Currys Share Discussion Threads

[tim 3] 10/1/2020 16:02

The irony of a company that try's to sell you security packages with every Laptop/PC they sell........

Really surprised GAME is still going to be honest.

[stdyeddy] 10/1/2020 09:31

The ICO fine was the maximum at the time; a very lucky escape though, considering the new rules. This is the second time DC has been caught for the virtually the same thing. It's hard to imagine the regulator hitting DC with a fine big enough to wipe out the business, but a third transgression might prove to be very seriously financially. Although even £1/2m is not helpful given where DC is right now in terms of cash. Let's hope they get their data house in order. I'm guessing that a lot of this was down to DC's aggressive policy on data collection in the first place. They used to demand a customer's name and address for buying even small low value items.

In the meantime, more retailers are hitting lows this morning; Superdry and, perhaps more importantly for DC and its tech market, GAME has said it's closing 40 UK stores.

[3dwd] 10/1/2020 09:10

This could also be interesting for the bears of Dixon's.. ............have a look at the fine £500,00 they have just had to pay over a data breach between July 2017 and April 2018 . How lucky was that that it happened before the implementation of EU General Data Protection Regulation in May 2018 . According to the FT GDPR allows regulators to fine a company up to 4% of of its annual worldwide revenue which in Dixons case would have amounted to a penalty of more than £400m .

[tim 3] 09/1/2020 20:06

Interesting that Alex was very keen to say what a poor job the previous management had done but seems to have done little to turn things round so far.

He was pretty gun ho about sorting out the mobile side and demanding better deals from the providers yet to see evidence of that and after 2 years you would expect to see some signs of things improving.

[double dd] 09/1/2020 19:35

Sorry might be 21st :) knew it was one or the other

[double dd] 09/1/2020 19:34

Next trading update is 22nd of Jan
. Figures will be massaged no doubt. All we been told for years now is we are losing what we said we would Lose. Time has come where they need to say it's fixed. Surprised they still say they lost what they thought they would lose as also say how much things have improved with other parts of the business.

[rachet1] 08/1/2020 16:09

Does anyone here know when an update from DC on the latest trading is due?

[tim 3] 07/1/2020 12:51

Yes it's all about margins with DC or lack there of.They are very good at maintaining volume and react quickly if it looks like sales are sluggish but usually at the expense of margins, just look at the mobile side as an example. Don't think things are bad enough for a cash crisis but I did notice JL saying electricals were down in the first week of the sale which is a concern.

[stdyeddy] 07/1/2020 11:59

If DC hasn't managed to buck the general retailing trend and sales are down on last year, that's going to hurt here more than it should since margins are already wafer thin. A number of other bullets heading DC's way I imagine since a lot of the working capital has just been paid out in dividends; towards the end of this month 42,000 employees need their Christmas period wages paid (highest working hours period of the year); towards the end of next month suppliers on 90-day terms will need to be paid for all of the Christmas stock. In the meantime we are in the slowest trading period of the year. If a cash crisis is going to hit, my guess is that it will either be in three weeks time or eight weeks from now.

[tim 3] 26/12/2019 23:13

Boxing day retail sales 10% lower but probably a combination of the weather and the ways its fell and increased online sales.

[tim 3] 23/12/2019 08:54

Even though people have short memories I can not believe this will have no effect on the brand, I certainly would not buy one.

Hotpoint was actually a decent brand till Indesit took them over (who in turn were taken over by Whirlpool) who cut every corner possible including safety it seems and were well known in the industry for producing cheap unreliable machines with very poor customer service.Its actually Indesit that are the issue here rather than Whirlpool but few will see it that way.

[jsforum] 22/12/2019 09:34

Next it will be the exploding Hotpoint ovens that are withdrawn- yet even after all the terrible publicity people keep buying

[givememymoneyback] 19/12/2019 13:15

I reckon a rights issue is coming, sooner or later.

[truthandnumbers] 19/12/2019 12:52

You're missing the point scemer. Those ifrs16 accounting rules are intended to make the accounts more transparent. We can now see that DC is committed to lease obligations that increase its overall indebtedness (massively). That's why it's appearing as a debt.

And perhaps you could tell me where the value is in the £2.8bn in goodwill and 0.5bn in other intangibles? The world has moved on and I doubt very much that there's billions in value in the name of the DC brands. Especially when those brands are able to generate a loss rather than a profit. There's around 50% of the asset base now in intangibles which will not pay the rent.

This balance sheet looks terrible to me. Worst of all, DC continues to pay out dividends, even though it's horribly in debt and profits have turned to loss, making a bad situation even worse.

It seems to me that DC's working capital (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is almost entirely dependent on selling product from suppliers and making those suppliers wait as long as possible before paying them. If suppliers were paid in 30 days, DC would have to substantially increase its borrowings to find working capital. DC's finance costs are rising through lower use of supplier working capital facility (amongst other things). Free cash flow is going down. Return on capital employed is going down. Debt is going up. Overall profitability has turned into a loss; that is a drastic situation for a business employing 42,000 people with a lot of key metrics heading negative and increasing competition for customers.

[scemer] 19/12/2019 10:18

Truth and numbers over £1 billion of debt is based on new accounting rules for leases its not loans take a close look at the accounts

[tim 3] 18/12/2019 10:06

Would not be surprised if they take a short term hit from this whirlpool situation.

Currys have a very close relationship with Indesit/Hotpoint and heavily promote their products would not be surprised if they bought in a lot of them for the sale and people are bound to be put of the brand now.

[truthandnumbers] 16/12/2019 14:17

What a run. From the August low, this is up 30% now and matching the April high. Feels frothy to me on volume, and I'm guessing that this rise is a combination of a short squeeze, index tide rising, and the divi about to be paid out. We all know that predictions are difficult, especially concerning the future, but I'll be surprised if this goes much further. The debt and the absence of tangibles on the balance sheet and the lack of profit make me think that DC will run out of cash by the next dividend payment. I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing a rights issue here soon. A lot of people are flagging DC as a sell, including investors chronicle on Friday just gone. I might be wrong, but I think that in a few months from now, people will be asking why DC was paying out dividends when it had no profits and £1.5bn in debt.

[anony mous] 13/12/2019 08:41

Hit high of 1.66 this morning.Needs to hold more there for turn back towards 2.00

[tim 3] 12/12/2019 20:52

jsforum

Any source or that or just get feeling.

Agree though seems strange they did not mention it.

John Lewis said electricals did well.

[jsforum] 12/12/2019 18:40

No Black Friday guidance because it was poor

[boix] 12/12/2019 14:19

Nice shorts squeeze

[tim 3] 12/12/2019 09:35

At least they are not shocking the market with updates anymore!
Tough market conditions but 2 years for mobile to break even, a lot can happen in 2 years still think they have way to any standalone CPW shops but I guess we have to trust that he knows what he's doing.
All in all could have been much worse but conditions are unlikely to improve much anytime soon.
Most important trading period coming up from Boxing day.

[anony mous] 12/12/2019 09:21

Lol and good luck with your short.