Member Info for Watchman007

Ferrari "If you look historically Rolex have moved away from other suppliers and started to keep everything in house from a-Z which I think is the mark of a good business .so basically I can’t see why they should move away from that philosophy".

What evidence do you have for this? There are no Rolex owned retail outlets in the world besides Bucherer to my knowledge.

There will be a trading update in early November. It will be for the quarter ending in October. If the numbers come in as advised then there is a good chance that the SP will rise as November and December are their busiest months. It will depend on general market sentiment. ATM 'smaller' companies aren't flavour of the month and past good updates have not had the reaction you might expect.

Money Shark. We are aligned. It would take a major swerve for Rolex to change focus from manufacture and supply to trying retail as well. I have said on previous posts that other brands have tried this and failed. The market seems to have taken the Bucherer deal as an indication of a shift in Rolex's strategy and an opportunity to drive the sp down. Its conceivable that Bucherer could compete with WOSG for any Rolex ADs that become available but as you say it would mean increased financial outlay on their part. As for Anders, the CFO, buying shares, he made a good profit on the ones he offloaded when he left at the end of '21 but I'm sure he's confident of the strategy in place and won't lose money on this deal.

I tend to agree with Money. WOSG expansion plans are based on buying up existing independent retail outlets in the US and Europe and separately opening 'mono brand' stores in the same regions. The only spoiler to this regards Rolex is they may now have to compete with Bucherer if an existing Rolex AD becomes available. That being said, WOSG and Rolex work very closely together regarding future strategy. Rolex approves and WOSG spends. Would Rolex want to go into direct competition with its main biggest distributor on two continents? I doubt it but the market looks like it disagrees. I think this is way oversold.

Six weeks before Q2 results. Good do with some good news.

Noticed Marshall Wace have reduced their position to below .5%.

All the major brands are happy to make, supply and market watches to retailers. Most understand what they are good at and stick to it. Some have tried and failed to cut out the 'middleman' and opened their own stores only to give up and let the retailers do what they do best. There is no free money for Rolex by selling direct as they still have the same overheads as their competitors - rent, increased marketing, staff training and salaries etc.

I think by Christmas this will be looked back on as a fantastic buying opportunity. The Rolexgate issue has been blown out of all proportion. Its not in Rolex's interests to favour Bucherer over everyone else and jeopardize their relations with all their other ADs. Of course Rolex would assure WOSG that nothing is changing but in this case I think its true. Rolex UK and Rolex US are not going to be starving their biggest customer in their regions. How would that benefit them?

Omega is owned by Swatch Group. They wouldn't be interested in buying WOSG. Rolex will not be cutting supply to any of its partners. Rolex have a commitment to WOSG for the coming years with new boutiques planned.

Missed yesterdays RNS. Looks like Aberdeen have got cold feet.

Maybe accounts for the £3.6m transaction yesterday? Qube are betting there's further to go. Interested to see if Anders and Brian can pull something out of the fire tomorrow.

Could be a short cashing in?

Agreed Grayling. Rolex are very conservative. They still need their dealer network worldwide as it forms 90% of its turnover.

All the mono brands in St James are run by WOSG. They also run Rolex, Breitling, Tudor, Longines, Omega and Tag Boutiques on Buchanon St, Glasgow plus M & W and a Goldsmiths store. WOSG run the majority of TAG and Breitling boutiques in the UK and are taking this model to Europe with boutiques in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and soon Berlin.

Bucherer has 53 stores worldwide selling Rolex. WOSG group have nearly that many in the UK alone, as well as over 20 so far in the US. Whilst Bucherer account for nearly 10% of Rolex's sales, WOSG are not far behind. Rolex won't be cancelling any contracts with WOSG even if long term they convert Bucherer stores to Rolex / Tudor only. Its far more likely that Rolex may buy WOSG in a few years.

Was it a Platinum Daytona you were enquiring after?

As per usual the RNS delivered what the BOD had forecast. Jewelry sales are down and I see them moving out of this sector within ten years. Margins in this sector are good but they need to be, given the huge amount of stock they need to cover availability and disproportionate amount of support staff to service it. Luxury watches are its strength and its management have fostered relationships with all the main brands. I don't see them as a takeover target. USA still has bags of potential and eventually Europe will be opened up.

The results will be as per what was reported at their 4th quarter trading update. They will have now been signed off by the auditors. They may give guidance on how the last couple of months have gone but they already said they expected sales to be under pressure during the first six months. One of my local stores reported they had a great June beating their target but no idea if this is indicative of the estate. It was a 'monobrand' store so not selling jewellery.

Apologies, I mistook the July financial report for a trading update. The report next week will confirm what we already knew after the Q4 update in May. There will be a narrative on who things have gone since then.

WOSG financial year runs 1st May to 30th April. The first quarter trading report will be in August as usual. They will issue an RNS with the date in due course.