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Mr. Market appears to very much concur with MW's sobering assessment of yesterday midnight time regarding this retail counter's IH 2012 results. EpiCentre's share price closed down ~ 7.5% today in volumes which were 10 times its recent daily average.
Two personal anecdotes on Epicentre from my side:
Recently my son - a scruffy herbert of a University student - wanted an iPad 2 - don't they all? So I went to my nearest EpiCentre in KL (Malaysia is much cheaper for iPad's than Sin City - even if you take out the 7% GST). They didn't have the iPad "version" that my son wanted (64 GB if I recall correctly). EpiCentre undertook to get one within a couple of days - but they couldn't deliver - we then went to a competing Apple re-seller and got the one he wanted on the spot. I was struck by Epicentre's inability to deliver - over-promising and under-delivering - in such a competitive arena.
Secondly - During my visits to Epicentre's outlet, I observed that, while their outlet was pretty full at all times, hardly anyone was buying. And those few that were spending were there for accessories costing a few tens of Ringgits - not the high-priced multi-thousand-Ringgit Mac laptops, iPhones and iPads.
As I said ....... just anecdotes. But I do wonder.
I came darn close to pumping some personal dollars into EpiCentre last September (thinking that the global events of August/September had dealt their share price a tad too harshly). More luck than anything that I didn't.
Not vested,
RBM
Two personal anecdotes on Epicentre from my side:
Recently my son - a scruffy herbert of a University student - wanted an iPad 2 - don't they all? So I went to my nearest EpiCentre in KL (Malaysia is much cheaper for iPad's than Sin City - even if you take out the 7% GST). They didn't have the iPad "version" that my son wanted (64 GB if I recall correctly). EpiCentre undertook to get one within a couple of days - but they couldn't deliver - we then went to a competing Apple re-seller and got the one he wanted on the spot. I was struck by Epicentre's inability to deliver - over-promising and under-delivering - in such a competitive arena.
Secondly - During my visits to Epicentre's outlet, I observed that, while their outlet was pretty full at all times, hardly anyone was buying. And those few that were spending were there for accessories costing a few tens of Ringgits - not the high-priced multi-thousand-Ringgit Mac laptops, iPhones and iPads.
As I said ....... just anecdotes. But I do wonder.
I came darn close to pumping some personal dollars into EpiCentre last September (thinking that the global events of August/September had dealt their share price a tad too harshly). More luck than anything that I didn't.
Not vested,
RBM
(15-02-2012, 12:09 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: Half year results [1H FY 2012] are out for EpiCentre (see attached). Looks like a much weaker performance compared to the same period last year, as competition has intensified due to the release of iPad 2. Revenue hardly budged while COGS increased more than revenues, depressing gross margins. Admin expenses also increased quite a fair bit and eroded net profit significantly, resulting in a -75% drop year on year.
Cash Flows also look weak with no FCF for 1H FY 2012, compared to the same period last year.
No interim dividend was declared, compared to a special one-off dividend of 1 cent/share last year.
(Not Vested)
RBM, Retired Botanic MatSalleh