In 2012 Van de Velde realised a consolidated turnover growth of 0.9% from € 179.8m to € 181.4m, in line with our expectations. We were looking for 1.3% sales growth to € 182m in FY12 with € 146m coming from the wholesale business and € 36m from the retail business.
Van de Velde itself explains this turnover development as follows:
A fall in wholesale turnover by 1.2%. This fall is mainly due to adecline in 1H12, wholesale turnover increased by 0.7% in 2H12, largely in line with our scenario.
A fall in the retail turnover of Intimacy of about 12% in local currency and 5% in euro (we banked on -13% in local currency).
In Continental Europe retail turnover of Rigby & Peller (the former Oreia) grew by 7% thanks to the opening of new stores in Germany and Spain.
The retail turnover of Rigby & Peller in the UK contributed for an amount of L 9.2m (€ 11.3m) versus € 4.4m in 2011 (5 months). As expected there was no new outlook: mid-November Van de Velde said that the indications in the wholesale business for spring 2013 pointed to stable turnover. We are counting on 2% sales growth in the wholesale business for FY13.
The FY12 results will be announced on Monday 25 February 2013.
Conclusion:
No surprises as the FY sales and breakdown are in line with expectations and the company didn't provide any guidance on FY13.
We see few stock price triggers in the short term given:
- the challenging trading conditions caused by low consumer confidence;
- the weak results of US retailer Intimacy, a downtrend we believe will take some time to reverse;
- the pressure on REBITDA due to the structural increase in marketing and sales expenses; and
- the changing company profile due to the expansion towards retail.
Hold and € 37 TP reiterated.