Mocka is a bright spot as is the sales contribution from Focus...

Mocka is a bright spot as is the sales contribution from Focus in a 26 day period when customers are concentrating on food and drink for the festive season and buying presents; bulky furniture is certainly not in that category.

The one cost element that has my nose twitching is store rentals with Adairs seeming to say that the previous rent reliefs achieved due to store closure have not been achieved in any material way. The other thing I am surprised about is the increase in store wages relative to sales supporting staff whilst lockdowns were in place.

I would hope and expect Adairs has a very strong response to expense management going into H2.

As of 12 noon more than 6.5 million shares have been traded. The most on any day in the last year and we have 4 hours of trading to go.

Even though the sell off has been brutal I fear there is more to go today and tomorrow. The Board and management team for I think, from memory hold about 7 million shares so today is a big ouch for the big boys and girls at Adairs. Let’s hope the old Paul Keating adage is true “the only horse to back is self interest”

Cheers…..D