Laura Ashley expands home ranges

Last week Laura Ashley revealed plans to reduce its loss-making fashion business in favour of building up its home ranges. The company emphasized that it had no intention of closing its fashion business.

The group suffered another difficult year in which it fired two joint chief executives and one fashion director. Meanwhile, like-for-like sales continued to fall.

Lillian Tan, the group's 11th chief executive in 14 years, wants to trim down fashion as a percentage of group sales from 22 per cent to 14 per cent over the next 12 months. Unfortunately the fashion branch of the business could not shake its stuffy, sugar-sweet image, despite various efforts to update it. Fashion sales currently equal those of the group's wallpaper-to-curtains decorating arm.

Underlying fashion sales in the UK dropped 29 per cent last year, compared with a 1 per cent rise of like-for-like sales in its home arm. In the 10 weeks to 9 April, like-for-like UK sales were 14 per cent lower. Customers had obviously not responded to the company's efforts to turn the fashion business around. Laura Ashley further admitted that there had only been a "mixed" response to its efforts to restyle the clothes as a niche brand.

The company's aim is to reduce the clothing arm to a smaller, more exclusive division. Tan said that prices would rise by as much as 20 per cent.

Laura Ashley will, however, not relinquish its fashion business entirely as it is a vital ingredient to the group's desire to position itself as a "lifestyle brand". Furthermore, it comprises 70 per cent of its overseas franchise sales. The company has 200 franchise stores in 28 countries and reported a rise in franchise sales of 14 per cent to GBP26 million last year.

Laura Ashley plans to open up to 40 home furnishings stores over the next two to three years.

www.lauraashley.co.uk
18 April 2005

Rosey profits for Laura Ashley

Home furnishings and fashion group Laura Ashley Holdings reported a 55 percent rise in annual profit on Thursday but said core like-for-like sales fell 13.9 percent in the latest 10 weeks, according to WWD."Retail conditions in the UK remain difficult," Chief Executive Lillian Tan said in a statement. "Our challenge is to enhance further the product offering in this increasingly competitive marketplace."

Laura Ashley, known for the flowery fabrics in its products, made 4.8 million pounds in pre-tax profit before exceptionals in the 52 weeks to January 29, on turnover down 16 percent at 239 million pounds.The result included 1.0 million pounds of property profit.

"The company's focus continues to be one of maintaining a strong global lifestyle brand, driving substantial franchising and licensing revenues worldwide," Tan said.Laura Ashley shares, which have underperformed their sector by 27 percent over the past 12 months, closed at 11.75 pence on Wednesday, valuing the business at 88 million pounds.

www.lauraashley.com
14 April 2005

Amtrak wins Laura Ashley contract

That Laura Ashley's home shopping network is the company's most lucrative market, is to pay off dividends for Amtrak Express Parcels. The shipping company has won a multi-million pound contract to deliver Ashley goods within the UK.

Goods are collected from Laura Ashley's distribution centre in Wales and also from suppliers and the company's 185 stores. Laura Ashley first switched to Amtrak as their preferred parcel carrier two years ago and the boom in catalogue and online sales has seen a big increase in the demand of home deliveries.

Laura Ashley's 300-page catalogue and its web site has helped to more than double internet sales within two years and now generates close to £5m. Laura Ashley is seeing a boom in online ordering with around 200,000 registered internet customers, which supplements the more traditional telesales ordering.

www.lauraashley.com
www.amtrak.com
31 March 2005

Laura Ashley Refutes Sales Talk

Laura Ashley is not in talks over a potential sale of the business. The home furnishings and fashion retailer issued a statement to the stock exchange saying: "Further to the unusual level of recent press speculation, the board of Laura Ashley Holdings confirms that it is not in discussions with respect to the sale of the company."

A weekend report in the Mail on Sunday newspaper quoted a company insider saying that senior executives have been in talks over the future of the chain, also reporting that "at least one retail entrepreneur" had approached the company in the past fortnight.

Laura Ashley is majority owned by Malaysian entrepreneur Dr Khoo Kay Peng and Malayan United Industries. Last month, the company reported an 11.6 per cent decline in UK like-for-like sales over the 24 weeks to January 15, with home furnishing like-for-likes down 4.1 per cent and fashion like-for-likes down 28.2 per cent.

Joint chief executives Rebecca Navarednam and Ainum Mohd-Saaid have both exited the business in the past three months, with the role now taken by Lillian Tan, until recently chief executive of Malaysian retail group Metrojaya.

www.lauraashley.com
9 February 2005

Laura Ashley may be sold

Malaysian entrepreneur Dr Khoo Kay Peng and Malayan United Industries, majority shareholders in the besieged furnishings and clothing retailer Laura Ashley, are considering selling the company. Laura Ashley may be put up for sale in a matter of weeks. According to a company insider, senior executives have been busy discussing their options. "There is clearly an appetite for retailers at the moment and the feeling is that this might be the opportunity to dispose of a business which, quite frankly, is going nowhere," said the insider.

In the past few weeks, trading has shown no change following a terrible Christmas season when sales fell by 11%. Clothing sales dropped by 28% while furnishings sales decreased by 4%. Furnishings sales currently make up 80% of total sales. Shares have dropped by 50% as a result of market speculation. The company declined to comment.

In December 2004, Ainum Mohd-Saaid became the second chief executive to leave the company to leave in two months. Laura Ashley has seen ten chief executives come and go in the past 14 years. Futile attempts to revamp its styles were rejected by consumers and the fashion industry criticized the company for not picking up on the recent ethnic trend.

Next month, the Laura Ashley factory in Carno, mid-Wales, will close its doors and the 200 employees will be transferred to nearby Newton. Founder Laura Ashley opened the Carno factory almost 40 years ago.

www.lauraashley.com
7 February 2005

Laura Ashley Relocation Will Not Lose Jobs

Lembit Opik, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, met with Laura Ashley's Chief Executive to discuss the company's relocation from Carno to Newtown. Mr. Öpik declared himself satisfied with Laura Ashley's assurances that no jobs would be lost as a result of the move:

"After yesterday's meeting, I've considered and discussed the points they made - such as their assurance that all the staff from the Carno site will be redeployed to the Newtown site, and that this move will not involve any redundancies as a result of the move. I believe them.

"Last week I met with Carno Community Council, who shared their concerns regarding the Laura Ashley plans. They'll doubtless be relieved about the assurances regarding redundancies. However, there's still the question of what happens to Carno as a community, which is losing a considerable number of jobs. Having presented these worries to the Laura Ashley bosses, they revealed their intention to hold a meeting with staff members on 2nd February. That forum will clarify the situation and underline their commitment that no jobs would be lost as a consequence of the move from Carno to Newtown."

"I'd like to praise both parties for their helpful approach to this issue. The people of Carno are blessed with a purposeful and progressive Community Council who've dealt with this issue very comprehensively. Laura Ashley have a long history here, and this modernisation seems likely to ensure their continued investment in Montgomeryshire. But the immediate challenge is to secure the economic security of Carno as a community, and this requires our focus and effort in the months ahead."

www.lauraashley.com
1 February 2005

Challenge Continues At Laura Ashley

Laura Ashley today said difficult trading in the home furnishings sector had contributed to a further sales slump. Same-store sales across the group were 11.6% lower in the 24 weeks to January 15 - worse than the 10.1% decline for the 50 weeks to that date, leading shares to fall 6%. But the troubled company, which has lost both its joint chief executives in the last two months, said cost-cutting and margin improvements should leave annual profits in line with expectations.

Laura Ashley, best known for its floral designs, said its home furnishings division saw a 4.1% fall in like-for-like sales, compared with a 0.1% rise over the 50 weeks. It said: "In line with the home furnishings sector as a whole, we have experienced a difficult trading environment and increased competitiveness." A decision to rely less on promotional activity also contributed to the performance of the division, which accounts for three-quarters of sales.

Same-store sales at Laura Ashley's clothing arm were 28.2% lower, a slight improvement on the 31.2% decline for the 50-week period. Profit margins increased at both divisions. The London-based company launched a turnaround programme last year and overhauled its fashion division in a bid to halt flagging sales, but has continued to report challenging conditions.

www.lauraashley.com
20 January 2005

Further resignations at Laura Ashley

British brand Laura Ashley seems to be losing all of its staff. First to resign was it's co-executive chief, Ian Nairn, followed by the co-operating officer, the second co-exectutive officer Rebecca Navarednam and now its top designer Alistair Blair.

The successive loss of top managers comes at a time of falling fashion sales - which now account for less than 20% of sales, down from 60% a few years ago - and several years of fluctuating fortunes as the company bounced between profit and loss.

In September, the company revealed worsening interim losses and warned that August had been "unusually challenging," but declined to give a clear update. Analysts expect full-year pretax profit of 3.97 million pounds ($7.4 million), compared with 3.1 million pounds the previous year.

www.lauraashley.com
11 January 2005

Laura Ashley Executive Steps Down

Laura Ashley is parting company with its chief executive Ainum Mohd-Saaid. The clothing and home furnishing retailer said Ms Mohd-Saaid had resigned for personal reasons. Her departure will come into effect on 1 February and follows the departure of co-chief executive Rebecca Navarednam on 1 January. Ms Mohd-Saaid is to be replaced by Lillian Tan, presently a non-executive director of the company and head of a Malaysian retailer.

Its shares were down 1.89% at 13p in early trading on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. Since 2002, Ms Tan has been managing director and chief executive of Metrojaya, one of the largest retail groups in Malaysia. Laura Ashley, which is due to issue its next trading statement in the next few weeks, has in recent months been hit by reports of poor sales.

In October last year, it announced the closure of one of its two Welsh factories. In September, the company had said that its half-year clothing sales had been "below expectations". In recent times, it has put renewed focus on home furnishings rather than clothing, but last September it reported that interim six month losses had risen from £1m to £1.2m, while sales had fallen from £138m to £118m.

Laura Ashley, which floated on the London Stock Exchange for £200m ($376m) in 1995, is majority-owned by Malaysia entrepreneur Dr Khoo Kay Peng. Laura Ashley was founded by its late namesake in Kent in 1955, before moving to Mid Wales in 1961 where it still has its main UK factory.

www.lauraashley.com
6 January 2005

Laura Ashley Shopworker Uncovers Fraud Ring

A staff member of Laura Ashley has uncovered a multimillion-pound fraud ring that operated throughout Britain The woman store manager's suspicions about an Algerian customer led to a huge police operation that found scores of fake bank accounts and £1.5 million of stolen property.

When the police arrested him they discovered £3,500 of clothes and electrical goods, with their receipts, in the boot of his car.
The police then organised a big surveillance operation that involved regional police forces and the anti-terrorist squad. A watch was kept on other suspects in Northampton, Southampton and Stratford. In a container pointed out to officers in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the police discovered a further £1.5 million of clothes and electrical goods, again all bought from high street stores and with receipts attached.

However, the authorities are still unable to say for sure what happened to the money that had been siphoned off, probably to bank accounts overseas. All members of the gang who had been arrested were living on benefits and in frugal circumstances.
Gang members, all Algerian asylum-seekers or of Algerian descent, operated by opening bank accounts in false names and built a stockpile of chequebooks and cards. They would go into high street stores in a co-ordinated "blitz" across the country, all on the same day, to buy items using cheque guarantee cards.
Seven defendants will be sentenced tomorrow.

28 November 2004

eparture for Laura Ashley

Co-CEO of British retailer Laura Ashely Holdings Plc, Rebecca Navarednam, has tendered her resignation. In future, the company will be led by only one Chief Executive Officer. Navarednam's resignation will be effective as of 1 January. The daily management will be relegated to Ainum Mohd-Saaid. The company gave no further details concerning the resignation.

Prior to joining Laura Ashley in January 2003, Ms. Navarednam worked as a bank executive in Malaysia and as the finance head of British hotel group Corus and Regal. Five months after joining the British retailer, she was appointed joint CEO.

The group decided to split the function of CEO pending the departure of KC Ng amidst declining sales and escalating losses due to problems in continental Europe. Laura Ashley had to close all of its directly owned stores in continental Europe to operate on a franchise-only base.

www.lauraashley.com
22 November 2004

Laura Ashley To Close Factory

Laura Ashley has announced it is closing its factory at Carno, in mid Wales. The company stated the jobs of the 220 staff at the Carno site would be moved to the company's nearby Newtown factory, but 12 jobs would be lost. Carno was the original Welsh base of the company when Bernard and Laura Ashley moved there from Kent in 1961. Subject to consultation, the Carno factory will close early next year.

The company said it wanted to modernise its Newtown site, including an expansion to accommodate office staff from Carno. A company spokesman said there were plans to create new jobs at the Newtown site. Ainum Mohd-Saaid, joint chief executive of Laura Ashley, said: "Whilst we continue to draw on the qualities and inspiration of the past, it is also important that we transform the business into a modern manufacturing facility, capable of developing to meet the needs of customers in the 21st century."

Mick Bates, Liberal Democrat AM for Montgomeryshire, said: "The end of Laura Ashley's association with Carno is deeply regrettable and will be the cause of much sorrow in the area. "The impact of closure on small communities can be devastating and we welcome the Welsh Development Agency's (WDA)intention to find new investors for the site. "Whilst there were tough issues to be considered by the company, we are relieved that Laura Ashley will not be leaving the area altogether."

www.lauraashley.com
25 October 2004

Laura Ashley And L'Oreal Dispute Continues

Laura Ashley has won the first round in a battle against cosmetics giant L'Oreal, which it claimed reneged on a deal to produce a range of beauty products for the retailer. In theory, Laura Ashley could win up to £17m. The dispute dates back to 1996 when L'Oreal won a 20-year licence from the clothes retailer to produce make-up and perfumes under the Laura Ashley name.

By 2002 the relationship had soured with Laura Ashley claiming that L'Oreal had not stuck to its part of the deal. The retailer claimed: "L'Oreal failed to develop the true potential of the Laura Ashley perfumes, toiletry and cosmetic brands and that substantial revenues had been lost as a result."

L'Oreal only produced one perfume: Magic Garden, which did not sell particularly well.Laura Ashley took L'Oreal to court two years ago, claiming breach of contract and sought to recover unpaid royalties. Under the deal L'Oreal promised to pay minimum royalties of £17m over twenty years. The International Chamber of Commerce in Paris has ruled in Laura Ashley's favour on the issue of liability. The tribunal has yet to decide how much the retailer should be paid.

www.lauraashley.com
20 October 2004

Falling Sales For Laura Ashley

A sharp decline in clothing sales at Laura Ashley has wiped out gains in sales and margin in the retailer's expanding home furnishings operation. In the 26 weeks to July 31, UK like-for-like sales fell by 10 per cent, with a home furnishings like-for-like increase of 3 per cent but a 36 per cent like-for-like decline in fashion sales.Total group turnover was £118m, down from £137.9m a year ago, generating a loss before tax of £1.2m. When the now-closed European stores are factored out, turnover declined to £117.1m from £125.9m.

Joint chief executive Ainum Mohd Saaid said: "Home furnishings continues to show a strong performance and now represents almost 80 per cent of total UK retail sales, compared with closer to 55 per cent six years ago. "We remain committed to broadening our offering in home furnishings through expanded product lines and new stores. It is our intention to accelerate the current strategy of maximising the profitability of our store portfolio by ensuring the optimum mix between home furnishings and the realigned fashion offer."

Across the first half, nine stores closed. Two conversions last year of dual product stores into stand-alone home furnishings stores have proved a success, with eight further conversions planned for the second half, bringing the total home furnishings-only stores to 50. Rebecca Navarednam, Joint Chief Executive said: "We continue to work towards greater efficiency and cost savings and have had measurable success to date. This programme of cost savings will be a focus throughout the second half.

Laura Ashley did not give figures for current trading, saying that "in line with other retailers, August was an unusually challenging month and trading is not felt to be indicative of our expectations for the second half. Therefore, current trading statistics do not serve as a useful indication of overall performance." The company said that across the second half, its "focus on margin improvement and cost saving will mitigate the impact of lower sales, and that as a result our profits for the full year will be within the range of brokers' forecasts."

www.lauraashley.com
23 September 2004

Laura Ashley To Cut Jobs

Laura Ashley has announced up to 90 workers will be made redundant at two factories.The plans, which would go ahead in the next four to five weeks, are the result of a review of factories in Newtown and Carno, in mid Wales. Laura Ashley Ltd and its subsidiary Texplan Manufacturing Ltd announced the plans following a review of operating costs.

A statement read: "As a result of this review, the companies have announced proposals to make 80-90 redundancies at these sites over the next four to five weeks, subject to a period of consultation with those employees who are potentially affected by the proposals. "The review is part of a cost reduction programme which has been in place over the past 18 months to improve Laura Ashley's financial performance amidst challenging conditions in the retail marketplace."

In April the retailer - known for its floral fabrics - said annual profits before tax and exceptional items were GBP3.1 million, as sales at its furnishings arm continued to offset a decline in clothing. But turnover fell to GBP283.5 million from GBP292 million previously, with GBP1 million of its profits coming from property transactions. Laura Ashley launched a turnaround programme last year.

www.lauraashley.com
15 September 2004

Laura Ashley To Outsource Customer Databases

Fashion and home furnishings retailer Laura Ashley has outsourced its customer databases to help expand its online and catalogue businesses. Laura Ashley has signed a three-year deal to shift its online, catalogue and store card customer databases to GB Group, which will design and host the new GBHeadstart Oracle customer database.

The new database and GB Group data tools will provide the retailer with greater analysis and reporting functions, allowing Laura Ashley to improve communications with customers by gaining a greater understanding of how they interact with different sales channels. The company will also use the new database to analyse a range of data sets allowing it to monitor customer buying behaviour, and measure the success of marketing campaigns and their impact on mail order, e-commerce and store card sales.

"Our catalogue and online businesses are going from strength to strength. To maintain our momentum we must be able to analyse our customer data to a deeper level so we can take a more targeted approach to marketing," said Selby. The retailer, which produces two main home furnishing and four fashion catalogues annually, saw mail order sales grow 35 per cent last year and hopes to improve sales further through better understanding of customer socio-demographics.

www.lauraashley.com
13 July 2004

Laura Ashley's Daughter Designs New Range

The next generation of one of Wales' most famous fashion labels is about to hit the shops. Emma Ashley, daughter of the late Laura Ashley, has designed a range of clothing for a new company set up by her father.

Her work, which bears the distinctive Laura Ashley floral touch, will be sold at shops in London and Paris. Laura Ashley became a world-famous brand after it was launched over 40 years ago.

Sir Bernard Ashley, husband to the late fashion designer, set up the Elanbach company four years ago and asked his daughter to design a range of summer clothes for it.

The company is named after Emma Ashley's home in the Elan Valley near Rhayader and is based at Sir Bernard's five-star hotel Llangoed Hall near Brecon.

Ms Ashley admitted she was surprised at her father's request, but did not feel under pressure following in her mother's footsteps. She told BBC Wales: "It's very exciting, it's a realisation of a dream. "I kept thinking (my father) would say, I've changed my mind, I was joking. He hasn't said no to anything, so it's all going in the shops."

Ashley said she grew up watching her mother at work so designing came naturally to her. "She was always saying, here, can you improve these sketches.

"I did my first dress design for Laura Ashley when I was 14," she revealed. "I was complaining there was nothing I could wear. She said, right, just design some stuff then.

www.lauraashley.com
7 June 2004

Laura Ashley Gets Makeover

Laura Ashley is to undergo a makeover by Scottish designer Alistair Blair. Famed for its floral patterns and country-style home wares, the English fashion house will attempt to revitalise its wilting image following the example of Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Top Shop.

Promising a strong new design strategy, Alistair Blair stated: "The brand was trying to be all things to all people and had lost its way big time, just when customers want the pretty, sensual, womanly clothes that are the Ashley heritage", he said at the London launch of his range.

Blair, who joins ranks with Stella McCartney and John Galliano graduated from the prestigious Central St Martin's College in London and then worked for top Paris names including Dior, Givenchy and Karl Lagerfeld at Chloé. When he set up his own business in London in the mid-1980s he brought a silky Parisian sophistication to the brash era of gilt buttons and oversized shoulder pads.

"It was a different market area for me but I could see enormous possibilities," he said. "The firm had no confidence in itself - everything seemed based on the same square, anonymous shapes. I joined a design team of 16, plus about 40 people in other roles, mostly women, and no one wanted to wear the clothes or run a good advertising campaign to promote them. I am glad to say this has changed now."

Laura Ashley, who died in 1985, left a "fantastic" archive which he studied in depth. "There were scraps of antique fabric and other inspirations, as well as all her print designs," he said. The new collection is strong on print, "though all re-coloured and resized so they're hardly recognisable".

As well as Ashley's heritage, Blair has also used his own. Nostalgic Scottish country house chic is a widespread autumn fashion theme at top brands from Louis Vuitton to Pringle and Blair's versions include cropped little angora cardigans with bead-scattered Fair Isle yokes, elegant tweed coats and suits, a smart kilt-pleated skirt with braid ties and a stunning fluted tweed skirt appliquéd and beaded with Rennie Mackintosh-style roses.

He believes there is still much goodwill towards the Ashley name, an assertion borne out by the success of the home side of the business, which under creative director Mark Winstanley, has moved towards upmarket sophistication and now makes up nearly 75 per cent of the company's sales

www.lauraashley.com
10 May 2004

Budding Profits For Laura Ashley

Previously struggling retailer Laura Ashley has made a comeback reporting a full year profit. The company stated it had made an encouraging start to the new despite a challenging retail environment.

Laura Ashley, who is aiming to revamp its fashion offer and is best known for the flowery fabrics and traditional home furnishings, made a pre-tax profit of GBP3.1m for the 53 weeks to January 31, compared to a GBP4.9m loss the year before. UK like-for-like sales were up 2.4 percent in the 11 weeks to April 17.

The company's decision to focus on its home furnishings division reaped the benefits it did not profit from fashion sales. UK home furnishings sales grew by 12.5 per cent, with like-for-like sales up 9 per cent while UK fashion sales dipped 1 per cent, with like-for-like sales down 1.9 per cent.

Mail order and e-commerce, which now account for 10 per cent of UK retail sales, grew by 38.5 per cent. Total UK selling space decreased as 14 stores closed and four opened.

Ainum Mohd-Saaid, joint chief executive, said: "We are encouraged by our performance this year. Now that we have rationalised our European operations, our cost base is substantially lower. Cost control continues to be a priority. We have stabilised the business and expect a better performance in the current year."

Rebecca Navarednam, joint chief executive said: "We are actively reviewing our store portfolio to drive efficiency, and continue to develop our licensing and franchising operations. Although we are experiencing challenging trading conditions across the whole business, with new fashion collections coming into our stores and the continued strength of home furnishings, we look forward to the future with confidence."

www.lauraashley.com
22 April 2004

More Losses At Laura Ashley

Troubled retailer Laura Ashley yesterday said its pre-tax losses widened from GBP 200,000 to GBP 1m for the six months ending July 26 after the company was hit by severe problems in its continental European business.

The company said GBP 700,000 of its pre-tax loss was directly attributed to continental Europe, where it is attempting to franchise or close down its operations. There is no interim dividend.

2 October 2003
www.lauraashley.com

Laura Ashley To Close 4 Stores

High street retailer Laura Ashley said it is to close 4 stores by November and is in talks to sell 2 more in France. The sale is part of the group's strategy, announced in January 2003, to withdraw from its European operations. It reports first half results today.

30 September 2003
www.lauraashley.com

A Couple Of Euros Will Buy You Laura Ashley

Laura Ashley, the stalwart of British floral fashions and home furniture retailing, announced yesterday that it was selling the bulk of its remaining European branches to a Dutch company for just €2, the equivalent of £1.39.

The group has agreed the sale of 11 branches across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to Laben Holdings, which has signed a renewable four-year franchise agreement with the company. The move leaves the company with just a handful of stores remaining in Europe, which will all be closed or sold as franchised to complete the group's exit from Europe by the end of the year.

Since January Laura Ashley has closed 33 of its stores across continental Europe after sales of clothing plummeted.

In May analysts announced its preliminary full-year results, and the company reported a fall in its European turnover of £2.3m to £16.7m, with like-for-like sales over the previous two months falling by 13 per cent. The company has been particularly hit by the recent economic problems in Germany, where the bulk of its European operation, 20 stores, have been closed this year.

David Cook, chief financial officer for Laura Ashley, said: "A couple of years ago we were talking about Europe as a potential route for expansion - that is still possible, but will be done through franchise partners, who are closer to the action on the ground." The 11 branches being sold had a combined turnover of £6.7m in the year to 25 January, running up pre-tax losses of £2.2m.

Overall group turnover for the preliminary full-year figures was up 6.5 per cent, with a loss before tax of £0.2m.

2 September 2003
www.lauraashley.com

Short Term for Laura Ashley Boss

Tina Baum, head of buying at Laura Ashley's fashion division, has left the company after just five months.

Baum joined Laura Ashley in November last year from Debenhams, where she had worked her way up to head of womenswear after 10 years. Baum's appointment was touted as the final part of Laura Ashley's restructuring of its fashion division, after Clea Sullivan and Heather Blackman joined the company as head of design and head of merchandising respectively earlier in the year.

Laura Ashley refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding Baum's departure, although chief finance officer David Cook refused to rule out job losses when discussing cost cuts last month.

According to Drapers Record, one Laura Ashley supplier said Baum's short stay was a concern and that there was confusion around her exit: "We were told she was the new number one and that she would revolutionise things. It makes you nervous when five months later you hear she's left."

29 May 2003
www.lauraashley.com

Laura Ashley short on Appeal

Laura Ashley, already reeling from a GBP 14.1m full-year loss and its latest management shake-up, suffered further blows after a GBP 8.2m rights issue achieved a take-up rate of just 32 per cent. MUI, the major shareholder, relinquished the chance to lift their shareholdings in the troubled fashion retailer, which suffered a sharp downturn in European sales and attracted derision from analysts over its management structure.

The underwhelming response will see Laura Ashley chairman Khoo Kay Peng, already a 12 per cent shareholder, boost his interest to around 20 per cent through underwriting arrangements. Issuing a statement a day later than expected, Laura Ashley revealed it received acceptances for only 47.7m of the 149.2m shares offered in the 1 for 4 issue. The offer was priced at GBP 0.06 a share, against the current trading price of GBP 0.0637. The lack of interest was no doubt disappointing as the company had expected more shareholders to exercise their rights.

Laura Ashley has earmarked the funds to cover the costs of its closing most European stores. It is in discussions with three potential franchise partners to run the remaining stores on the continent, allowing it to focus on its 210 outlets in the UK.

On Thursday, chief executive KC Ng said he was stepping down at the end of the month, marking the eighth change of leadership in 13 years. Joint chief executives will replace him, a layer and an accountant, with no experience running UK listed company.

13 May 2003
www.lauraashley.com

Laura Ashley shifts 02 outlook

Fashion and interiors retailer Laura Ashley Holdings said on Thursday it expects to make a loss for 2002, instead of the break-even result it had anticipated. This result is due to disappointing sales.
The company now expects an annual pre-tax loss of GBP 5m because of lower than anticipated sales in January 2003. However, Laura Ashley also said it hoped the cost of its previously announced plan to scale back operations in continental Europe would be lower than its original estimate of GB P7.7m.
The company is to close 35 shops on the continent and switch to franchise operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

March 14, 2003
www.lauraashley.com

Laura Ashley closes 35 stores in Europe

Bad news again for British retailer Laura Ashley. The company is to close thirty-five unprofitable stores in Europe including the remainder of its German outlets. The company said the move will result in an exceptional charge of GBP 7.7 million this financial year. It will be left with eighteen stores on the Continent, all of which are profitable.

It plans to pay for the closures by raising GBP 9 million from investors via a rights issue at about 8p-a-share. There hasn’t been any good news for Laura Ashley in the past time. Last November, Laura Ashley announced the closure of elf stores in Germany and France. Bad sales during Christmas also were a huge set back for the fashion and furnishing company.

www.lauraashley.com

January 24, 2002

Devastating times for Laura Ashley

Fashion group Laura Ashley, best known for its flowery designs, on Thursday said it had a terrible Christmas and would now do no better than break even before tax and exceptional items in the year to 25 January. Sales rose a worse-than-expected six per cent in the six-week Christmas period compared with last year, following a two per cent slide in women's fashions.

“As a result of this disappointing performance over the key Christmas period, it is now anticipated that the group's trading results will be substantially lower than current market forecasts,” Laura Ashley said in a statement. Laura Ashley, with more than 400 stores in 24 countries, said it expected earnings before tax and exceptional items for the year ended January 25 to be around break-even.

Laura Ashley, whose continental European business has been a drag on its performance for some time, said operations on the Continent worsened during the second-half, with margins down considerably. It reiterated its plan to review under performing stores across Europe and look for franchise partners to revive its fortunes in the region.

January 10, 2003
www.lauraashley.com

Laura Ashley slids in the red

Laura Ashley has revealed it slid into the red in the first half amid flat apparel sales in what can only be called a challenging retail environment. The fashion and furnishings group that operates 460 outlets in 24 countries posted a pre-tax loss of GBP 200,000 compared to a profit of GBP 2.4 million in the year-ago period and added same-store sales in the eight weeks to September 21 were flat.

Company turnover climbed 6.5 per cent to GBP 140 million but same-store sales for its fashion division fell seven per cent in the UK and 23 per cent in mainland Europe.

Laura Ashley expects the second half performance to be moderately better than that of the same period last year.

www.lauraashley.com
09-25-02