Revenues Flat, But Strong Bottom Line Performance; Globes Half Year Results

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Globe’s report for the six months ended 31 December 2017, as usual, gives us very little information.  The only 17 page report makes just one incomplete mentions of their brands and tells us exactly nothing about how any of them are doing individually.

Perhaps I’ll start by reminding you of their brands.  They own are Globe, Salty Crew (50% I think), FXD, Dwindle, Enjoi, Blind, Darkstar, Almost, Tensor, Dusters and Sample.  Their third party brands, which means they distribute them, are Stussy, Obey, M/SF/T, Xlarge, Andale, Kryptonics and Hardcore.

Total revenue, compared to the same six months the previous year, fell by 0.71% from $70.7 to $70.2 million (all numbers are in Australian dollars).    Pretax income, on the other hand, rose 24.1% from $2.81 to $3.49 million.  How’d they do that?

“This growth in profitability was due mainly to an increase in gross margins across the board. The gross margin improvement came from a combination of factors including brand mix, customer mix, sourcing improvements and foreign exchange impacts. While overall costs were largely flat compared to the same period last year, there has been a reallocation of costs towards emerging and growth brands, to drive the growth in those brands over the coming years.”

Revenues from the Australasia segment fell from $41.3 to $38.3 million.  However, the segment earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) was up just a bit from $4.95 to $5.06 million.  In North America, revenue rose 13.4% from $17.75 to $20.13 million.  The EBIT loss improved, declining 41% from a loss of $2.15 million to a loss of $1.27 million.  In Europe, revenues were little changes, rising from $11.68 to $11.76 million.  However, EBIT fell from $284,000 to $83,000.

From a bottom line perspective, then, Australasia is carrying the load.  North America is losing money and Europe is barely above breakeven.

I don’t know what the change in gross margin was.  Of the factors they point to as responsible for the improvement, I’d be curios how much foreign exchange accounted for.  But fundamentally, they leave us with a picture of a company that’s managing its brands, distribution and customers consistent with a competitive environment where revenue growth is harder to come by.  I’d call that being in touch with reality.  Globe has tended to be that way.

Changes in the balance sheet, which is strong, are consistent with management’s description in the quote above of what led to the gross margin increase.  With revenue more or less constant, we see an 8.6% decline in inventory from $19.2 million a year ago to $17.6 million at 31 December 2017.  I also note that a current interest bearing liability of $4.59 million last year is down to zero this year while cash and cash equivalents is basically unchanged.

Based on the very limited information in the report, Globe is positioned to do well if its competitors struggle for whatever reason.

One Last Time! Billabong Reports Its Half Yearly Earnings.

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Thursday’s earnings call by Billabong for the six months ended 31 December 2017 was its last unless something unexpected happens.  With an anticipated late April closing of the acquisition of Billabong by Boardriders for $1.00 a share, with Billabong ending up private, we won’t be seeing any more of the company’s numbers.

Everybody knows that and as a result the call, in a word, was perfunctory.  Current CEO Neil Fiske and CFO Jim Howell went through the numbers without some of the usual details, explanations, and nuances.  I think there was only one analyst with any questions.  I wonder how many even listened.

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Insights on the Sale of Billabong to Boardriders

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On February 14th, Billabong released a 194 page document explaining the deal under which Boardriders (formerly Quiksilver and owned by Oaktree) will buy it for $1.00 a share (all number in Australian dollars unless otherwise noted).  You can go to this page and click on “Court Orders Convening of Scheme Meeting” to download the document as a PDF.  It includes the independent expert’s report prepared by Grant Samuel & Associates Pty Ltd (“Samuel”) explaining and justifying the purchase price.

Perhaps the best way to start is to review a little industry history.  I posted a link to “Subcultural enterprises, brand value, and limits to financialized growth: The rise and fall of corporate surfing brands” last year.  Here’s the link again.  Those of you who didn’t read this study ought to take the time.

We learn that the deal is expected to close on April 24th.  In a strategic sense, despite the length of the document we don’t learn much that’s new.  Some of the comments on possible synergies from the combination are interesting and there are some new facts/opinions we’ll get to.  Let’s get started.

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Speaking of Consolidation- Boardriders’ Acquisition of Billabong

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Back in September of 2013, when Centerbridge and Oaktree invested in Billabong, there was some discussion/consternation about the possibility of Oaktree combining Quiksilver, which it already controlled with Billabong.  Quiksilver’s name, as you know, was changed to Boardriders.  It owns the Quiksilver, Roxy and DC brands.  Billabong’s three largest brands are Billabong, RVCA, and Element.  It also owns some smaller brands which I continue to expect will be sold.  Probably easier to do that once Billabong is not a public company.

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Sales Go Nowhere, But Profits Rise- A Poster Child? Tilly’s Quarter Ended October 28th

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How, when you increase your sales less than half of one percent (compared to the prior year’s quarter) from $152.1 to $152.8 million, do you manage to increase your net income 36.5% from $6.42 to $8.76 million even though tax expense rose by $1.38 million while operating with five less stores (220 total)?

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Brands, Staffing, and Stores; Zumiez’s Quarterly Results

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Zumiez increased revenues and profits in their October 29 quarter compared to the same quarter last year.  The more interesting strategic question is how (if a single quarter is indicative of longer terms trends) and I’d like to highlight three factors that I see working together, though they are typically discussed separately.

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Billabong Receives an Offer to be Taken Private

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Well, it appears I’ve done it again.  After having published just this morning an article in which I said, “Billabong would be better off as a private company, but I don’t see a path to privatization that makes sense to Oaktree,” Billabong has received an offer to have its outstanding shares acquired for $1.00 each (Australian dollars) from Boardriders (formerly Quiksilver), in which Oaktree has a majority interest.  Guess I should have added, “to which Billabong could be expected to agree.”  I may still turn out to be right with that caveat.  Here’s the announcement.

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Billabong and Rip Curl; A Tale of Two Surf Companies and Their Interesting Juxta Positioning

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A few weeks ago, you no doubt saw the reports that Billabong (which would mean Oaktree Capital Management– the controlling investor in Billabong) was doing due diligence on Rip Curl as a possible acquisition.  Oaktree, of course, is also a major investor in Quiksilver.

When Oaktree invested in Billabong, there were some rumblings about combining it with Quiksilver, but nothing ever happened.

Meanwhile, we have a bit of information on Rip Curl’s earnings and last week, and Billabong held its annual shareholders meeting where Chairman Ian Pollard and CEO Neil Fiske reviewed the full year results.  Those results were released back in the middle of August and I wrote this article about them.

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