jeff | Jeff Harbaugh

PacSun Quarter and 9 Months Ended 10/28/06- Good Tactics. What’s the Strategy?

Pacific Sunwear’s (NASDAQ: PSUN) official SEC filing isn’t out yet (I’m writing this November 26 because I love working Sundays), but I’ve read the press release, reviewed the associated financial statements for the quarter and nine months ended October 28, and listened to the conference call. Let’s look at the numbers first, and then […]

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Globe Annual Report and the Pacific Brands Deal

Globe

Being traded on the Australian Stock Exchange, Globe doesn’t have to file the usual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission here in the U.S. But they did file an annual report (109 pages, but happily for me full of pretty pictures and big type) and, in conjunction with the announcement of the pending sale of

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What Forward Thinking Retailers are Doing: Trends That Probably Won’t Surprise Anybody

Industry Evolution, Retail

The issues that smaller retailers are facing haven’t changed much. There are too many retail stores, pressure from chains, brand stores and big boxes, a tough financial model, the challenge of keeping margins up, lack of product differentiation, increasing costs, over distribution. That’s a cheery environment, isn’t it? You’ve got a choice. You can bemoan the unfairness

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The Last Intrawest Annual Report: One Benefit of Being Bought

Intrawest

I’ve always admired Intrawest’s ability to combine and coordinate its real estate activities with the development and management of its mountain resorts. It always seemed like they managed to choreograph the two to maximize the value of both. That didn’t mean, however, that I looked forward to reading their annual Form 40-F filing with Security and Exchange

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PacSun’s Quarter Ended 7/29/06; Numbers and Industry Implications

Pacific Sunwear (PacSun)

I guess if you’re going to talk about a quarterly earnings release, you have to mention the numbers. Okay, fine. PacSun’s net income for the quarter ended July 29, 2006 was $0.14 a share compared to $0.28 a share for the same quarter the previous year. For the six months ended the same date, it was $0.30 a

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Volcom’s Quarterly Conference Call: It Didn’t Sound 29% Bad to Me

Kering (Volcom)

I’m just back from two years In Ireland, where I made a futile attempt to have one pint in every pub in Dublin. I’ve missed a bit, but I did hear about Volcom’s quarterly conference call last Friday, the 29.4% decline in its stock that followed, the industry discussion that has ensued about the

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What’s Happening to Core Retailers? Things We Won’t Argue About- and What They Mean

Retail

Not long ago, I finally came up with a definition of core retailer that I liked. I was really proud of it because it had taken me about 13 years to settle on one I thought was accurate and useful. Now, not all that long after I accomplished that feat, I’m not sure it really matters. I’ve

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Margins- Percentages and Dollars; Where to Focus?

Financial Management

I always looked first at gross margin percentages when I was running a business. Before revenue, before anything. Because those percentages were what determined how many dollars I had to pay all the salaries and operating expenses. Higher had to be better. It just had to be. Except that I was never dealing with major price differences in

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Action Sports; Are We Still in That Business?

Industry Evolution

Seems a silly question I suppose. Action sports are what we do. It’s what we’ve always done. It’s what we love. Our trade shows are more fun than anybody else’s. We get to take vacations and call them business expenses or, even better, product testing. Uh, not that I’ve ever done that, Mr. Tax Man, sir. But I’ve heard about it. I’m

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The Impact of Consolidation; Wasn’t That Over Years Ago?

Industry Evolution

Yes. And no. The snowboard industry consolidation that started around 1995 or 96 could probably have better been called extermination. Literally hundreds of brands went away either because their founders got tired of losing money or because the Japanese stopped paying cash in advance for snowboards. Though there were exceptions, these brands didn’t get subsumed under the multi-brand umbrella

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