Laura Ashley makes come-back
Fashion and furniture group Laura Ashley enjoyed a strong recovery in the year ended 27 January, posting its best results in ten years. Group pre-tax profits doubled from £6.1 million to £12.2 million on sales up 6.6 percent to £225 million. The group, which is best known for its floral print furnishings and fashions, has enjoyed a turnaround since Lilian Tan became its chief executive in January 2005. She subjected the struggling retailer to extensive cost cutting initiatives, including moving some stores to cheaper locations, and a drive to improve its fashion division. Her work has paid dividends, as the group saw demand for room fragrances, decorative accessories and particularly women's wear grow.
Women's wear fashion sales increased almost 26 percent, demonstrating the increased pull of the brand. Franchise holder Rob Stolwerk attributed the rise in sales to an improvement in quality and colour palet. “The new design team has returned to the brand's old-fashioned sense of quality, while introducing new colours and looks to attract a new clientele.” The vintage-style cotton wrap dresses have been a hit with UK shoppers.
Furniture sales only rose 3 percent, with larger pieces selling less well than home accessories and decoration, which rose 15.2 percent and 12 percent respectively. Together they represent 53 percent of total sales, while furniture sales account for 29 percent of total UK revenue. Shares rose 5 percent as a result of the good news. Since Tan joined the firm as chief executive – she was the group's eleventh chief executive in 14 years – shares have more than doubled. The market capitalization of the group is currently about £215.2 million.
www.lauraashley.com
29 March 2007
Laura Ashley signs licensing deal
Laura Ashley has signed an agreement with Ashko Group for the company to manufacture a line of slippers and flip flops under the Laura Ashley name. Launching this month, Ashko has designed a high quality flip flop to attract an upscale customer. The company has been keen to sign licensing deals to broaden the lifestyle appeal of the brand, which has mainly been driven by profits from its home ware business, rather than fashion.
Laura Ashley in February announced it had granted licensing rights to FAM Brands to manufacture ladies lingerie and underwear. Laura Ashley senior vice president Ivy Tan stated: “We're pleased to partner with FAM to enhance our product line and provide customers with another reason to choose Laura Ashley.”
Laura Ashley first became a world-recognised brand in 1953 when Audrey Hepburn wore a headscarf in “Roman Holiday,” creating a fashion hit. Laura and Bernard Ashley had just begun producing headscarves and other textiles , which became an instant success.
www.lauraashley.com
27 March 2007
Laura Ashley predicts higher profits
Laura Ashley said annual profit would exceed market expectations, thanks to improved sales and margin growth. As a result, the British fashion and furnishings chain saw its shares increase by nearly 9 percent. On Tuesday the company said it expected full year profits to exceed analysts' forecasts by 10 percent. Like-for-like sales gained 8.7 percent for the 50 weeks ended 13 January, while total UK sales increased 12.5 percent during the same period.
“The sales performance of the business improved in the second half of last year, which has resulted in slightly reduced like-for-like sales reported in this announcement,” Laura Ashley said in a statement. However, sales in home accessories, decorating, furniture and fashion grew across the board.
Analyst Richard Ratner of Seymour Pierce called the results “encouraging” and changed his recommendation from ‘hold' to ‘outperform'. He also raised his full year pre-tax profit forecast from £10.5 million to £12 million. Furthermore, the group continued its realignment plans with the opening of 17 new stores across the UK and the closure of 10 underperforming stores. Laura Ashley said the performance of the new stores had been encouraging thus far.
www.lauraashley.co.uk
17 January 2007
Laura Ashley sees Irish profits fall
British retailer Laura Ashley lost sales and profits in Ireland last year as it failed to take advantage of the spending boom in a market in which it makes almost 10 per cent of its profits. While a turnaround in the fashion and furniture chain's home market after a long decline led it to declare its first dividend since 1997 last year, accounts just filed for its Irish unit show a deterioration in the same period. Revenues at Laura Ashley ( Ireland ) fell to €8.98 million in the year to January 28th from €9.23 million in the previous period, itself down from €9.47 million a year earlier. Operating profits in the most recent period fell to €727,567 from €762,770 and pretax profits fell to €779,647 from €823,106.
Although Laura Ashley's presence here is modest, given its 180 British stores and 210 franchise outlets in 29 international markets, its Irish unit makes a significant contribution to the bottom line. At conversion rates, for example, the operating profit in Ireland of €727,567 (£486,854) amounted to more than 9 per cent of the parent's operating profit of £5.4 million. Laura Ashley struggled for years to find form in its home market, with five chief executives since 1998, when it was taken over by Malaysian United Industries.
However, current chief executive Lillian Tan has led a revival in a group that has revamped stores and stripped some £40 million from its cost base in the last three years. The chain followed its declaration of a dividend for the year to January with an interim profit in the six months to July that was ahead of expectations. Pretax profits of £3 million in the first half reversed a £200,000 loss in the same period last year.
www.lauraashley.co.uk
1 November 2006
Laura Ashley back in the black
Fashion and home furnishings specialist Laura Ashley has enjoyed a recovery with strong sales in the first half of the year. Further cost-cutting and strong demand for the retailer's assortment boosted results. Pre-tax profit in the six months to 29 July rose to £3.0 million, compared with a loss of £0.2 million during the same period the year before. Like-for-like UK sales rose 13.1 percent in the 31 weeks ended 2 September; in the first 24 weeks they gained 14.3 percent, compared with a weak performance last year. “Despite challenging retail conditions in the UK , we believe that our recovery will continue, underpinned by solid operational efficiency throughout the business,” chief executive Lilian Tan said in a statement. Shares gained 6.38 percent on the news, which included expectations for profit growth to continue.
Tan told Reuters that the furniture and fashion business suffered tough price competition. “(But) we believe despite these challenging retail conditions…our product offer remains resilient,” she said. She further revealed that the company may open up to 20 new stores over the next twelve months as part of its portfolio revival efforts. These will, however, include store relocations or closures. Laura Ashley currently has 178 stores in Britain . It closed eight stores and opened another six during the first six months of the year.
The company said it was improving efficiency by sourcing more products from Asia and Eastern Europe . It also pointed out that its popular clothes designs, like the Tropical Hibiscus print, were performing very well, with UK fashion like-for-like sales up 45.5 percent in the first half. Tan said the company is also offering tailored clothes and office attire this season in an effort to attract more customers.
www.lauraashley.co.uk
22 September 2006
Laura Ashley sales surge
Laura Ashley has reported a 14.3 percent gain in like-for-like sales in the 24 weeks ended 15 July. This is better than the rise of 11.2 percent in the first 10 weeks of 2006. The company said it expects half-year profits could amount to almost £3 million as a result. In the first half of 2005 Laura Ashley made losses of £200,000.
In a statement, the clothing and home furnishings group said it anticipated a “much improved performance” for the full year ended 27 January. Thanks to an internal shake-up whereby the focus shifted to growing the home furnishings business and reducing its fashion presence, the company has managed a turnaround. The company closed 15 stores, costing 450 workers their jobs both in the London head office as at factories in Newtown and Carno in Mid Wales.
www.lauraashley.com
21 July 2006
Laura Ashley appoints new finance director
Fashion and furniture retailer Laura Ashley has appointed David Cook as finance director.
Cook joined the company in 1999 as UK retail director of finance, before moving on to become the group’s chief financial officer. Before Laura Ashley, he was finance director at Telstar Distribution.
He has been appointed to the board with immediate effect.
20 June 2006
Laura Ashley to issue shares
Laura Ashley is set for a bitter investor showdown this week over controversial moves to issue stock without key shareholder rights. The retailer is seeking authority at its annual general meeting on Friday to issue shares, equivalent to 10 per cent of the overall share capital, without pre-emption rights. These are the rights held by investors to veto or approve the sale of company shares - something protected under UK and European law. Guidelines from the Association of British Insurers ( ABI ), the shareholder body, say 5 per cent should be the maximum amount of shares issued without pre-emptive rights.
The limitation is there to protect existing shareholders. If a company were able to sell large chunks of shares without pre-emptive rights, the concern is that their holdings in the business, along with their voting interests, could quickly become diluted.
A spokeswoman said the ABI had not received "an adequate or satisfactory explanation" from Laura Ashley about why it was proposing the move. "We regard as a very important safeguard for investors. Although they can be flexible, we do want a good explanation when it does happen” Returns on retail investments are set to surge this year, despite concerns about the state of the British high street.
Laura Ashley sees sales rise
Home furnishings and fashion retailer Laura Ashley reported a 9.7 per cent rise in sales this week after the group said it saw annual profit slightly above the top end of broker forecasts. In the UK, like-for-like sales were down 6.7 percent in the 52 weeks to January 28, with an expected 25 percent fall in UK fashion and 1.3 percent fall in home furnishings. Laura Ashley said home furnishings finished the year strongly with positive like-for-like figures in the last quarter of the financial year, boosted by a successful sale period and a good reaction to new product ranges.
The Group further stated it was on track with its strategy to realign its store portfolio but the UK retail environment continued to pose challenges. According to Reuters, shares in Laura Ashley were up 8.1 percent valuing the group at around 125 million pounds. The shares earlier hit a high of 18p.
24 September 2005
Laura Ashley takeover rumours abound
The fashion and home furnishings retailer Laura Ashley is once again the subject of takeover rumours. According to just-style.com, sources have suggested that one of the company's largest shareholders has been negotiating with other investors over a buy out.
After years of bad results, Laura Ashley finally returned to profitability last year. It is focusing more on its home furnishings business, reducing its apparel business as a result. Malaysian United Industries currently owns a majority stake in the company.
www.lauraashley.com
8 August 2005
Laura Ashley Plans Re-Structure
Amidst its very public struggle and closure of its flagship store, Laura Ashley has restructured middle management roles and reporting lines as it fights to turn around the business. The reorganisation appears to give new chief executive Lillian Tan a stronger grip on day-to-day operations.
Four departing executives, who are all understood to have left of their own accord, are being replaced. Chief executive Tan, who took over earlier this year, told staff in a brusque memo that she was making changes to the 'functional structure' of the group to achieve higher efficiency and productivity.
Tan, who is the 11th chief executive at the company in 14 years, is widely seen in the City as needing to update Laura Ashley's brand image. Seen by shoppers and analysts alike as out of date, Laura Ashley has responded by closing plants around the world and selling off retail outlets. The Laura Ashley factory in Carno, mid-Wales, which the company opened almost 40 years ago in Wales closed in March.
Besides Malaysian United, Laura Ashley is 24% owned by Bonham Industries Limited, the private vehicle of chairman Dr Khoo Kay Peng, which gives him some 40% of the overall shares. City analysts were dismissive of the latest reorganisation. Richard Ratner at Seymour Pierce said he had tired of hearing of 'nights of long knives' at Laura Ashley.
'They're always doing this. Yet another purge and yet another night of the long knives. I've been negative on the company for a long time. It is run as a private company with the outward appearance of a quoted company. We don't take it very seriously, it should be taken off the market because it is effectively run as a subsidiary of MUI.'
www.lauraashley.com
5 July 2005
Laura Ashley closes Regent Street store
Laua Ashley Holdings Plc has decided to close its Regent Street, London store as a result of a raise in rent. The Queen of England's property estate raised the rent for the first time in 48 years. The rent on the Laura Ashley store was increased 19 times, making continued business less than appealing. Chief executive Lilian Tan said in an interview with Bloomberg: "Because of the rent increase, we find it not possible to work there anymore. If you look at Dickins & Jones, they have had the same problem."
Indeed, Laura Ashley's decision follows the House of Fraser Plc's announcement that it will close its 170-year-old Dickins & Jones store on Regent Street because of the increased rent costs. Dickins & Jones had first hit hard times when the rent was raised in May 2002.
Tan revealed that the Laura Ashley store on nearby Oxford Street would continue operations and that the company did not rule out opening another London outlet elsewhere some time in the future. Laura Ashley shares rose 0.75 pence, or 5.6 per cent. The company's market value currently amounts to GBP 106.3 million.
www.lauraashley.com
21 June 2005
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