Thanks for the reply MaximG and I am definately not taking a stab at Clive Peeters (Simply comenting on what I see is the current problem in the Electrical Retail segment (So all companies as whole).
Every friend and client I have contacted @ HN, The Good Guys, Clives Peeters (Plus many other retailers) etc are all saying it is the worse they have seen for quite some time (Even during the Economic Crisis). Foot traffic isn't as good either (I can see this everytime I step into a retail store at the moment).
The word from a lot of Retailers is that their figures from the previous financial year were inflated by the stimulus package the government was giving out (Which definately helped push out a lot of Brown Goods and other Electrical Goods). That being said, that new figures might be slightly lower due to this factor and due to the RBA increasing the Interest Rate for the last few months.
Most retailers work on an increase of 15% on previous years figures and unfortunately they are not comming close in most key areas.
I have been in this business for quite some time and know a lot of people who work @ Clives and for Upper Management. What most of these guys are saying (Happening at other key retailers as well!) is that staff that have been in the retail industry for years and years (And have amazing knowledge of product and selling) are fed up with not making as much money on the sales floor as in the past and are moving onto greener pastures/industries. You have to remember tha these guys only work these crazy hours (Late nights, Sat and Sun to make money and when the money stops coming in, u have to do something else to look after yourself or family). This is the problem with the consumer being trained to continually shop a price around to the level that there is no money whatsoever in it (even to the stage where it goes into a retailers rebates). You have to remember that you still need to pay staff, rent, bills etc to operate a store. So once profit is thin and billsare covered )There won't be left for the retailer to pay its share holders. Hence why I am not a massive fan in investing in this top of industry (even they I have been in it for over 12 years and love it to death).
So the offset of that is you have people on the floor that have not been selling long, don't know their products, don't know how to qualify etc. So when advertising is doing its thing an getting people into the store, the sales people aren't closing the sales as they don't have the skills to do so.
If you guys are into this for the long haul and don't mind waiting years, than you should make ok money. But unfortunately some people who have traded this share in the last year were only in this for a quick buck (Especially when the fraud incident came out).
Good Luck all! I hope it turns out to be an amazing investment and I hope Clive Peeters turn things around! As we still need this type of retailer out there.
CPR Price at posting:
26.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
