Ashley (laura) Share Discussion Threads

[cockneyrebel] 31/3/2011 07:35

They have smashed revised up forecasts by 20% nearly.

They've increased the divi by 50% year on year, much more than forecast - a sign of their confidence going fwd imo.

Nearly £40m in cash - 20% of the mkt cap.

Salles off a bit in the past couple of months butfrom a much higher level than markets were expecting, the increased operating efficiencies and the rebalance of stores to web/retail will more than offset that imo - especially if you listen to their outlook.

Buying a lot of these retailers here is a sweet spot imo - the market looks 6-9 months ahead and as soon as it smells an improvement in the climate retail will rocket imo.

Meantime ALY pays 1.5p divi per annum or 6%. The 1p final divi in June and 1.5p divi next year means a 10% return over 15 months - and ISA-able.

CR

[philmac56] 31/3/2011 07:22

onward and upwards, a good set of resuts AGAIN, AGAIN, when are the market going to wake up yo this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[playful] 31/3/2011 07:09

exceeded my expectations!

This is the key ..........

"We have seen again this year the importance of E-Commerce trading and are especially pleased with growth of 45% in this channel as we reach out to customers in a new and dynamic way."

[bigbigdave] 31/3/2011 07:08

Way ahead! Yippeeee! 8-)

[playful] 31/3/2011 07:07

Laura Ashley announces results for the 52 weeks to 29 January 2011 showing record profits.

Summary
· Total Group sales up 6.2% to £285.0m (2010: £268.4m)
· Total UK retail sales up 5.3% to £256.6m, like-for-like sales up 5.6%
· All product categories showing positive like-for-like sales growth:
o Furniture sales up 7.2%, like-for-like sales up 8.9%
o Home Accessories sales up 3.1%, like-for-like sales up 4.0%
o Decorating sales up 5.3%, like-for like-sales up 6.3%
o Fashion sales up 2.6%, like-for-like sales up 1.7%
· Gross margin rate maintained
· Profit before taxation, including exceptional gains, up 119% to £24.1m (2010: £11.0m)
· Profit before taxation, excluding exceptional gains, up 91% to £19.3m (2010: £10.1m)
· Exceptional gain of £4.8m (2010: £0.9m), primarily due to the sale of the Bardon warehouse
· Total EPS of 2.65p (2010: 0.80p)
· Adjusted EPS of 1.99p (2010: 0.67p)
· Strong Balance Sheet with £38.5m cash at the year end (2010: £17.4m) and a clean inventory position
· Final dividend proposed of 1.0 pence per share making the total dividend of 1.5 pence per share for the year (2010: Total dividend 1.0 pence per share)

[riskblue] 30/3/2011 16:27

Well I've had 3 calls in the last three days from a Christopher Ross of William Campbell Company offering to buy my ALY shares as part of a takeover. Obviously a scam. He finally got to speak to me this afternoon and sadly, he hung up when he realised I was onto him, so I never got to find out how much he was offering, and more importantly, how much I would have to put in some fictitious account to get my hands on the dosh. I have added it to the huge list of scams through the FSA.
Let's hope the real world tomorrow proves more fruitful.

[killieboy] 30/3/2011 15:11

Doom and gloom in retail sector at mo, lets hope ALY buck the trend tomorrow - should do if trading update was anything to go by - good luck all.

[pnetol] 30/3/2011 14:47

CR, I think that you are right that the market will wake up to these on their results. It could also spark Walker Greenbank into life ahead of their finals in just over a weeks time?

[dick grasso] 30/3/2011 11:08

Whats your expectations for EPS tomorrow CR?

[playful] 30/3/2011 10:59

Agreed C.R - Not many high yielding shares with growth prospects like this one

[cockneyrebel] 30/3/2011 10:56

Think the market will wake up to these on tomorrow's results imo.

I'm sure few realise the divi here - at least 2p back in divi over the next 15 months.

CR

[playful] 30/3/2011 10:55

A New and Unique Solution for Conservatory Blinds Exclusively from Laura Ashley by Thomas Sanderson

[playful] 30/3/2011 08:47

Moss Bros well received so that's a good indication.

[philmac56] 30/3/2011 08:10

were all on baited breath awaiting tomorrow including the markets.

She it fly tomorrow, a cert.

PDYOR

[playful] 27/3/2011 15:46

Their store in Liverpool Street is embracing online shopping by featuring funky internet pods. These pods encourage shoppers to buy online and the web points show just how easy and efficient it is.

The key to the future valuation in my view are their plans to extend the website portal into new European marketplaces, they already deliver to Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland and it's my guess they will launch local language country sites shortly.





Laura Ashley's shares are lightly traded, with a free-float of only 28 per cent. The group's chairman, Kay Peng Khoo, and related parties control 61 per cent of the shares. Analysts said this could magnify the effect of the announcement on the group's shares.

[playful] 26/3/2011 11:35

I thought they are due on Tuesday

[cockneyrebel] 26/3/2011 10:34

Interesting little snip here too - tho I can't read the whole thing, on a Google I get this:



"Women's clothing Brand Anthropologie and Next Laura Ashley Top ...‎
Jazzou - 3 days ago

In the UK, 'Next' brand, Laura Ashley is the UK's biggest Ebay search. These results obtained from Terapeak (an Ebay trends monitoring site) suggests that ... "


From what I can gather Laura Ashley is coming top in Google searches for clothing along with Next and Anthropologie on ebay.

Sort of interesting imo - ALY really seems to be benefitting from web sales at a rapidly increasing rate imo.

CR

[cockneyrebel] 25/3/2011 17:51

yep, and web traffic is up 20%+ over the past 3 months too.



CR

[playful] 25/3/2011 16:52

Here you go...



Floral prints take over the high street - I can hear our tills ringing all summer long

[bobby.ifa] 25/3/2011 16:41

Wow, that is a hell of a lot of website users, where did you get that stat' from playful?

[playful] 25/3/2011 16:24

I think we could potentially have another ASOS in the making here...

ASOS have 2.9 million registered website users
Mkt cap 1,321.5 - T/O 223.0

Laura Ashley has 2.3 million registered website users
Mkt cap 182.3 - T/O 268.4

Also, it's worth remembering we have 10% of moss bros too

[spaceparallax] 25/3/2011 14:53

looking livelier this afternoon