Card Factory Share Discussion Threads

[premium beeks] 04/1/2024 09:11

Have next started selling cards?

[darrin1471] 04/1/2024 07:47

Next:
Online Q4 +9.1% H2 +7.7%
Retail Q4 +0.6% H2 +0.0%

[fft] 04/1/2024 00:20

Trading update was 10th January last year. So, any time next week would be when I expect one this year. Not long to wait !

[bbonsall] 03/1/2024 17:31

When you remember that the share price never dipped below 40p when CF was losing millions, the shops were closed and the lenders demanded that a £70million cash raise was needed! That was avoided when the bankers saw how much cash CF was generating as soon as the shops opened again.
Illustrates how grossly undervalued CF is now.

[hatfullofsky] 03/1/2024 16:50

- Yes, but the problem is, and has been lately, that the Market hates this share. Despite all the 'ahead beats' -I expect that to change very soon

[casholaa] 03/1/2024 15:32

@eeza, I disagree. You need to take into account that card gets lumped-in with the 'retailers'. It is 'retail' but it's also different as cards are given throughout the year. Also, no divi yet.

[bbonsall] 03/1/2024 15:07

The market might change its mind when dividends start rolling in this year?
Was in Burton on Trent yesterday in the pouring rain! There are two CF shops in separate sections of the mall. Both shops had queues at the tills, a different brand of card shop was empty!

[eeza] 03/1/2024 15:03

Yes, but the problem is, and has been lately, that the Market hates this share. Despite all the 'ahead beats'.

[bbonsall] 03/1/2024 14:56

There is already enough news published to justify a share price above 160p.
The PE ratio on current profits is a fraction of CF peers.
A rerating is well overdue.

[riverman77] 03/1/2024 14:02

10% still a big position - in fact 10% would be my absolute maximum position, so can't blame him for taking some well earned profits (I think he bought below 50p). That said he's probably right that this has lost momentum and basically gone nowhere for 8 months, so needs some further good news to get momentum going again.

[harry_david] 03/1/2024 13:50

It amazes me how inept the big seller is.
All he had to do was wait for £1.10 and then ask his broker to arrange a placement at a 10% discount(or less) and the job would have been done.
If he wanted he could have sold a proportion then waited six months and done the rest.
Whereas now the shares are slightly depressed because everyone is anticipating his next move.

[weaverbeever] 03/1/2024 12:10

Had hoped for 120-130 by now

[grahamytrain] 03/1/2024 10:38

Drifting down….we need news !!!

[weaverbeever] 02/1/2024 08:27

Was in cardiff centre on Thursday last week. Card was packed out. Must have been 15 people in queue. Lots of empty shelves so the shop seems to have sold out. What they were buying considering Christmas had already passed I don't know.

[caveater] 29/12/2023 17:06

Yeah they need to bin that...they need the shops to concentrate on good customer service and pristine displays....not piles of parcels lying on the floor like you see in many a 'corner shop' nowadays!

[darrin1471] 29/12/2023 16:32

se81
I asked my local store that collects Yodel parcels through Paypoint about the money they receive. They were quite happy to tell me that they currently receive 35p per parcel and next year they are reducing it to 20p. Subsequently the store will probably stop offering the service as 20p is only 70 seconds of wages at national living wage.

[hatfullofsky] 27/12/2023 12:17

I did exactly the same, spot checked the Ashby store. I spoke to a sales assistant who was very relieved that the Christmas period was over. - It's been really busy, we've had 4 tills on the go for weeks, we've had to re-stock every day, taken on two temporary staff. I asked about the cards and the competition, WHSmiths is across the road - we're selling a broader range at a better price. Some ranges have sold out. Overall I got a very positive feeling and feedback. So much so I increased my position this morning.

[chelseamann] 26/12/2023 22:07

popped into my local store in Kenilworth again and was one of 6 in the queue with nobody else in browsing but the 5 in front spent over £100 between them which surprised me but when it came to my turn there was still nobody browsing thus its just me and the staff so i spoke the lady behind the till who was the manager and she was happy to talk. She confirmed that this store had performed extremely well since early November with robust sales figures

[se81] 24/12/2023 17:28

Interesting thoughts thanks darrin.

The logistical aspects you mention make sense given Paypoints collect + service at newsagents seems to be quite successful

[darrin1471] 24/12/2023 12:02

se81. Being an EVRI agent is very low margin and takes up considerable prime space. My local Tesco Express will only take one cage full a day, so I drive a mile to a local news agent where I can park outside. They have 3 cages for dropped off parcels.
Click and collect is a lot smaller volume than dropping off but the retailers already struggle locating parcels. My local co-op has shelf space behind the till area but you normally cant see the shelves as so many parcels are piled up on the floor in front of them.
I was an early user of In-post lockers when they had offers making them the cheapest drop off option. The time I drop off parcels at another shop collecting Yodel is often the time the courier collects and delivers parcels to the in-post lockers. The courier spends 15 minutes emptying and filling the locker. They must be considering doing multiple collections and drop offs to meet local demand.
A high street location like CF's would be difficult for everybody. The courier dropping off and collecting parcels, the shop storing and distributing the parcels in a secure location. The 9-5 opening hours would be inconvenient unless you worked locally and could collect at lunchtime.

[se81] 24/12/2023 11:07

As I know the board likes an update on individual shops :)

Visited the Abergavenny CARD on Thursday looking for a small cardboard postal box- small site, heaving to the point that it was difficult to get round and noticeable gaps in stocks on shelves. Seemed to be what I presumed are decent margin “tempters̶1; in and around the till a la WHSmith

No postal boxes so then popped into WHSmiths (opposite)- also pretty packed- everyone in both buying the typical Xmas stuff.

I then proceeded to post the SMWH box at Johnsons dry cleaners via Evri

Came away thinking it’s 50:50 at best the Evri parcel will ever make it to its intended destination but also that it might be an interesting area for CARD to get into? Selling the necessary postal bits and then offering the facility to deliver in store via a tie up with a delivery company and a small station in shop that is self service?

Just a thought