Member Info for FED1

Topshop is on companies house as 24.8.2024 Limited.

It seems the company is valued on balance sheet at £180m (Heartland paid £135m for its 75% stake).

It be interesting to monitor this going forward. The Board have to show that retaining 25% was the right thing to do.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15919254/filing-history

My impression is that market is punishing companies with perceived balance sheet issues. I hope ASOS can demonstrate it has a roadmap to reducing debt.

Because borrowings excluding leases is over £500m.

The debt is expensive.

I received some targeted advertisement from John Lewis yesterday saying it now has TopShop in store. It was a slick advert.

I just hope the 25% stake retained by Asos is still worth £80m.

If i was to hazard a guess, I would suspect that we may have a potential equity raise.

I reckon Calamonte should have sold TopShop to Shein/ABG and taken £215m versus £135m and a 75% stake. With concerns about private credit and a change in interest rate expectations following oil price spike, I believe the BoD have made a strategic error in not taking the higher offer.

It is guiding neutral FCF. I am starting to wonder if Calamonte should still be leading this business. The headline numbers are not satisfactory.

I wonder what it means when it says there is a discernible improvement in performance in Youth Brands.

Are we talking about revenue decline has moderated sharply in last six months?

Or adjusted EBITDA and revenue declines were still double digit?

I suspect mgmt took a big bath for Youth in 1H to set it up for 2H and FY27.

I don’t think we get any news on Burnley sale nor any specific guidance on annualised cost savings. There will undoubtedly be an adjusted item below the line to take into account the redundancies. I also suspect that cash flow wasn’t as strong hence the equity raise. Net debt will probably be massaged temporarily by the equity raise but I am not convinced it will be used to pay down debt but rather restructuring charges.

I also expect an announcement on KM licensing and potentially even something to do with NastyGal.

I see from the trading update on 28 January that we should expect a trading update in March.

“Debenhams Group (AIM: DEBS), a leading online platform, is pleased to announce that for the year to 28 February 2026 ("FY26"), it is trading above expectations and full year Adjusted EBITDA[1] for total operations in the current year is now expected to be £50m[2].

This is a result of the continued momentum in our Debenhams brand, a discernible improvement in the performance of our Youth Brands and accelerated progress on our transformation plan. All our Brands continue to trade profitably.

We are particularly pleased with the pace and scale of PLT's turnaround and the resulting material improvement in profitability. The Board had previously held the brand as an asset for sale. Given the success we are seeing with the turnaround, the momentum it is building and the substantial opportunity ahead as a fashion-led marketplace, the brand will be retained. As a result, PLT will be reported in the current year in Debenhams' continuing operations.

Debenhams is exploring significant licensing opportunities and continues to advance the sale of non-core assets which would materially reduce the net debt in the next 12 months.

The Company will update the market in March 2026.”

Certainly not defending them, but usually it is the Company Secretary who takes ownership of this responsibility. Since she left, it could explain the overdue filing?

Seems the accounts have been submitted although no available for the public to see yet.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11941376/filing-history

There is no valid reason.

Ultimately results were issued end of August for Group but otherwise shoddy practice by the CFO not to file them on Companies House by correct date. Admittedly I was a bit late filing mine end of December but I was on holiday and had some IT issues. Paid the £150 fine.

Not sure it signifies anything substantial other than a tardy CFO.

I was just checking if the subsidairies accounts were overdue and came across this:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11399048/filing-history

Pentland (owned by JD Sports) acquired the global right distribution rights to Karen Millen footwear in 2018. Karen Millen was later acquired by Boohoo and it became the brand owner.

Pentland KM was never that profitable. It appears the contract for the license has now expired and the licensing rights will revert back to Debs Group.

Two Points:

1) It seems highly likely that there will be a KM licensing deal announced soon;

2) Not sure how lucrative this would actually be. Fashion Apparel royalty rates are normally 4-8% of net sales (before VAT).

The share price was 22.5p before announcement. They just issued shares at 18p. A 20% discount. Not a 5% discount.

The moment you realise, that they are absolute F-tards.

The BoD are a bunch of F-tards

Paulleydee,

I agree this is concerning that we have not had an announcement that the £35m is raised. This is not how you do a rapid book build. Existing commitments are now wavering.

I want Kamanis out. And am rapidly losing faith in Dan and his trainee CFO. Zeus should be fired. The Board cleared out. This is amateur hour.

My 2 cents is that the plan is for Burnley to close. It may facilitate a sale to an investor buyer (e.g., pension fund, REIT, etc) if Boohoo did a short term lease back so the investor doesn’t have a vacant period.

Boohoo are taking out a lot of distributions capacity. SCB you were the biggest advocate for this as you wanted headcount down rapidly. However, there will be migration issues so Boo probably be happy to have another year lease to sort out transition.

Bfd is most likely correct that all staff related to Burnley who won’t be retained are now at end of consultation period.

Telegraph has a story that Frasers voted against every resolution in ASOS’s AGM.

Https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/mike-ashley-targets-asos-boohoo-mulberry-f5xhfv7q9?srsltid=AfmBOopBOxx9JoQGkrnJWnCR-oi7UPSED7Twq6xclMmQX7t9v9gYT2KU&gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqfKIfgCcS5XO4t0MvURzamPd-JRuv9sSXC0xg1n8KwPBc1wjZwwEgEHC40PwNk%3D&gaa_ts=6973c5c1&gaa_sig=bIRxoeCBLFE3XaZJWUzjcw5f4TqozN2Z4YkvBOOUjoXnip1c79SeUg_kKMqIUevZE3a_iPo72w6t4Hta98RmDg%3D%3D

It does seem Frasers has voted against in the AGM.

Level5,

The corporate broker, Panmure Liberum, valued Burnley at £30-40m in its August note: Roadmap to £1bn equity value is clear.