Member Info for FED1

Let me pre-empt RazorsEdge morning update post tomorrow morning:

There is no Boo RNS. There is no Preliminary Results. No Q1 Trading Update. No AGM announcement.

Just continued contempt for small shareholders who have lost a lot of money in this turkey.

SCB - you are way too hard on Dan. He is credible. More so than Mike Ashley being CEO.

However, saying marketplace when Youthbrands is in double digit decline is weak. That is not a fast fashion strategy.

Lol.

I still rate Dan.

Dan isn’t fast fashion. But I still rate him. He is a chubby fella in trendy clothing. I think Inditex and ASOS (Calamonte) show more credibility with fast fashion.

I’m not convinced that Dan is the best custodian of Youth Brands.

Kamani controls Youth Brands. Frasers controls Debs, KM and Labels. And we get shares in both enterprises.

It seems Youth Brands is no longer central to turnaround strategy - barely worth a footnote in Trading Update.

Maybe business should be split.

I think we know what Dan is about. Digital.

We are going to hear about marketplace, digital, AI, low capital intensity, blah, blah blah......

Ultimately we need numbers. Yes Debenhams is showing the numbers albeit massaged by injection of labels. Youth Brands is on fire.

I am not against Dan's strategy. Maybe he can turn Debs into Very? That is worth much more.

We need to see an improvement in numbers. Not buzzwords on a PowerPoint.

I actually think Dan is going to be a great CEO. Let’s hope he can start delivering on Youth brands. If this goes belly up, Dan will get a c-suite job at another retailer/ecommerce.

SCB - in terms of AGM, I am leaning towards voting Against the re-election of all the directors. They have arguably failed to live up to their prior statements on shareholder transparency. This business review is pain-staking and it is not obvious how to release value anymore.

The longer the delay, the greater the expectation. However, if post results, we are north of 30p then I will reassess.

I wonder if the meeting between Ashley and Boo's non-exec Chairman ever took place? It could be part of the reason why Frasers walked away. I know the Board are hostile to Frasers overtures but to refuse a meeting with your largest shareholder, who has form for being a difficult blighter......

https://www.drapersonline.com/news/mike-ashley-continues-battle-for-boohoo-with-cash-injection-bid

Hexam, my point being, if there are no other bidders for RevB, then I think the lenders at RevB are in a more precarious position than Boo, and would most likely strike a deal to rollover the debt for a change in counterparty risk.

Didnt a recent article suggest that Boo was in discussion with some leftfield lenders and that the lenders were looking to secure part of the debt on assets? That's when Ashley said that Frasers was willing to lend money to Boo but it seemed Boo's Chairman was ignoring his request for a meeting.

The more I think about it, the more I think RevB is the reason for the delay.

Hexam/SCB - assuming there are no other bidders, and that Boo is the undisclosed bidder. Then if Boo was unable to get agreeable terms for the additional debt, then it may be forced to walk away. I disagree that RevB is better credit risk than Boo. RevB needs a lifeline and Boo is most likely that lifeline. I suspect RevB creditors would rather extend terms with Boo as borrower, rather than rollover with RevB, or go into liquidation.

You would assume that Boo could extract good terms from the existing lender of RevB? If Boo were to walk away, then RevB creditors would most likely take a loss. At least with Boo as the borrower, they have "better" credit risk.

As I said previously, there are two reasons: 1) They are waiting to close some deal in order to deliver good news; or 2) The accounts are a mess and they can't even get sign off.

The fact that RevB is still dragging on suggests this may be related.

It would be helpful if Kamani and Kane steps down so we can get let Dan get on with it. I suspect he will do a good job of convincing market of turnaround prospects if shareholders believed that this is now a professionally run company (BoD and execs).

Prior to 2023, we would have received the 1Q trading update nearly two weeks ago.

Here we are waiting for the preliminary results.

Apparently Mr Finley was one of the keynote speakers at the AWS Symposium yesterday.

https://aws.amazon.com/events/emea-symposiums/retail-consumer-goods-london/

I share the concerns about the delay in results and a return to poor shareholder relations under the new CEO.

I think there are only three credible solutions:

1) There is a major strategic change which will be announced and it is taking longer than expected. This could be related to RevB or part of the Strategic Review.

2) They are in ongoing discussions with lenders and may be preparing a further capital raise.

3) The auditor is not willing to sign off Annual Report.

The third option is mostly scariest. However, you would imagine that with debt not due until October 2026, then the auditor would not be concerned yet about it being a going concern. The implied cash flow does appear to be negative in 2H FY25 period but not worryingly so. The refund issue seems to be less prominent (source: Instagram comments). Likewise, hiring Daniel Craig to DJ at your summer bash doesn’t appear to signify a company on the brink.

I am therefore hopeful for (1).

Hopefully it was Carol’s leaving do.