Koovs Share Discussion Threads

[effortless cool] 07/10/2017 09:19

That's because you're odd.

[adeje65] 07/10/2017 09:00

For someone who doesn't hold any Koovs shares,nor ever will, you seem to spend a good deal of your time commenting. Personally I'd rather tidy my sock draw than comment on shares I don't own

[effortless cool] 07/10/2017 08:48

It is interesting that the strategic partnerships with the Times of India Group and HT Media Group have led to large prepayments being made to both of those groups.

HT put up £3.0m in June 2016 and Times of India put in £3.9m in November 2016. However, the accounts at end-March 2017 show £6.9m of prepayments to HT Group and Times of India Group. Thus, it would seem that the entirety of the funds raised from these two media groups has flowed straight back to them in order to "secure future advertising services from HT Media Group and Times of India Group on favourable terms".

A cynic might view these "strategic partnerships" as an elaborate sham.

[jamesto2] 07/10/2017 02:17

Koovs sales rise but so do losses, expects profit by 2020

By Sandra Halliday - 7 September 2017
Koovs had a good year in the 12 months to March 31, on the sales front at least. The still-lossmaking London-listed business said sales order value growth was up 87% in pounds sterling to £10 million, or 65% in Indian rupees to INR1.616 billion, (the discrepancies in the figures being accounted for by exchange rate issues.)



Koovs


Its net sales, which means the above figures minus tax, were £12.5 million (a 78% increase) or INR1.086 billion (a 58% rise). And wholesale revenue rose 49% to INR761 million.

All that came as web traffic rose 79% to 78.5 million visits to the site.

Which is all very well but what did it mean for the bottom line at the fast fashion e-tailer? As mentioned, the company, which mainly targets the young Indian market, it still making a loss but it said the pre-tax loss was “stable” at £19.3 million or INR 1.691 billion. While it doesn’t seem very stable in pounds sterling, given that a year ago the loss was £16.7 million, the rupee figure is rather more forgiving with the prior year’s loss being INR1.65 billion.

And the company admitted that India’s demonetisation had an impact. With cash being taken out of circulation, there was a pressing need to discount in an economy where shoppers often pay for online goods in cash.

Focusing on the good news, the company is still in its early stages and red ink on the balance sheet is to be expected. The loss may have been slightly wider this time, but sales leapt forward and if the firm can maintain that momentum, as well as its trading margin improvement, then profits should be on the horizon. The company certainly thinks they are and is expecting to move out of the red and into the black within just a couple of years.

It certainly appears to have plenty of cash available to invest in its growth. In FY17, it successfully raised capital of £39.1 million and added two new strategic investors, The Times of India Group and The Hindustan Times, two of the largest media Groups in India.

BRIGHT FUTURE?

Koovs is headquartered in London, where the majority of its design and buying team is based, with all other operational functions based in India and this structure seems to be working for it.

There were some good numbers in the report that suggested better times ahead with that higher website traffic figure being one of them. But the company also said that it has seen brand awareness growth rising to 15% (from 2016’s 8%), driven by targeted and efficient marketing, and a 100% increase in both units shipped and repeat customers.

This is being helped by the large amount of exclusive product on its site. Some 40% of sales currently come from Koovs Private Label and together with selected edits from major brands that are exclusive to Koovs, 70% of lines are now unique to the e-tailer across the site.

The company’s social media activities are also boosting awareness and its social media audience has grown to over two million followers with “industry-leading engagement over three times” that of the nearest category competitor.

Importantly too, as we reported earlier, it signed its first international distribution agreement to launch the Koovs private label brand this summer in the Middle East on Amazon’s souq.com, the region's leading e-commerce platform.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

CEO Mary Turner said: "We are pleased to have delivered strong sales growth, significantly outperforming India's e-commerce market by over five times during the challenging period of demonetisation, which affected the whole economy in India.

"Our highly distinctive and targeted brand marketing has further established Koovs fashion authority among our core market of India's 18 to 34-year-olds.

"The focus for FY18 is to build on these foundations for sustainable growth towards profitability in FY20 and to further capitalise on the unique growth prospects of India's fashion e-commerce market.”

The company is not being particularly ambitious in targeting FY20 as the year in which it makes a profit. The Indian market for online western fashion is forecast to grow rapidly to $3.5 billion by that year and with the continued growth of India's digitally connected, aspirational middle class, Koovs believes that it “is extremely well positioned to benefit from this impetus.”

The company said that the funding it has raised has enabled it “to continue to build the brand efficiently through hyper-targeted marketing that is connecting and resonating with the young, urban and style-conscious customer and has established Koovs as the leading brand in its category for customer engagement across social media.”

It has also helped it complete the deployment of a new micro-services tech platform which is spearheading its 'mobile first' strategy and is “already providing innovative operational benefits, enabling the business to tap into new technology tools such as automated visual merchandising and promotions engine.”

And the company will need all the tech tools and social media engagement it can get because it has ambitious aims. It wants to increase its share of the youth fashion market in India from 4% to over 10% and to build Koovs into India's number one Western fashion destination by 2020. Watch this space.

[jamesto2] 06/10/2017 21:38

harebridge - 21 Jul 2017 - 12:51:02 - 2917 of 3007
Funding sorted with heavy director involvement as I thought it would & mentioned before. Positive margins too!
Trading update next week & news on Middle East launch (Souq.com) to be announced.

Looks like this is finally turning- looking forward to £1 very soon : )

Smart money coming in now fully funded- well done to those who have been adding sub 40p. Comedy gold lol

[harebridge] 06/10/2017 20:40

Funding to be finalised very soon (probably within 2 weeks) where there will be an update on launch of Souq.com & a six month trading update.I believe the funding will be completed at 40p, so well done to those buying in at these levels!Watch out for a really big update soon ; )

[harebridge] 06/10/2017 20:40

Funding to be finalised very soon (probably within 2 weeks) where there will be an update on launch of Souq.com & a six month trading update.I believe the funding will be completed at 40p, so well done to those buying in at these levels!Watch out for a really big update soon ; )

[harebridge] 06/10/2017 20:40

Funding to be finalised very soon (probably within 2 weeks) where there will be an update on launch of Souq.com & a six month trading update.I believe the funding will be completed at 40p, so well done to those buying in at these levels!Watch out for a really big update soon ; )

[harebridge] 06/10/2017 20:37

Wow, really is the muppet show on hereAs for Effortless Cool, he's got some front posting on here. Here's what the bumbling buffoon wrote about Boohoo, selling out at 40pEffortless Cool - 28 Apr 2016 - 09:45 - 2091 of 3005 - 3I have updated my forecasts for BOO and feel that the valuation is very stretched at the current price. Accordingly, I have sold all my shares this morning.I'm going to keep tracking them, as I like the company and the business model but, based on current information, I would only be a buyer below 40p.My valuation is 41.4p, based on an adjusted PE ratio of 25.imranawan - 28 Apr 2016 - 10:10 - 2093 of 3005 - 1Effortless Cool - would you be willing to share your forecasts? I sold out on Monday just before the results as I thought the valuation is up with events and couldn't see what the catalyst for the share price to move up would be.

[ksharlandjiev] 06/10/2017 20:23

I was one of the lucky to buy BOO at 40p. You?

[ksharlandjiev] 06/10/2017 18:50

jackson83: very small company with very big marketing budget lol! How much ASOS and BOO are spending for marketing? Compare pls?

[jamesto2] 06/10/2017 18:50

Maybe worth a top up at 12p/15p but it will be a total punt like on the horse to win a race with one leg

[ksharlandjiev] 06/10/2017 18:45

Adeje - do your research mate?!?!

[adeje65] 06/10/2017 18:25

Between October 2015 to May 2016 the share price dropped to similar levels it's at today, hitting a low of less than 13p. I wasn't onboard back then, didn't even know the company existed. My question is, was there the same hysteria shown on here when the share price was 13 pence as there is today ?

[ksharlandjiev] 06/10/2017 17:33

I don't know much about India economy I must admit... but surely it's cheaper to advertise there than UK?With £2m / month (186m INR) their name should be on every Wall, under every stone and billboard no???It could be just my contractor there who haven't heard about them but I don't know anyone else (credible) who lives in India to ask...

[effortless cool] 06/10/2017 17:15

KOOV had INR 646m of cash and bank deposits at 31/3/17.

They had operating cash flow of INR -2,233m in the year to 31/3/17. That equates to around INR -186m per month.

They raised approximately INR 760m (£8.9m) through an issue of convertible loan notes in July 2017.

Based on the cash and bank deposits at last year-end, plus the money raised subsequently, and assuming that the rate of cash burn this year is consistent with last year, KOOV had about 7.5 months' worth of funds.

On this basis, KOOV cash is due to run out roughly half way through November 2017.

Better get moving raising that additional £7.5m they have been promising since July. On the same assumptions, that should extend their life until end-February 2018.

[adeje65] 06/10/2017 17:10

In response to the previous post,
over the last 8 months on two occasions I've spoke with call centre operatives based in India, both times I've asked if they've heard of Koovs, both times the answer was yes and followed it up with what Koovs business is.