Member Info for Rahan

Very important figure I get from that article for which I was recently looking for. It seems that a new store openning costs 350k to Footassylum, and given that it haa 4M GBP in cash at Y/E, it gives me a plenty of comfort...

Well... If you may remember, I openned a threat a time ago when I visited Croydon Footasylum store which dissapointed me so much that I had to talk about it and ask you whether other stores were so badly organised. But, this weekI traveled again to the UK and before going back to the airport I just wanted to visit another store of FOOT and the one I thought would be worth was the one placed in shepherds bush westfield.

All right, this Shopping Center attonished me! A very modern, luxurious and big one! I was so excited to see where and how FOOT store was located. I just arrived to the JD Sport sotre, in front there was a Foot Locker and the next store was... Footasylum. JD's was very big in compare with its 2 peers, Footlocker was kind of showroom - very nice, and FOOT store was as stated in the Annual Reports, they are exploiting every meter square available.

I saw a lot of staff working inside (much more than FootLocker with only 4 staff). Only in the counter there were 4 young girls, in the inventory room there were a couple in & out, another 3-4 young staff were serving the customers.

The nº of staff was a very significant detail as it may be due to busy weekends where they require that number of staff. But today, tuesday at 16:00, the store was quiet busy, FootLocker was empty, and JD as you may know... very busy as well - Not any surprise.

Being honest, I wanted to purchase some stuff, but nothing was of my type. This is an issue that worries me. I see very nice and good cloth with huge variey in JD Sports, but in FOOT stores the variety is very limited. But then if you go to their website the variety and webdesign is excellent. Which gives me a clue that they may be putting too much effort in online sales leaving the stores with limited models. Again, this is my opinion after having visited 2 stores.

I still do not like the way the reorganize the stores as gives an image of "SALE" (Primark type). But, I also understand there niche and for now, the top line of P&L supports their strategy where we see around 30% of revenue increase meaning that... they might be doing something right. What really makes me put more money in this company is not there stores, it is there focus on the online sales which are increasing YoY and they have a target of 50% of total rev. from Online platforms in the future. I always visit their website to check the promos and products, I have also downloaded their APP and both platforms are EXCELENT.

I beleive that FOOT key success factor will be Online sale, otherwise I wouldn't invest as in the high street there is a very well known and better placed company called JD Sports - which is expanding internationally with good results.

FOOT has become a Value Investing where I can purchase a company which is undervalued due to market overreaction, and which I beleive will recover at least its IPO level through Sale increase from there Online Platform (they have cut the new stores plan for the moment

Excellent News!!
An Investment Fund acquiring 5.20%. It is not an increase from a previous ownership, unless mistaken they have appeared all of a sudden from 0% to the recently acquired 5.20%. I also agree that it is interesting how they have purchased such a big nº of shares without moving the Share Price. Very Smart people...

You are not thinking on the reason of such discounts. The strategy for now is expansion. The IPO was for fund raise in order to grow the stores (up to 150) and invest in new channels (online). The company won't be profitable in the short term as it not consolidating yet, its growth time and what matters is the top line (revenues).
Once FOOT has become a big one in the high street & online retailer in his segment, then we might see profits.

For now, think that the owners have lost more than 2/3 of their wealth since IPO so at this price we are buying at bargain and they want to at least recover their wealth (which is range of 1.60-1.80 GBP/share).

You corrected a very important point. 2m was an income from a lease termination, not a cost.

Jonny_five is a real long term investor. :-) He reads and understands the reports. You all should do.

Told you guys. Today the best news you could expect were to at least keep the share price within the last weeks range (avg of 0.32)

I have read the whole statement and bad news that will drop the share price during following days/weeks are:
"...in order to preserve the balance sheet given the lower expectations for profitability in the near term, from FY20 the Company will scale back its targeted store expansion programme to two new stores and two upsizes per annum, until the capacity for greater investment returns."

"Excluding exceptional items, depreciation, amortisation and the share-based payment charge, admin expenses have increased to 44.5 per cent of revenue (HY18: 39.5 per cent of revenue)."

But as I stated, this a long term investment. Short-termist must avoid it. I beleive in Co's ability and commitment to bring value to their shareholders in the long term. Every activity in which they have burned cash is to build a strong brand and long-term revenue generating business structure.

I will keep loading during the next months.

Totally agree on last week volume. There was a particular day where volume was higher than the average, I remember that the previous day the volume was ridicule with only 50.000 shares having been traded and the next day it went up to 1 million of shares traded if I'm not wrong. And there was some buyer/s loading huge packages of shares- very round figures - so it must be a big one.
That gave me confident to keep loading as well.

This is our illusion that tomorrow an statement will drive the share up +20% +30% +50%. Why?
Tomorrow is a hope for those who are trying to recover part of their investment for the short term, I get it. But tomorrow is also an opportunity, in case there is further drop of the shares due to some bad news, to check again if fundamentals of the Company has change for the long term and BUY more for less.

I want to load more shares but at 0.32... I get less than I could get at 0.20 or 0.15 :-)
So I'm bullish Long Term, but BEARISH over the short term. I need to load more if fundamentals are as same as today.

Be realistic, from one month to another you are not going to see any miracle. Tomorrow the best we can expect is that there is no bad news if you are worried about the share price. I don't think you will read some spectacular thing that would rocket the share up. Otherwise... you would have seen a quite higher volume today - In my humble opinion.

Thanks for posting. This kind of insights is what really helps here. I encourage you all to visit the stores you may have nearby and tell us what you perceived. Would be nice if you also make the visit to the JD nearby to compare whether the store is well managed or not. For example, I did it in Croydon and posted here my concerns as the store was very badly seized. The only reason they might have choosen that particular mini-store is because JD was in front. But I didn't see that FOOT store as being able to compete with them. JD was crowded and lot of people buying, while FOOT was being quickly left by the visitors with empty hands - Because they perceived JD in front much better store for a shopping experience.

But I have to say that I also visited Birmingham FOOT store now that I remember in 2012, by that period of course I didn't know what company it was. And I remember that store very well. A big one, good space, well decorated one!

I would like to see the NEW stores. How they are seized and decorated.

I am not the kind of person who promotes stocks owned through stock forums, actually this is the first time I've registered to comment on this stock. The reason, as I said, I have never seen such penalized company in the past years. From 1.60 range of the IPO, to the 0.30 just because they had some usual business delays and cost during the opening and resizing.
The main focus of the company is still the same. I have been reading and reading, analysing, making calculations on valuation during the past nights and yesterday I decided to add FOOT shares at 0.30 range until it becomes my major position.
And, I am very strict with my long term portfolio, meaning that I do not beleive in short term trading profits or speculation philosophy. If I buy in, its for min. 5 YR to 10 YR.
My other positions are well known company's with a very strong last 10YR track record, with growth perspective and strong balance sheet position. FOOT, definetly is my biggest investment now and if its fall for some reason to the 0.20s I will load further package (if I still found the fundamentals of th Co. unaltered).

I don't your profile guys, but it seems that you appear only when this is up, and let the chat die when it's down. I would encourage you to think on investment as it is, an investment in a business as you were the entrepeneur or co-funder or whatever related person, and not in a short-term technicalanalyst traders, otherwise no different from a Casino.

Do not get me wrong, I just want to read quality posts instead of comments on volume and share price level now.

Let's have a serious valuation discussion instead of chart analysis and other type of unreasonable guess (no offence) you all are making. I am the same guy who posted few weeks ago after having visited for the first time a FOOT store near my hotel, in Croydon, and came back very disappointed.
I have been analysing it since then and realized that this company is trading below its Net Asset Value. Which gives you what is called a safety margin on the investment. So, for long-term investors this is a reason to buy IF the fundamentals of the company are not affected. Meaning that... we may be in a perfect case of market inefficiency - which as you might know, this is translated in a short-term opportunity for those who have patience.

Ok, let's go to the fundamentals. What has changed since the IPO? This is the very fundamental question I need you to answer me. I will provide you my insights:
-Since IPO, the debt/equity ratio has not changed. Good news, as there is no additional financial risk nor dillution for previous shareholders.
-Since IPO, the revenues have been increasing. They released FY2018 results with revenues up by 33%. This is what we call a GROWTH profile company which should be tradin at P/E above 20.
-Since IPO, there has been some bad news regarding UK high street, but it is an external factor, not internal.
-Since IPO, they have shown some re-structuring regarding store strategy and focused on other distribution lines, such as Online and Wholesale (new one in FY18).

What is the problem then? The profit reported? The fact that they have incurred major costs in resizing/+new stores (I prefer them to do it as I have long term interest and want this company to be financial efficient) is not a news that affect its fundamentals but only a short term accounting metric.

Have Management came up and said that the initial plan of opening up to 150 stores is not viable anymore? I don't think so.... So what is the issue since the IPO. I will let you guys answer because I have not been able to find any fundamental news in that regard.

I can tell you that I'm not short. Not at this price. I feel stupid having the shares at 2 GBP. At 32 pence it is tading below its Net Asset Value if I'm not wrong, so I would be stupid to short it when the company hast just closed FY18 with a +33% of revenue. Of course it needs to show profit, but we all know that they are in some kind of restructuring their business model (investing in IT, moving to Online and Wholesale, openning new facilities, etc...) and will take a mid-term for it. I wouldn't short this stock at this price.

Dear all,
I am an investor who recently visited London and for the first time I had the opportunity to enter and look how a Footassylum store looks like. To be more specific, I was in East Croydon so the nearest store was in a Shopping centre street just in front of... JD store. I entered first into the JD which I already known and was very busy and a nice queue of people of all range buying their stuff. Then I just crossed the street and enter into the FOOT one. I will be totally honest and objective. The shop was very small, like one fifth of the size of his competitor in front. I couldn't even enter easily as you get collapsed due to their products being lined-up from the entry door. Very far from being a tidy shop as JD is. Every thing was lined-up and put in the mid of the store, you didn't whether they were just selling-off or its just the way it always looks like. Found very few variety, I personally do not like their own brand as it very "chav". But I wanted to see the major brands and regarding NIKE, ADIDAS, etc.. there were very poor and oldfashioned products, at least not the same as JD had in their store which I liked very much. Very dark store, no lighting have been duly put in. What surprised me is the impression you get when you are in the store. The Experience (which nowadays is everything) you get is very chaotic and poor. There was no queue, just chav people entering and going out empty. But for me it was late... I realised how stupid I was beleiving all the stuff I read during the IPO and bought at 2,09. Obviously if I had visited it before the IPO, I would never have purachased it.

Let's be objective and serious. Was this an exception of store? The one you have visited are in line with JD? What was your impression?