MACINTOSH: BAD H1 MARKET
[BIZ: Maastricht, June 27] The group’s turnover will be higher in the first half of 2008, due to the acquisition of Brantano. Revenues in the Living sector are expected to be higher, as a result of higher turnover at Kwantum Netherlands and Kwantum Belgium. In the Fashion sector, both Hoogenbosch and Scapino are recording lower revenues than in 2007 and Brantano also faces lower sales. In the Automotive & Telecom sector, the fall in revenues is caused by lower turnover at Halfords and, particularly, at BelCompany, which operates in a telecom market under severe pressure. Expansion by some 30 stores and organic growth in costs, total costs will show a substantial rise too. Current views are that this, together with a number of non-recurring integration and restructuring costs at Brantano, will cause the operating result to show a noticeable decrease from the record operating result for H1, 2007 (EUR 24.7m). Owing to the lower operating result and higher financial expenses due to the acquisition of Brantano, they expect net profit on continuing operations for the first half of the year to be marginal (2007: EUR 17.0m). Although the second half of the year is traditionally much stronger than the first half, they consider it unlikely that the ground lost in the first half will be fully made up. However, consumers’ purchasing behavior and market conditions continue to be unpredictable, which makes it difficult to draw a picture for the second half of the year at this time.
So far, the disappointing market conditions Macintosh Retail Group reported on April 22, 2008 have continued into the second quarter. The decrease in consumer confidence was clear in the shoe, clothing, bicycle and telecom retail markets, and the markets of specific relevance to the Macintosh Retail Group.
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