector than jaded stock investors. They do, however, own valuable real estate, well-recognized names and wide customer bases—things that investors without the glare of quarter-to-quarter scrutiny think they can squeeze more value out of. Macy's and Nordstrom are the subject of such take-privates right now. Markets aren’t quite convinced these deals will materialize: Macy’s shares are changing hands at about $18 a share, well below the $24 that ARKHOUSE and Brigade Group offered. The prospective buyers even said they may raise that offer if they like what they see during due diligence. Nordstrom’s shares rose as much 18% in the days following Reuters’ report that the Nordstrom family is considering a take-private. The company’s stock is now up 6.7%. Some skepticism is warranted. Both targets were the subject of such take-private efforts in 2017, and neither succeeded because investors had difficulty lining up financing. Interest rates today are much less favorable. One thing potential acquirers do have working for them, though, is just how cheap department stores are today. Shares of Macy’s and Nordstrom trade around a fifth of their respective forward-12-month revenues, while shares are valued at about a sixth of their forward revenues. Since 2010, revenue at listed department stores—Kohl's, Nordstrom, Macy’s and —has lagged behind inflation, collectively growing at an average compound annual growth rate of 0.4%. Sales at off-price retailers The TJX Companies, Inc., Burlington Stores, Inc. and Ross Stores, Inc., meanwhile, have eaten their lunch with average growth of 7.4% since 2010. Over the last decade, shares of Macy’s and Nordstrom have lost about 70% of their value. Is there even a public investment case for department stores? Many industry analysts say the business is in secular decline, losing share to off-price retailers such as T.J. Maxx and Burlington Stores, #ecommerce, and the #apparel #brands themselves, many of which have shifted to bypassing #departmentstores in favor of direct sales. Jinjoo Lee The Wall Street Journal

Marks and Spencer clothing and home sales soared in the third quarter as a result of reduced promotions, which CEO Stuart Machin put down to the retailer's commitment to hold firm on prices. Read more #retailnews #fashionnews

Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Saturday, March 9: 👰🏽 Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has announced its entrance into the wedding category. The A&F Wedding Shop consists of over 100 items aimed at brides, bachelorettes and wedding guests. 🪪 Costco Wholesale is keeping its membership fees at their current prices, a move that may allow customers to breathe a sigh of relief — for now. The retailer, however, did not rule out a future hike. 🏦 The New York Stock Exchange has moved to delist apparel retailer EXPRESS, Concerns about the company’s long-term financial health have continued to surface over the last year. 🫧 Procter & Gamble is rolling out what it hopes will be the future of detergent: liquid-free squares. P&G says the soft, white-woven tiles, which it is calling Tide evo, clean better than the dose of bargain liquid detergent 💰 Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy sold $9 million worth of his company’s stock this week, in what one expert sees as a potentially “cautious” data point for investors. 🚚 American Eagle has ‘refocused’ its logistics arm. The retailer faced $98.3 million in impairment and restructuring charges from Quiet Platforms in Q4 as it adjusted to reduced e-commerce fulfillment demand. 👖 When it comes to Gap turnaround, all eyes are on CEO Richard Dickson, who arrived in July last year. The company has moved in the right direction but the road to recovery remains a long one. 🔌 UK electricals retailer Currys plc has received approval to sell its Greek business arm, Kotsovolos, to Public Power Corporation for £179m. The transaction is expected to be completed in April. 👠 Prada Group's net revenue rose 17% to €4.73bn last year, driven by strong demand for products such as its brushed leather loafers and Miu Miu pumps. Miu Miu, known as a trend-setter, saw an 82% jump in retail sales. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 High Street businesses in England are facing a double blow of higher property taxes and wages. Business rates will increase by 6.7% on April 1, costing firms an additional £1.7bn. 🏋🏻♂️ Luxury gym chain Equinox has raised $1.8bn to avert a cash crunch. The indebted New York fitness group needed to refinance $1.2bn in debt after pandemic closures led to a liquidity crunch. 🇦🇺 The CEO of HelloFresh, Tom Rutledge, has criticised Australia's biggest supermarkets for their pricing tactics, accusing them of encouraging unnecessary purchases and pushing up grocery bills. ☕️ European coffee group JDE Peet's is replacing its two top executives as controlling shareholder JAB Holding seeks a shake-up. The CEO has been replaced with ex-M&S boss Luc Vandevelde. #retail #retailnews #economy #DailyRetailNews

Shares in retailers don’t grow as much as technology stocks unless you buy them when the companies are fairly young or the retail chain after many years still has a lot of physical store expansion ahead. Two long-term familiar discount chains still show stock growth potential because they are still looking to grow their store count over the near term: Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) and The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX). Ross Stores, Inc. operates 2,127 ROSS DRESS FOR LESS and dd’s Discounts locations across 43 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam hoping to grow Dress for Less to 2,900 locations and dd’s to 700 stores. Store openings planned in 2024 include 75 Ross Dress for Less and 15 dd’s Discounts locations. This includes new Ross stores in the newer markets of Michigan and New York. The current strategy for growing dd’s is in existing markets of California, Florida and Texas, according to Gregg McGillis, Ross Stores’ group executive vice president, property development. TJX Cos, which runs more than 4,900 stores in nine countries under several store brand names including T.J. Maxx, MARSHALLS LLC, and Homegoods, plans to expand its global fleet by 1,300 more locations, according to TJX CEO Ernie Herrman. TJX and Ross have been around for decades, and their stocks have crushed the S&P 500, both recently and in the long haul due to these retail chains growing revenue consistently as well as their store counts.

NEWS WE’VE FOLLOWED THIS WEEK: The Commerce Department reported that 1Q 2024 US economic growth grew 1.6% in 1Q24, reported the Commerce Department, short of the 2.4% growth economists expected. US Consumers spent $1.3T online in 2023, $1.0T more than they did in 2013 (at $235B), reports comScore’s State of Digital Commerce. Retail leaders who invest more in innovation will gain a larger share of the market in the future, per a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and World Retail Congress. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit to block the FTC’s ban on noncompete agreements that was enacted just two days before. Vera Wang won the Lifetime Achievement Award at this week’s Barcelona Fashion Bridal Week. M&A AND FINANCING NEWS Hibbett Sports (athletic retailer) will be acquired by JD Sports (UK’s biggest sportswear retailer) for USD 1.08 Billion. Trendalaytics (retail forecasting data) was acquired by VerishopGroup. STRACK & VAN TIL SUPER MARKETS, INC (22-location grocery chain) was acquired by Hy-Vee (Indiana-based 22-store grocery chain) was acquired by Hy-Vee (Supermarket chain). The Folklore (emerging designer platform) raised $3.4M seed round from Benchstrength (VC Firm), among others. PIRCH (high-end appliances) announced it would liquidate in bankruptcy. EXPRESS (fast fashion retailer) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced it would close over 100 stores. Dom's Kitchen & Market and Foxtrot Market (specialty grocer) will cease operations and close the 33 locations across Chicago, Austin, Dallas, and Washington, DC. Plastic action platform rePurpose Global is acquiring Bluebird Climate ( software) PZ Cussons is selling St Tropez as part of a restructuring. LCatterton invested in KIKO MILANO (beauty). PUBLIC COMPANY NEWS Big Lots, Inc., raised a $200M delayed draw term loan from Gordon Brothers. The FTC paused the planned $8.5B merger between Tapestry and Capri, citing concerns over monopolistic potential The following public companies announced earnings this week: Hasbro, Helen of Troy, Kering, Montcler Group, Mui Mui, Prada, Shimano, Valentino & Zegna Group. BEFORE YOU GO Caitlin Clark and Nike signed an 8-year, $28M deal, the richest sponsorship contract for a women’s basketball player to date.

Happy Fri-YAY! Top #Retail stores of the week #IMO that you may have missed (in no particular order): Fitchy…#Abercrombie&Fitch reported its best quarterly sales ever, topping $1B a 22.1% increase over LY. These results, which include Hollister, outpoaced the balance of the apparel retailers. They also said they’ve raised their full year estimates to 10%. Sporty…#Dick’sSportingGoods had a great Q1 with over $3B in sales, a 6.2% increase over LY. They also raised their annual outlook for comp sales to 2 to 3%. Is the growth of pickleball driving a splurge on the goods? Kohlsy…#Kohl’s did not fair as well in Q1 reporting that sales fell 5.3% versus LY. They also lowered their guidance for the full year to a 1 to 2% comp sales loss. Oily…Oil companies continue to buy up others to expand their reach for gas customers. M&A deals in 2023 were $250B and this year so far, the trend has continued with $51B in deals being made in Q1. The most recent is #ConocoPhillips agreeing to buy #MarathonOil ($17B).  Also, this week the board of #Hess agreed to be acquired by #Chevron ($53B). Pricy…Add #Walgreens to the list of retailers slashing prices to lure inflation fatigued consumers back to their stores. They announced cuts on 1.5K items. Dolla…#DollarGeneral beat expectations for Q1 and will ramp up store remodels. Net sales rose 6.1% to $9.91B, topping estimates of $9.89B. Same store sales increased 2.4%. “These results were driven by strong customer traffic growth and market share gains during the quarter, which we believe is a testament to the relevance of our unique combination of value and convenience, as well as to improved execution across our organization,” said Todd Vasos, CEO of Dollar General. They now plan to open 730 new stores, down from their previous expectation of 800. Remodel approx. 1,620 stores, up from its prior forecast of 1,500. As of May 3, 2024 they operated 20,149 stores across the US and Mexico. When one door closes…#DollarTree announced it has purchased the leases for 170 closed #99CentsOnly stores in Arizona, California, Texas, and Nevada. They will reopen as Dollar Tree stores. Also announced was confirmation that approx. 50 corporate employees were laid off. Shakeup…#Petco announced changes to their leadership team. Mike Mohan, who was appointed interim CEO of Petco in March. "Across the business, we are streamlining the organization to empower faster and more effective implementation of best practices on the path to restoring our profitability." So why was I intrigued enough by these changes to mention them…well…Mohan, an ex-Best Buy exec, impacted 2 other former #BestBuy execs…COO (and former co-worker of mine) Justin Tichy and Chief Merchant Amy College, who will leave while 5 others get expanded executive leadership roles. Things that make you go hmmmm…

Next CEO Lord Simon Wolfson was tight-lipped on whether the high street giant would step in with struggling retailers Ted Baker, Superdry and Matches, as it posted “record” results. Find out more below. #Next #retailnews #retailer #highstreet #fashionnews

Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLLI) traded higher, up 2.8% at $77.00, thanks to solid quarterly results that included a 7.9% increase in comparable sales. The cut-price #retailer, meanwhile, upgraded its guidance for the full year setting expectations for $2.08 to $2.09 billion of revenue, to push earnings of $2.65 to $2.74 per share. Both are higher than Wall Street had pencilled in, as prior consensus stood at $2.06 billion and $2.62 per share. It comes as the #retail sector generally feels the pinch amidst higher living costs, and, as certain consumer segments ‘trade down’ seeking more value. For Ollie’s, meanwhile, the company sees opportunity – not least in its procurement through ‘close-out’ buying (which sees discounters acquire unsold end-of-season and end-of-line stock from big brands and retail. More at #Proactive #ProactiveInvestors http://ow.ly/ELjW104SOkZ #NASDAQ #OLLI

🔥 Big Retail News Alert! 🔥 👗 Kookaï, the iconic fashion brand, is up for auction! 😱✨ This beloved brand has faced some major financial challenges due to the Covid-19 crisis. But fear not, because this could be an opportunity for a savvy investor to swoop in and revive this fashion powerhouse! 💪💼 📉 Meanwhile, Dollar Tree and Foot Locker are about to spill the beans on their earnings. 📊💰 These retail giants have seen a drop in their share prices recently, thanks to customers focusing on essentials and some pesky shoplifting issues affecting their margins. But don't count them out just yet! 🛍️💼 💡 Stay tuned, folks! This week's retail news is all about the ups and downs of the industry. From fashion struggles to earnings reports, there's never a dull moment in the retail world! 💼🌟 👉 Like and share if you're ready for the latest scoop on the retail industry! 🙌🔥 https://lnkd.in/dZ-K-AvM #RetailNews #FashionIndustry #EarningsReports #RetailBrew #StayInformed