www.supergroup.co.uk

..Questor share tip: Avoid SuperGroup despite share price slide

By Garry White | Telegraph – 38 minutes ago

Was it a bird? Was it a plane? No, it was SuperGroup (LSE: SGP.L - news) shares slumping by more than a third on Friday after it issued its third profit warning in seven months.

The company, which makes Superdry-branded clothes, had to confess it had got its sums wrong. There was an “arithmetic error” made in previous forecasts, which really does not inspire confidence.

As a result and because of timing issues with stock the company now sees full-year pre-tax profits of about £43m, down from previous expectations of £50m.

Supergroup has managed to prove the old stock market adage that profit warnings come in threes.

The first warning in October was caused by teething troubles in a new computer system. This “caused a significant, temporary reduction both in the amount of stock and range of sizes reaching its UK stores”. This, it said, would knock between £6m to £9m off its profit.

Then, in February, the company revealed there had been a slowdown in sales after Christmas. Profit guidance was cut again to the lower end of the £50m-£54m range.

ALL was looking well for SuperGroup until the latest disaster.

The company rectified its supply chain problems and beefed up its board.It poached John Lewis Partnership’s director of fashion and beauty four weeks ago,

Susanne Given, the ex-managing director of TK Maxx, also joined, as chief operating officer, so that chief executive Julian Dunkerton could focus on strategy.

Habitat’s Shaun Wills took over as chief financial officer from Chas Howes, who stepped down due to personal reasons. Things were looking up.

The market does not take mistakes such as “accounting errors” very lightly. It is going to take some time for the company’s credibility in the City to be rebuilt.

The fashion industry is difficult enough, being driven by many here-today-gone-tomorrow brands. Just last week Jaeger and Aquascutum hit the skids.

There is no doubt the shares now look cheap but things can be cheap for a reason.

Brave punters may wish to bet on a recovery but Questor would continue to avoid the shares, as has been the recommendation for some time.

one is tempted to think that there is still a fair bit of downside here for shorting, but it's a very illiquid stock and MMs will beat us to it before the opening bell

Unfortunately CMC don't cover it - I tried 1st thing on Friday.

IG certainly do

Interim Management Statement.

..SuperGroup growth slows for fourth quarter in a row

By Jamie Dunkley | Telegraph – 48 minutes ago



SuperGroup (LSE: SGP.L - news) has played down suggestions that its Superdry fashion label is losing its appeal with shoppers after growth slowed for the fourth consecutive quarter.

The retailer, whose clothes are worn by celebrities such as David Beckham and Pippa Middleton, saw sales rise 14pc to £75.2m in the 13 weeks to April 29, its fiscal fourth quarter.

The slowdown from third-quarter growth of 25.3pc was blamed on the tough retail environment.

Julian Dunkerton, chief executive, said: "I'm fully confident that the brand is strong and healthy and alive. You have to remember we have grown by 675pc in four years and we are now building up the structure to assist us going forward."

In March, SuperGroup poached John Lewis Partnership's director of fashion and beauty as it attempts to beef up its board.

Retail veteran Susanne Given took up the newly created role of chief operating officer in a move designed to give Mr Dunkerton more time to focus on strategy and branding.

Ms Given, previously managing director of TK Maxx, the discount fashion retailer, will concentrate on improving the company's operation and efficiency across its UK retail business.

More than £170m was wiped off the value of Supergroup's shares on April 20 after the fashion company admitted it couldn't count and blamed "arithmetic errors" for a calamitous profit warning.

At the time, said it would it miss annual profit forecasts by about £7.5m because of mistakes in its wholesale business, apparently down to a "plus" sign accidentally being entered in accounts instead of a "minus".

Jonathan Pritchard, retail analyst at Oriel Securities, said on Thursday: "At the moment it's a very long road in front of them, to restore trust after three profit warnings in the last year. But the new management team clearly has the credentials to do so."

SuperGroup shares rose 26 to 333.25p.

Jean Roche, analyst at Panmure Gordon, added: "Remaining shareholders will take some small comfort in the fact that the company's full-year profit guidance of £43m is unchanged."

..

avoid unless you want to gamble on a high street fashion company where the management hold all the cards

Is this worth a short friday?

We all like a short Friday! :-)

SGP SUPERGROUP

Gone short on SGP. More fundies than tech. But tech is poor anyway. results yesterday very poor. More bad weather and I reckon they are in a real mess looking at those accounts.

Broker sell note out to clents today.

10 May SuperGroup PLC SGP Peel Hunt Sell 330.45 300.00 300.00 Reiterates

i don't disagree at all with the logic of shorting SGP EXCEPT it is very illiquid and thus a dangerous manoeuvre ..... rather like ASC but worse

Seymour Pierce
08-05-12 None 52.00 49.20 64.00 59.80 15.00
Peel Hunt
03-05-12 SELL 43.08 39.87 48.11 45.33
Panmure Gordon
30-04-12 HOLD 43.20 41.60 55.60 55.40 11.10
Numis Securities Ltd
20-04-12 SELL 42.90 38.50 10.00 62.40 55.90 25.00
Shore Capital
13-01-12 SELL 55.10 50.60 15.00 69.10 63.60 18.80

SGP stock on loan from data explorers....

proxy for shorting.....

.......... 11 May'12 - 15:20 - 4266 of 4267 edit


Intersting reading the premium
broker notes on the demise of this
company on the pulse.

SuperGroup Plc (SGP)Apr 20, 2012Chief Pulse Comment by Julian Dunkerton
As luck would have it, Wills arrives on Monday with carte blanche, says Dunkerton, to review "all internal controls". more
And the arrival of Susanne Given as chief operating officer and new finance director Shaun Wills will add experience. As luck would have it, Wills arrives on Monday with carte blanche, says Dunkerton, to review "all internal controls". That sounds ominous. Indeed, it explains why analysts are already braced for another profits warning, cutting 2013 forecasts by 20pc to £55m – despite SuperGroup insisting the fiasco will have "minimal impact" on next year

........... 11 May'12 - 15:22 - 4267 of 4267 edit


SGP Super Group

Premium Comment On the Pulse


SuperGroup Plc (SGP)Apr 20, 2012
Analyst Comment by KBC Peel Hunt
Downgrade to Sell by KBC Peel Hunt

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Share this 0 read full story SuperGroup Plc (SGP)Analyst Comment by Panmure Gordon
Downgrade to Hold by Panmure Gordon

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Share this 0 read full story SuperGroup Plc (SGP)Analyst Comment by Oriel Securities
Downgrade to Hold by Oriel Securities

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The actual
nav is 151.31p forecast to rise to 223.70p
2012.

Therefore we have a retail company trading
on a Premium to assets of 53.5% and going forward
to 2012 31.3% (this figure subject to close scrutiny after last fiasco)


Way too high and far too expensive.

This has got to be the turkey of the year

SuperGroup shares ended July on 417p, up 80p (24%) from 337p at the end of June. But they're still way down from their 52-week high of 1,136p.

The longer-term collapse was in part due to a series of profit warnings caused by woeful accounting mistakes, a fact that the company confessed to in its annual report -- but the price had been badly over-hyped over the past couple of years.

Annual results showed a 32% rise in sales, with 26 new stores opening during the year and like-for-like sales up 2%. Internet sales are growing and accounted for 10% of sales.

Forecasts for Supergroup put the shares on a prospective price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 9 for next year, falling to 8 for 2014. And though there isn't much of a dividend yet, that makes it look like this recovery is not over.

SuperGroup (LSE: SGP.L - news) sheds 0.6 percent as the owner of the Superdry fashion brand is dealt another blow, with the co-founder of the business, Theo Karpathios, abruptly quitting "to take on new challenges".

On Tuesday, Supergroup, the "too much, too soon" stock market story of recent years, takes another step in its attempt to repair relationships with the City.

Chief Executive and co-founder of SuperGroup Theo Karpathios abruptly quit his position in the middle of August to 'take on new challenges,' having presumably got fed up dealing with the surfeit of "old challenges" at the trendy clothing firm, which has had more than its share of teething troubles since floating on the stock exchange.

To make matters harder for the firm, the trading statement covers the first quarter (Q1) of its financial year, which last year was a bumper period for the fast-growing firm, in which like-for-like (LFL) retail sales growth of 14.4% year-on-year was achieved.

"We forecast retail sales growth of around 15% and wholesale sales growth of around 5% for Q1 2012/13, which implies group quarterly revenue growth of c.11%," Panmure Gordon said, adding that it thinks the market is slowly regaining trust in the company's management.

The broker reckons the shares are worth holding, if you already have them. "We await further evidence that our gut feel (of stronger management in the form of a new FD [finance director] and, especially, a new COO [chief operating officer) is correct before moving to a more positive stance," Panmure Gordon's Jean Roche said.