Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Hi I'm afraid although it sounds perverse you are not correct. Christmas does not come as a surprise. The only reason not to staff properly is restricted hours. The most common reason for this is a financial restriction being placed on the management. There are not many levers to pull in retail as most costs are fixed. Hours are the first thing to be cut. As per a previous post, the wage rate is a serious issue that has been ignored on this board. Surprisingly really, as it is the biggest cost to the business, and the business has previous in being unable to manage it by raising sales.
Regarding shop hours - these are not normally controlled so tightly if sales are good. It does not bode well when they are restricted to such an extent. This is one of the reasons this business will be private in the medium term. Greedy shareholders and banks, being satisfied, at the expense of staff. The business is fighting to keep editda on target, whilst battling tough sales figures and rising costs.
Ref the RNS in November: Although stating a slight improvement in sales figures, it is not clear the level of low/no margin items that are being used to 'pad' the figures. Admitting a web sales reduction is rather a kick in the teeth for the grand plan. Rather extreme but you could argue that net debt of over £100m arguably makes the shares worthless, as the business could easily have an enterprise value of under £100m. The rest of the RNS is typical management waffle.
The reality is, this business was built in a different era, for a past era. It has relied on high footfall, high staff levels, high volume, low prices. Those days have gone. With the stores struggling. the internet failing, and the most unrealistic business plan since Lotus Cars announced 5 new models at once, what is there to be positive about?
The staff issue is massive - with the living wage increase costing up to £8m a year extra, and years of failure in the business getting any like for like sales increase to pay for it, what are the options? Simply keep cutting staff hours, lose the best people, downward spiral.
There is no evidence that the board have the slightest idea of how to sort it out. They will just take what they can and wait for the inevitable. No doubt lots of the usual positive spin. Shareholders have got used to that - whilst joining the 90% club.
Hi Lokiloo. You have made some good points and a lot of people will respect your views. I wasn't going to post till January but as they have filed a RNS I will get one done this week when I get chance. It is unlikely to cheer a lot of posters on this board up but it is right for everyone to get all opinions.
It will never satisfy the market with no growth prospects and questionable, if any, profits. The share price will reflect that, and fall to a level that a private buyer believes makes it worth a punt. That level may be 20p or so.
It will never satisfy the market with no growth prospects and questionable, if any, profits. The share price will reflect that, and fall to a level that a private buyer believes makes it worth a punt. That level may be 20p or so.
Hi I will pass on the Card Factory gift thanks, a card would be nice though!
As sure as eggs this company will be going private. There are no growth prospects (compared with pre covid) and profits could fail to materialise at all. The board needs to substantiate why for £1m a year they can't make a positive impact.
The alternative prediction...
Christmas is a disaster
The Chairman is fired for being asleep at the wheel
The CEO is fired for not actually doing anything at all
The rest of the board are fired for rubber stamping the most ridiculous growth strategy in history
Shares crash to 20p
Gets taken private
Hi I am afraid this share could well continue heading south and stay there. Going from the latest update the board have no idea where to turn. In truth their options are limited. What got the company to the size it is, may now be its downfall.
LorenzoLynch I appreciate you taking the time to comment. CARD is a good business, but certain stakeholders (inc management, at least in public) are getting over enthusiastic about its prospects. Remember this: 'For God's sake, MacAdder, you are not Rob Roy! You're a top kipper salesman with a reputable firm of Aberdeen fishmongers; don't throw it all away!'. CARD have a chain of discount card shops. That's it. Anything else is management hype. They may make £35m on sales of say £350m when back on their feet. If so, the share price is unlikely to be that far away from what it is now. It is feasible that they don't even do that ,due to footfall/margins/errors in strategy (which have obviously been coming thick and fast for a few years), wage increases etc. It is only fair that these things are pointed out so that people are well aware of the risks.
Hi This board is in danger of becoming a CARD shareholders support chat. Get realistic. CARD's growth plan is pure fantasy. It is highly unlikely to exceed £400m sales ever again, with profits of under £40m. Work out the appropriate share price for that, then remember that is best case.
This puts it into perspective. Professionals at work...
Following Peel Hunt’s latest price target of 400 on the business this highlights that the broker now believes there is an increase of 60.84% from Card Factory Plc’s current share price of 248.7.
Thank you RoxburyHouse. Its nice to be appreciated! It is very interesting to see the sentiment out there about CF. I am surprised how much criticism is generated for being negative. Would that be the same if it were positive? Some of my comments are a little tongue in cheek (eg CEO), however, all posts have a serious message. Were negative posts criticised when the share price was over £3? If so, then it seems the Chat is really just for comforting each other that 'things can only get better'.