Mulberry (L:MUL) remains a relatively small brand, albeit a powerful one in its affordable luxury market segment. Its balance sheet remains strong. Early signs from the new CEO’s tenure are promising. However, even taken together, these elements cannot support current valuation metrics. One needs to take a very long view to justify current multiples.
Interims show signs of recovery
Mulberry returned to profit in H116, albeit only to the tune of £0.1m. In the new CEO’s first period in charge, Mulberry grew revenues 5% to £67.8m and improved gross margin by 160bp to 61.5%. Stronger sales performance (+12%) in Retail than in Wholesale (-11%), and efficiency improvements in Mulberry’s two UK factories drove the margin expansion. Cash conversion was not as good as in prior years, as inventories built. Nevertheless, Mulberry ended H1 with net cash. H2 trading faces tougher comparatives but retail sales are 4% higher after the first 10 weeks. The next few weeks will prove crucial and it will be interesting to see how traffic levels in major retail locations are affected by the recent atrocities in Paris.
To Read the Entire Report Please Click on the pdf File Below