Retail Market Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 14 Words: 4052 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? The purpose of this report was to analyse the clothing retail market in general and financial analysis of Next PLC and Debenhams PLC. Research for this report included financial analysis of Next PLC and Debenhams PLC based on the argument on Financial Performance, Financial Position, Corporate Governance and Corporate Social And Environmental Reporting. Concurrently an research of the share price are done to compare the market capitalization and later progress onto their worth and investment value. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Retail Market Example For Free" essay for you Create order Finally based on the findings, a way forward will be given in form of practicable and realistic recommendation to ascertain which investment will be most financially rewarding. Market Overview The UK clothing market which included women, men, children clothes, footwear as well as clothing accessories is a leading industry well known for key players like Burberry, Mulberry, Marks Spencer, Next and etc . As defined by Deutsche Bank in their recent report, is valued at  £26.9 billion. It is own a large part of the market value. (Jim Riley,2012. Market analysis- market share (introduction). https://www.tutor2u.net/business/marketing/market_analysis_marketshare_intro.asp Mar) For the past few years, the UK clothing market is declining. The industry is beset by competition from companies which have invested on machinery for efficiency or due to the large increase in low cost output from developing countries such as Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Consequently, some manufacturers have relocated overseas in order to compete with their overseas rivals but still some manufacturer remained in UK marketing themselves as traditional British manufacturers and producing high- qu ality clothes. However, growth has since been achieved, although the market will not reaching its full potential. The market currently still remains volatile for most of the competitors, which has resulted in many leading retailers entering administration. This will result in falling in sales for the firm and online retailers as most of the competitors have struggled financially over recent months. Analyzing the future of the clothing retailing market, sales are forecast by Keynote to increase continuously between 2012 and 2016, and are estimated to reach  £51.83bn in 2016. Growth may initially be influenced by London Olympics 2012, while thereafter sales will be maintained due to economic recovery. Chapter 2 2.1 Financial Performance A subjective measure of how well a firm can use assets from its primary mode of business and generate revenues. It is also used to measure the firms overall financial health from period to period and used to compare performance for same industry. (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financialperformance.asp) For investor seeking investments opportunities, ratios are used to measure the company fundamental value and determine the target price of the company value. According to John Bajkowski (1999), ratios express mathematical relationship between two items. Ratios are important indicator of the company performance and financial situations, also is useful in comparison between 2 firm from period to period in the similar industries. This report will focus on the profitability ratios. As of Jan 13, apparel stores enjoy a net profit margin of 5.60% whereas the market requirement of 5.78% and the industry Return on shareholders funds (ROSF) is 15.87%. https://biz.yahoo.com/p/730c onameu.html Both net profit margin ratio and return on shareholders funds ratio dropping for the past few years for UK retailing industry. The industry is facing challenging due to decrease in purchasing power after the collapse of Lehman Brother in Sept 08 and the subsequent recession. UK retailers have focusing on cost reduction by reducing overheads, cutting office /store cost and finding cheaper sources. 2.2 Financial Position Investors have to look at its financial position to understand and value a company. According to IASB (2009), the elements directly related to the measurement of financial position are Assets a resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events and future economic benefits are expected to flow to the entity, Liabilities a present obligation arising from past events and the settlement will result an outflow from the entity and Equity the residual interest on the assets of the entity after deducting all its liabilities. Accordingly to John Ogilvie (2009), gearing ratio also known as leverage ratio, is used to express the relationship between fixed debt capital and shareholders funds, Its demonstrating the degree to which a firms activities are funded by owners fund versus creditors fund. A low gearing ratio indicates that the company is low risk of being liquidated and is financially stable. The challenge for the company is the determination of funding sources as in r eality, a company cannot expand its operation without having long term debt and creditor funding. William R.Lasher (2011), stated that ratio analysis involves pulling out data from financial statement and forming a ratio with them. Current ratio is a quicker way to indicate whether the company able to settle its bills during the next period, it is form by dividing current assets by current liabilities and must exceed 1.0. 2.3 Corporate Governance Corporate governance refers to a set of systems, principles and processes which provide the guidelines how a company can be controlled to fulfil its objective to benefit its board of directors, shareholders, management, employees, customers and society. (https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com) In UK, the requirements were supplement by the New Disclosure and Transparency Rules on Audit Committees and Corporate Governance Statements with effect for period commencing on or after 29 Jun 2008. The new disclosure included Leadership/Accountability, Remuneration and Relationship with shareholders. Ulrich Steger,Wolfgang Amann (2008), Corporate Governance appears in mid 1980 and defines as a clear structure regarding accountability, responsibility and transparency at the head of the company and defines the role of board and management. The report became compulsory for the company listed in UK in 1993. 2.4 Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting Corporate social and environmental reporting (CSR) is defines as operating a business in a manner that meet or exceeds the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectation that society has of business (Business for Social Responsibility (www bsr.org). CSR has become a strategic issue for retail companies, always involving huge amounts of money and investment resources and time. The importance of CSR is enhances among others by increasing consumer demand for integrity of companies (Osborn 2011) .Therefore ,companies that participate in CSR are generally evaluated more positively by consumers (Brown Dacin 1997). Samuel O.Idowu, Walter Leal Filho (2009) stated that CSR encompasses a variety of issue revolving around companies interaction with society including social activities, product safety, human rights, governance and environment activities. Its also review the reporting and the involvement of the profession in adoption of CSR. EC Newsdesk (2002) has encourages compani es to take responsibility for the society beyond the profit generating force with a more efficient communication on environment and social issues. According to M. Dijkman (2008), retail industry are participated in CSR worldwide. Most of the UK retailers have a policy on CSR and the common features included social inclusion, ethical trading, consumer awareness, waste reduction on packaging and health of staff and customer. CSR also encourages the industry to build a good rapport with the citizen in UK and the government regulation stated that the UK registered company should undertake CSR and its statements and internal audit will be conducted. Chapter 3 Company Performance 3.1 Next PLC The history of Next goes back to 1964 when it was founded by Joseph Hepworth in Leeds under the name of Gentlemans Tailors. Hepworth acquired the chain of Kendall Son Ltd in 1982 and Next was launched. The first Next shop opened on 12 February 1982. The store consisted of wide variety of moderately priced clothing for both stylish women and men. It is listed on the London stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1987, the group acquired Combined English Stores and the Grattan catalogue company. Extending first to introduce Next childrenswear and bought the youth brand Lipsy in 2008. Next launched its online shopping for United States in 2009 with express delivery. Currently, there are more than 500 stores in the UK and Ireland and around180 international stores mainly franchised stores around the world and a home shopping catalogue and website with around 2 million active customer and international websites serving approximately 50 countries. The grou p are extensively focused on providing customer satisfaction by improving and developing product ranges and constantly increase its customer base. The company also promised shareholders to increase earning per shares and achieved long term growth by managing gross and net profit margin with better product sourcing, continues cost control and managing the stock levels and working capital. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_plc 3.1.1Financial Performance Next PLC, one of the UK largest clothing retailer by sales which occupied 6.3% of the market share (Deutsche Bank 2002) comparing to other market competitors in the retail industry. According to Sarah Shannon (2012), Next PLC take over Marks Spencer Group PLC as UKs largest clothing retailer by market value which increasing sales from its online Directory, giving it a market capitalization of 5.28 billion pounds. According Mike Easey (2009), a major contributing factor to Next PLC increasing its profit and customer base is successfully established a wider age range of womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, footwear, jewellery and watches. Its success eventually led to the development of mid price clothing, accessories and home products The company ROE and profitability margin ratios are show as below (extracted from FAME). Profitability ratio Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 ROE (%) 260.22 237.37 378.22 273.64 n.s Profit margin (%) 16.84 15.97 14.83 13.11 14.96 Nexts Profit margin ratio for Y2012 is 16.84%, which is comparatively higher than the industry and sector average of 5.78% and 5.6% respectively. This is mainly due the higher sales contribution. Next PLC reported a good increase in the profit margin ratio from Y2009 to Y2012 even the market is declining. Besides, higher VAT, lower consumer discretionary income, rising costs from energy and cotton prices affect the sales as well. However, based on the sales trend over the year, Next PLC UKs sales fall in Y2012 while profit margin still constantly increase on that year as the company has been focusing on the synergies to cut cost and streamline the company. Next Directory is showing good progress with strong growth and should be the main growth drivers in the future. (www.euroinvestor.com) The company Return of shareholder funds (ROSF) is reported as 260. 22% for Y2012, which is far higher that the industry average of 15.87%. ROSF measures a firms profitability by revealing how much profit a firm generates with the shareholders fund. The increase in company ROSF is contributed by the increase in sales on continuing business, operating profit, share repurchases scheme since Mach 2000 and a lower tax rate. 3.1.2 Financial Position Gearing ratio is a quantification of financial leverage, used to analyse a companys capital structure and thus assessing the companys financial position in the long run. As stated by Investopedia, the higher degree of a companys leverage indicates the company to be more risky. However, this level of gearing can be manger through certain financial activities. According to the annual report, the gearing ratio for Next Plc as follow (extracted from FAME). Next PLC Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 Gearing ratio (%) 386.93 343.00 603.97 659.99 n.s At the end of the Jan 2012, Next PLC has long term liabilities of 861.7m and equity of 222.7m which give a gearing ratio of 386.93%. The ratio would suggest that PLC has seriously over borrowed and is in imminent danger of collapse. However, the company is still trading and banks still lend the company money this is clearly stated that the bank is confident in its ability to reply. Therefore, other factors likes affordability of repayment, cash inflow etc to be considered as well. However, based on the ratio trend, the company is performed well in repaying its debt. 3.1.3 Corporate Governance Based on the new disclosure and transparency rules on audit committees and corporate governance statement effect from 29 Jun 2008, Next is compliance with the Corporate Governance framework and below was disclosed in its annual report. Leadership Reported board responsibilities but detail for director and activities of director is not disclosed. Remuneration Remuneration policy, board remuneration package and bonus scheme are clearly disclosed in the annual report. Relationship with the shareholders Nexts shareholder gather information from yearly annual/ half yearly report or trading statement from the companys website. 3.1.4 Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting According to the annual report published, corporate responsibility means addressing key business related social, ethical and environment impacts in a way that aims to bring value to its stakeholder, including the shareholders. The company believed that there is no conflict between the approach to corporate responsibility and good business practice. Next has setup a Corporate Responsibility (CR) forum of 15 senior managers and director representing key areas of the business, coordinated by a CR Manager. The forum identifies potential issues and opportunities and evaluates the success of Nexts response. Nexts commitment to CR matters is also recognized externally by continuing it membership of the FTSE4Good Index Series. Next focus the importance of health and safety at work and ensure the product do not harm customers, employee, contractors, site and equipment. For environment, the company achieve 5% electricity reduction and 9% reduction for fuel emissions from the transport ation of products compared to previous year. The Company support a wide range of charities and organization both in UK and overseas, raise fund through the sales of specific product where a donation from there is passed to charity. In addition, Next makes donation of surplus stocks to charities. 3.2 Debenhams PLC Debenhams PLC is an iconic British department store group which was establishes over 200 years in United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark and franchise stores in other countries. The company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to 165 stores in UK and Republic of Ireland and 60 international franchise stores in 23 countries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The business was founded by Messrs Flint and Clark in 1778 in London and William Debenhams join as the partner in 1813 and the corporate name changed to Clarks and Debenhams and subsequently changed again to Debenhams Freebody in 1851 when Clement Freebody became a partner. The business was incorporated as Debenhams Limited in 1905 and acquired Browns of Chester (1976) and Burton Group (1985). Debenhams demerged in 1998 and was once again listed as a separate company on the London Stock Exchange. It expanded under the leader ship of Belinda Earl who was appointed CEO in 2000. A private consortium named Baroness Retail Limited acquired the company in late 2003 and it returned to a listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. Subsequently, Debenhams acquired the Danish department store group Magasin Du Nord (2009) and purchased the 115 Faith concession trading within its stores (2010) Debenhams has a strong presence in key product categories including womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, home health and beauty and offers its customer a unique and differentiated mix of exclusive own brands including private label, designers at Debenhams, and international brand. The company launched its first iPhone app in Oct 2010 that allows customers to shop the online range and scan product barcodes in store. It added apps for other types of phones in March 2011 and in September 2011 expanded to add apps for virtually all smartphones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debenhams 3.2.1 Financial Performance Debenhams PLC is one of the major UK clothing retailer occupied 4% of the market share (Deutsche Bank 2002) comparing to other market competitors in the retail industry. According to Michael Saren (2006), Debenhams are developing a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programme to achieve its financial and strategic growth and establishing a long- term competitive advantage in the market by personalizing offers to customers. Debenhams decided to roll out SPSS technology in 2000 which enable the company to predict customer behaviour in order to target right people and at the right time. According to Don Hales, Derek Williams (2007), Debenhams wins a WOW! Award for the efficiency of a key team member providing excellent customer services. The company Return on shareholders fund (ROSF) and Profit margin ratios are show as below (extracted from FAME). Profitability ratio Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 ROSF (%) 23.95 24.3 27.79 28.4 84.52 Profit margin (%) 7.1 7.25 6.6 6.31 5.76 Debenhamss Profit margin ratio for Y2012 is 7.10% which is slightly higher than the industry and sector average of 5.78% and 5.6% respectively and reported a marginal increase of profit margin ratio from Y2009 to Y2011. This is mainly due the higher sales contribution. Debenhams PLC (LSE;DEB.L- news), the group stated that sales is rising in final quarter so will meet full year profit forecast and Michael Sharp, the chief executive, said We do not anticipate a significant change in the economic environment on the near future but we expect to continue to make progress in Y2013. The company Return of shareholder fund (ROSF) is reported as 23.95% for Y2012 which is far higher that the industry average of 15.87%. ROSF measures a corporations profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the shareholders fund. 3.2.2 Financial position Gearing ratio is significant to a company and the potential investors. It will affect the companys ability to maintain a consistent dividend policy during the operating period. Moreover, the gearing ratio reveals the suitability of capitalization of a company. Gearing ratio for Debenhams as follow (extracted from FAME). Debenhams PLC Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 Gearing ratio (%) 131.10 122.38 207.79 280.18 n.s As stated in annual report, Debenhams has long term liabilities of 866.6m and equity of 661m which give a gearing ratio of 131.1%. The ratio indicated that Debenhams PLC are over borrowed. As stated above, the gearing ratio is improving for the pass few years and the company have reduced the short term loans and overdrafts from 545.7m in Y2010 to 168.10m in Y2011 with managing it cash flow like negotiating with creditor for a better credit term. 3.2.3 Corporate Governance Based on the new disclosure and transparency rules on audit committees and corporate governance statement effect from 29 Jun 2008, Debenhams disclosed the Corporate Governance statement in it annual report. Leadership Clearly stated the detail of the board member, board responsibilities and activities of the director. Remuneration -Form a group of remuneration committees chaired by Dennis Millard to determine the remuneration package of the executive director and management, reviewing remuneration policy and overseeing the operation of the Companys share schemes. External advisors from Deloitte LLP act as independent advisors providing directors remuneration. Report clearly stated the policy, board remuneration package and bonus scheme. Relationship with shareholder -Formal trading updates are announce on six occasion of the year and regular conference calls with shareholders and analyst. 3.2.4 Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting The company described that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as real and tangible actions. Their programmes affect all areas of the business from energy saving, fuel efficiency distribution, local community programmes and giving to charity. Debenhams are currently driving a store energy saving and have achieved the Energy Efficiency Accreditation awarded by the Energy Institute. Debenhams have also increase the fuel efficiency by nearly 15% and 100% recycled carrier bag are using in store. Debenhams sign a formal agreement with the Disable Rights Commission (DRC) to provide disable access to it retail store in UK, this is the first formal agreement sign by a major retailer since the introduction of the Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in Oct 2004. Debenhams have formed national partnerships with charitable organizations and registered the Debenhams foundation on 13 June 2012 and nearly 1000 staff done donation directly to charity from their salary via Deb enhams Give As You Earn scheme. The company has maintained a close relationship with suppliers to improve logistics planning helps to reduce operating expenses. And the company provided a safe and hygiene working environment for its employee and ensure the working hours are not excessive. (According to the annual report published) Chapter 4 Share price H. Kent Baker Gary Powell (2005), Financial goal of the firm is to maximize shareholder wealth as reflected in the market price of the stock. The objective of focusing on maximizing share price is mainly because stock price are highly observable measure that can be used to evaluate performance of public corporation and its take into account of present and future earning per share. Timing, duration, risk of the earning, dividend policy, news and other factors affecting stock price. The impact of positive news in the market will affected positively to the share price. Finally, stock price reflect the long run effects of decision made by the firm. George A. Fontanills (2005), stated that it is important to monitor the volume of the stock in trading to see is there a momentum increase or decrease in price. It is useful for us to make better trading decision. Trading volume is important when it is increase significantly. If the stock has a high trading volume and is found on the Pri ce Percentage Gainer and Losers list, this is a signal that the stock is making move. When the trading is low, the stock will likely go nowhere as interest in the stock is dwindling. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NXT.L For Next, although the market is declining, the company manage to increase its share price and its profitability. Nests sales will contribute by its popular online and directory business which offset the decline in retail like other competitors. The company is the only retailer with a policy of keeping all stores at full price until the boxing day. Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next PLC reported a 3.9% rise in sales between Nov 1 and Dec 24. The company current ratio of 1.5:1 is acceptable which means the company have a positive working capital. The gearing ratio of 386.93%, showing that the company is risky but as mentions others factors to be considered as well. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DEB.Lt=1yl=onz=lq=lc=NXT.L According to Rodney Hobson (2011), Debenhams sales in Y2007 are disappointing and there was a series of profit warning, this led to a decrease in the share price. Y2008 and Y2009 share price continue to fall even the company has announced plan to open more store but investors are worries over the debt pile. In Jun 2009 there is a debt burden of 925m. However the company were able to regain the share price in Y2010 after a reduction in debt. The share price has steady increase last year as sales are improving. Chapter 5- Conclusion From the analysis, both Next PLC and Debenhams PLC are major clothing retailer in UK operating in Gearing ratio (%) Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 Next PLC 386.93 343.00 603.97 659.99 n.s Debenhams PLC 131.10 122.38 207.79 280.18 n.s Profit Margin ratio (%) Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 Next PLC 16.84 15.97 14.83 13.11 14.96 Debenhams PLC 7.10 7.25 6.60 6.31 5.76 ROSF (%) Y 2012 Y 2011 Y 2010 Y 2009 Y 2008 Next PLC 260.22 237.37 378.22 273.64 n.s Debenhams PLC 23.95 24.30 27.79 28.40 84.52 Next PLC performs well based on the company profit margin ratio and return on shareholders funds ratio but unfortunately the gearing ratio indicated that the company is risky. Despite the gearing ratio showing that the company is over in its borrowing but the business still perform well which sales is increasing yearly and have been returning capital to its shareholders by share repurchase scheme as well as dividend to meet long term growth in earning per share. The stability of the firm is guaranteed. And the company current ratio of 1.5:1 is acceptable which menas the company have a positive working capital. Debenhams PLC performs relatively stable based on its profit margin ratio and return on shareholders funds ratio as both ratios are slightly higher compared to the industry and sector average. The company focus in charity, social and environment as well. However, the firm gearing ratio is higher and the current ratio are below 1 which means that the company has a negative working capital and unable to converted it assets to cash within one tear. From the share price analysis, both companys share price increase for the past two year. However, Debenhamss share price has been falling in the recently due to XXXXX. On the other hand, the share trading volume for Next is much higher then Debanhams, this showing there are many trader involved in the stock and it would be easier to find a trader. In this case, we would say that it is liquid. Most importantly, invertors should consider the performance prospects as this will result in dramatic fall in share price if the company not doing well. Therefore for an investor, they should invest on Next PLC as the company provides higher profit margin, earning per share (EPS) and share price is increasing recently.