Mbl Share Discussion Threads

[jeff h] 06/12/2010 12:58

The Hut seems to have no problem gaining funding for on-line acquisitions.

Makes you think how much GMV etc would go for if it was a separate entity.

[davidosh] 06/12/2010 12:29

Timesmoney....lol

Yep Christmas has not been cancelled so no need to begrudge MUBL doing £1m in extra sales via online delivery with Sainsbury and Bee.com or should we call you Scrooge !?

Incidentally how do you figure that MBL did not make a profit from the chart stuff and front line material as you call it ? Last years healthy increase in profits suggests they did ! Maybe lower margin but higher volume and ability to return with lower risk suggests it is still good business. Furthermore those lower margins are unlikely to be a problem so should ensure retained business with Morrisons.

What Morrisons need is a shiny new website like Sainsbury and we know just the team to deliver it !! Watch this space...

[timesmoney] 06/12/2010 12:12

Weekly Reality Check.
Boys, Its Christmas. People buy cds dvds etc at Christmas. They dont buy any more than they ever did, in fact they buy less. They used to buy them in record shops, then in supermarkets, now on line.
MBL makes money out of budget products that have little price transparency they do not make money out of chart and front line material. No distributor ever has, or will. That why the massive increase in MBL sales(from wherever it comes) has resulted in a the market turning its back.
By the way, any the wiser on the profits warning?

[devymaster] 06/12/2010 10:12

Don't often read The Express but noticed this morning that Morrisons have a couple of large ads for entertainment deals - DVDs, CDs et cetera. 'Until stocks last' .......... so hopefully MBL can keep getting stock to stores!

[rbcrbc] 05/12/2010 18:11

Chorion eyes bid for Hit Entertainment

Media group Chorion Plc is considering bidding for Hit Entertainment, the Sunday Times said in an unsourced report.The newspaper said Hit was being sold by its owner Apax Partners for up to 1 billion pounds. It added that Jefferies investment bank was advising Chorion on the possible bid.

Officials at Chorion could not be reached for a comment on the report.



Hit is loss making and has a turnover of 166m GBP

We are profitable and have a turnover of 194m GBP and a mkt cap of 20m GBP

I know the businesses are far from directly comparable but it might spark some interest in the sector.

[davidosh] 05/12/2010 16:59

Thanks patersdw

05/11/10..first day launch (the first digit is a dummy number)


Day 5....101238
Day 7....101792 (am)(dvd)
Day 8....102353 (am)(book)
Day 12...104263
Day 20...109109
Day 21...110059 (pm) (Two dvds)
Day 22...111070 (pm)
Day 25...114342 (am) (multiple order)
Day 27...118502 (am) (boxed set)
Day 28...121238
Day 30...123742 (pm) (boxed set) 5/12

So if we allow for another 1000 or so orders to come in for the rest of today it looks like the first full month of operations from a standing start has driven very nearly 25000 new orders. I wonder what the expectation was when the website was launched ?

The week on week growth of course has been staggering but that is bound to happen whilst they are registering new customers and building loyalty. The Sainsbury grocery website has 120,000 weekly users. If the Entertainment website can reach just 35% of those as regular users and they made an order every month then that would be a nice 10,000 or so weekly orders. There will be many attracted to the Entertainment site that of course never do grocery buying online and shareholders of MUBL as a bonus...lol

Does anyone know how the growth of Sainsbury Online has developed over the last few years ?

[patersdw] 05/12/2010 16:36

Order No 123742, Sun pm, boxed set

[davidosh] 04/12/2010 13:37

Nice spot miamiSteve...There are full page ads again in the Weekend TV magazines so Sainsbury are keeping up the marketing campaign. They push the online site only and do not mention if the offers are available in store so should attract continued registrations and new customers.

[miamisteve] 03/12/2010 23:59

page two of the presentation features a screen shot from currys website. Assume they are another customer.

[davidosh] 03/12/2010 14:09

Through the 20000 mark....

05/11/10..first day launch
Day 5....101238
Day 7....101792 (am)(dvd)
Day 8....102353 (am)(book)
Day 12...104263
Day 20...109109
Day 21...110059 (pm) (Two dvds)
Day 22...111070 (pm)
Day 25...114342 (am) (multiple order)
Day 27...118502 (am) (boxed set)
Day 28...121238

Sales have doubled in one week and are now running at 3000 a day

[shanklin] 03/12/2010 08:42

That's good to see. Well done MUBL.

[jeff h] 03/12/2010 07:59

GMV Presentation slides now on website:-

[kimboy2] 03/12/2010 01:21

On The Hut's affiliate website it sats 10% commission and an average order value of £25.

[davidosh] 03/12/2010 00:50

Judgement...there is some discussion earlier in the thread about margins. What are your thoughts ? Having attended the presentation we are fairly well briefed on how things have been set up with Sainsbury but agreed not to post anything with commercial sensitivity on a public forum. I personally think that considering GMV created the website, they then run the site and MBL are supplying the goods you can take it that MBL overall will not be unhappy if thousands of customers are making orders each day. MBL have a team of five up in Lancashire on a Sainsbury desk dealing with customer problems, supply etc

If Matt Porter decides he needs to modify or scramble the order numbers then I doubt it will be because of our watchful gaze....more likely he does not want competitors to know too much but then whilst the growth is showing so significantly strong he probably wants them to know what a tremendous job they have done.

I telephoned Sainsbury marketing team about an issue I had with their advertising and of course mentioned how pleased I was with the new website. Matt will be pleased to know that they said customers had been very complimentory about the ease of using it and it had certainly coped very well with the pre Christmas demand.

[judgement] 02/12/2010 23:50

David, since they know how you are counting, be aware that it wouldn't be difficult to modify the invoice numbering mechanism.

Any thoughts on what sort of margins there should be, taking into account that they have to be split in some way with Sainsbury's?

[davidosh] 02/12/2010 14:52

Kimboy2....You would probably need to look at the comparable GP for other online retailers or e-commerce divisions of retailers. I cannot see the margins being less than for MBL as a whole supplying the physical stock to all the retail customers who then sell it on to the end user.

The average value per order number can include multiple purchases so it is fair to assume near to £20 overall. There are 120,000 orders a week on the Sainsbury site I think so 10 to 15% of those already internet savvy customers potentially going to buy an entertainment product would be reasonable I think going forwards.

I would be very happy if the average after six months and the site is well established turns out to be 3000 per day. My guess for the peak before Christmas is in about three or four days time with this weather. 10000 in one day would be a dream but it could happen.

I have just had another order number sent via text and at present it looks like we are going to hit 5000 today. Congratulations will be in order (lol no pun intended!) to Matt Porter and his team for that milestone.

[kimboy2] 02/12/2010 13:39

If we assumed that they did 3,000 orders a day every day, an average order value of £20 and a gross profit of 11% then that would be a GP of £2.4m pa.

Does anybody have any real figures to put in the equation other than orders ?

[davidosh] 02/12/2010 13:36

Jeff H.....thanks. I will not add it to the list but that is 289 additional orders in more or less one hour 15 minutes. With say 15 decent trading hours that backs up my 3000 a day for sure and to be honest I get a few order details sent by text to me but do not post absolutely everything and just trying to show the trend.

The Hut are certainly very acquisitive. Here is a deal done last month....



and this one last week....

On Thursday 25th November, The Hut Group acquired Mankind Direct Limited (incorporating www.Mankind.co.uk & www.BeautyExpert.co.uk) for £2.5m cash. Mankind Direct is the UK's largest male Health & Beauty business, generating £5m in sales over the last 12 months and bringing with it a fantastic range of luxury brands. Following the acquisition of Look Fantastic Group earlier this month, The Hut Group is now by far the UK's largest online retailer in both Women's and Men's Health & Beauty, with annual Health & Beauty sales of more than £25m.

I think we should keep an eye on any AIM listing documents or plans as we are now competing head on with our online offerings...

[jeff h] 02/12/2010 13:23

Max - cheers form the write up.

I just ordered a dvd from the website Order No 118791

[shanklin] 02/12/2010 13:05

Isn't that 4160 in two days? Great but not 3k per day yet

[davidosh] 02/12/2010 12:24

The snow means thousands are indoors trying to order everything they need online...

Here is the growth in figures

05/11/10..first day launch
Day 5....101238
Day 7....101792 (am)(dvd)
Day 8....102353 (am)(book)
Day 12...104263
Day 20...109109
Day 21...110059 (pm) (Two dvds)
Day 22...111070 (pm)
Day 25...114342 (am) (multiple order)
Day 27...118502 (am) (boxed set)

At this rate the profit guidance will need changing before Santa delivers the dividend cheques for sure !!

[davidosh] 02/12/2010 12:16

It says revenue growth is 150% so presumably The Hut is well over the £100m mark by now. Has anyone downloaded their latest accounts ? The IPO document will certainly be revealing.

NEWS FLASH ....NEWS FLASH ......NEWS FLASH

I have just placed an order at noon today on the Sainsbury website and the orders are growing at a phenomenal rate ....3000 in one day now.

WOWeeeee

Congratulations to Matt Porter and the team and boy will they be busy filling all those sacks for Christmas.