Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Limited logo

The Chairman’s and Group CEO’s address at the AGM

AGM12 December 2018HLGConsumer Discretionary

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CHAIRMANS ADDRESS TO SHAREHOLDERS ON 12 DECEMBER 2018

RESULTS FOR FULL YEAR ENDED 1 AUGUST 2018


Group sales for the 12 months to 1 August 2018 were $277.64 million, resulting in a very strong

increase of 16.2% over the corresponding period last year ($239.00 million). The audited net profit

after tax for the year was $27.36 million, an increase of 58.4% over the corresponding period last year

($17.27 million). An excellent result across the Group, with all three chains performing strongly. Well

done to all our people “in all our chains”.


The 2017/18 financial year has continued to build on the success of the previous year. The buying

strategy, investment in digital and the improvements in customer service and experience that were

implemented in 2017 have supported this sales and margin growth. Combined with tighter cost

control, this has in turn led to a significant lift in bottom line, net profit. Whilst the trading

environments remained tough in both New Zealand and Australia, our brands responded well and

adapted to these conditions to deliver this strong result.


Segment Results


Glassons New Zealand


Sales for the Glassons New Zealand chain for the financial year were $96.73 million, an increase of

8.1% on the prior year. The Glasson New Zealand chain made a pre-tax profit of $14.80 million, on

these sales. The prior year it made a pre-tax profit of $11.30 million. Key to this strong performance

over that period has been our focus on fashion, our speed to market and our customer service.


Significant investment was made in digital throughout the year, improving customer engagement with

our website, social media platforms, as well as our in store customer experience.


During the last financial year, we refitted the Glasson Queenstown and Queensgate stores to our new

concept design, and closed one underperforming store in Henderson, Auckland.


Also, our Dunedin Glassons store has just been refitted to reflect our new model store format.

Further planned store investment is planned in New Zealand after Christmas (i.e. 2019). Mark will talk

further on this shortly.


Currently there are thirty seven Glassons Stores spread throughout New Zealand, including three

clearance centres.


Glassons Australia


Sales for our Glassons Australia chain for the year were $78.42 million, an increase of 56.7% on the

prior year.


Its pre-tax profit was $11.16 million, compared to $1.93 million the year before.

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This was an outstanding result and a credit to all involved in the Glassons Australia business. We

continue to evolve our product offer in Australia, which is strongly focused on what our Australian

customer wants. This increased customer focus, together with our innovation in customer service,

investment in digital and speed to market drove sales in what remains an increasingly challenging retail

market, over there.


During the last financial year, two new stores, Melbourne Central and Charlestown, were opened and

a further two stores, Warringah and Chermside, were refurbished into our new concept.


Planned store investment will continue in Australia. We have refurbished three existing stores in the

new summer season in Bondi, Highpoint and Parramatta Malls to our new model store format, and

additional refurbishments are scheduled for next year. There have also been two new store openings

in The Glen (Melbourne) and Liverpool (Sydney) shopping centres and some other stores are currently

under consideration.


This brings the total Glassons stores in Australia to 32, of which 4 are clearance centres.

There is 13 Glasson Stores in Sydney, 13 in Melbourne, and 6 in Queensland (Brisbane and the Gold

Coast).


Hallenstein Brothers


Hallenstein Brothers also delivered a strong performance.


Sales for the menswear chain for the year were $96.89 million (including Australia), an increase of 6.4%

on the prior year. The chain made a pre-tax profit of $12.41 million, compared to $10.43 million the

year before. Hallenstein Brothers continues to build on its established market leading position in New

Zealand. In Australia, the three stores in Brisbane are steadily building turnover, and market presence.

We remain positive about the opportunity that exists for the brand in that market. Investment has also

continued in digital to help drive sales and improve customer engagement.


During the year, the Queenstown store in New Zealand was refurbished to its new format concept and

two small underperforming , non-strategic stores were closed. A new store will also be opened in

Frankton, Queenstown in the New Year.


Further investment in Hallenstein Brothers stores is planned for next year and an extension to the

Distribution Centre was completed in November that will accommodate the growth in throughput and

online sales.


The Hallenstein Brothers business currently has 42 stores in New Zealand, 3 of which are clearance

centres and 3 stores in Queensland, Australia.





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Storm


As previously advised The Storm business assets were sold on 30th April 2018 to Blackstar Holding

Limited. The Storm retail stores are now no longer part of the Hallenstein Glasson Group.


E-Commerce


As a result of the company’s ongoing investment in digital, online sales growth has improved

significantly. During the last financial year, just completed, it represented approximately 12.8% of

Group turnover. We will continue to invest in technology and resources to keep building momentum

and ensure it is properly integrated with each chains physical store customer offer.


Dividend


The Directors have declared a final dividend of 24 cents per share (fully imputed) to be paid on 17th

December 2018. Together with the interim dividend of 20 cents per share that was paid on 13th April

2018, the full year dividend is 44 cents per share, (compared to 31.5cents per share the previous

year).This increase in dividend payment comes as a result of the company’s strong trading

performance, its inventories being well controlled, and its strong balance sheet and cash position.


Future Outlook


While the trading environment in both New Zealand and Australia remains challenging, the sales for

first 18 weeks of the new financial year (from 2 August 2018 to 9 December 2018) are 4% ahead of the

same period last year. However, because the December and January key trading months, which

contribute such a large proportion of sales and profit for the season, are largely still ahead of us, it is

not possible to reliably forecast our results.


The outlook for the second half of the year remains uncertain as increasing costs (such as fuel, freight,

electricity etc) and the lower New Zealand and Australian dollar puts pressure our trading margins.

We will however remain focused on improving our market share and customer experience in the New

Zealand and Australia fashion apparel markets in which we operate, and keep a tight control over our

operating costs. We will also work to ensure our Glassons and Hallenstein Brothers brands remain

market leaders in their respective market segments.


We will provide a further trading update at the end of the summer season, which ends on 1 February

2019, when actual summer season results will be known in late February 2019.

In closing I would like to thank the Hallenstein Glasson Executive Team and all our staff, for the

excellent 2018 trading result that they delivered. It was a tremendous effort by everyone.



Warren Bell

Chairman

12 December 2018

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CEO’s address to Shareholders on 12 December 2018

Results for the full year to 1 August 2018.


I am extremely proud of the excellent performance that the Group has delivered through the Financial

Year ended 1 August 2018. The results follow an impressive performance in Glassons Australia and

strong growth in New Zealand across Glassons and Hallenstein Brothers. Both brands, in both

countries, are operating in increasingly challenging retail conditions, which makes the results achieved

even more pleasing – they are a credit to the amazing teams we have in place across the Group.


Our success last financial year is attributable to several key strengths - the continued improvement of

our buying strategies, our focus on being fashion forward, our investment and engagement in digital

and an unwavering emphasis on customer service. These, together with our agility and increasing

ability to accelerate change, and our willingness to challenge ourselves to be different, set us apart

from our competition.



Our strength is our people and teams


We are very proud and protective of our culture that values empowerment, creativity, innovation and

agility. Our passion and drive comes from a shared belief in an entrepreneurial spirit, and one that

values and believes in the power of the team. Whether in our offices, our distribution centres or in our

stores, we know each person plays a key and an important role – their passion, dedication and

commitment is directly reflected in the financial results delivered for the year.


Building the skills of our people and teams and their future leadership development is a priority. The

board and management are absolutely committed to this. Within each business, the management

teams continue to work on skills development, coaching and succession planning of their teams.

Additionally, to support this, we also send key team members on development courses to some of the

top international business schools.



Across the Group, we are customer obsessed


Over the last twelve months, we have continued investment in improving service to our customers. We

continue to differentiate ourselves from our competition in our service levels, particularly in the

quality of our store teams and our in-store environment. Whilst our online sales continue to grow in

both volume and as a percentage of our sales, we recognise the importance of our physical stores and

the exciting role they play in our current and future growth plans.


I continue to spend considerable time in our stores across New Zealand and Australia. No matter how

many times I visit stores, I find them an exciting and vibrant experience, there is always tremendous

amounts to learn, and of course, most importantly, I get to spend time with our store teams. I am

incredibly impressed with our store teams and their passion for our customers, our products and our

service. Their input is invaluable in shaping our business.

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Brand experience and engagement is increasingly important


As a Group, and within each brand, we continue to invest in unlocking and supporting future growth.


We have seen our investment in technology and digital continue to drive and support growth in both

countries, and whilst online grows and represented 12.8% of our sales in the last financial year, it is

particularly pleasing to see that our physical stores grew last financial year despite the challenging

markets that they are in. This supports our view that the use of technology, digital and our online

presence is about engaging with our customers and connecting them to our brands, and our stores, as

much as it is about online sales.


Like last year, we have continued working to improve the customer experience and how we engage

with our customers, both in store and online.


We have introduced two new “virtual” team members who have and will continue to add a new

dimension to the ways we can assist and serve our customers online. Charlie, who works for Glassons,

and Benny, who works for Hallenstein, are two “conversational chat bots” using the latest artificial

intelligence and natural language processing platforms. With their help, we can now answer many

typical customer questions immediately, online, 24/7.


Additionally we have a number of new and innovative customer facing technologies in store. “Be the

D.J.” where customers can choose their own music whilst they shop. Interactive and service-focused

fitting rooms in our new and recently refurbished stores and we are currently trialling “mobile hand

held” payment devices that negate the need for the customer to go to a counter, and enables the

team member who has served the customer to complete the transaction straight away.


We have continued to expand our “click and collect service” and “endless aisles” strategies, which are

available in all our stores and ensure all our customers, have access to our full range regardless of

where they shop. We have also introduced for customers a number of new delivery options for online

orders including weekend and evening delivery.


And whilst we have invested in customer facing and engaging technologies, we have looked to

technology to help our store teams become less operationally focused allowing them more time to do

what they do so well, focus on customer service.


Our Digital and IT team has been outstanding in its execution in the last twelve months.

However, we live in a dynamic and highly competitive market where technology is changing the way

customers and retailers interact and engage. The pace of change and disruption is increasingly fast and

transparent, and there is a need for continuous innovation.


As exciting as the developments I have outlined are, we continue to develop a strong pipeline for the

future, ensuring we continue to innovate and develop a global class online and digital environment, as

well as engagement, ensuring it is achieved, and achieved at pace.

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Our physical stores have an exciting role in our current and future growth plans


Warren has already highlighted the investment we have made in new stores and refurbishments

during the 2018 financial year, as well as this year to date. As you can see, the stores look fantastic.

These plans continue for the balance of the financial year, reflecting a strong and steady investment in

our physical stores.


Following the success of the store concept in Glassons Australia, we are bringing the design to more of

our stores in New Zealand. In the first half of next calendar year, we currently have plans for new

stores to replace our old formats in both Bayfair and Palmerston North and we will refurbish

Newmarket and Te Rapa. Ensuring we continue to bring the New Zealand stores up to date.


Hallenstein Brothers, which continues to evolve and innovate it’s in store experience, will have new

store openings in Frankton, Queenstown, an improved site in Bayfair and a refurbishment of the

Botany Downs Store.


Importantly though as strong as our new concept stores are, we are not standing still. We are

constantly looking for ways to improve, innovate and evolve our stores, ensuring we deliver the most

exciting and engaging experience for our customer.



Supply Chain. Serving our Stores and Customers


As has already been discussed, we continue to invest in our supply chain. The expansion of the

Hallenstein Brothers Distribution Centre in Auckland is complete, adding additional capacity to support

our growing online business. This was our first step.


Looking forward we are reviewing options for Glassons Distribution Centres in New Zealand and

Australia to ensure that they will allow us to meet customer demand, online, and in store, well into the

future.




Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing


As a Group, we are committed to delivering better outcomes for our customers, communities and the

environment. Whilst there is much more to do, we are proud of the achievements so far.

In April 2018, we were pleased to receive a B+ rating from Baptist, however many challenges remain

and we understand our ability to drive and maintain change is critical to our future success.

As a business, we are working to improve sustainability in everything we do. In November this year, we

introduced paper bags into stores, and we intend to eliminate plastic shopping bags by early 2019.

The impact we have on the world around us will continue to be a focus as we strive to integrate

initiatives and policies into our everyday business.

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Each Individual Business


Last year I spent time speaking about each individual business, as you have just heard, the Group, and

each business within it, has similar strategies and have executed those well, ensuring that the

opportunity to benefit from the developments, synergies and talent across the Group have been

maximised, particularly in our investment areas of technology and online.


However, and importantly, each brand continues to work on its own respective and unique market and

customer proposition and identity.



Glassons


Glassons continues to build its fashion forward credentials within Australia and New Zealand. Our

model of bringing to market the products our customers want, when they want, is constantly evolving

and improving, as does the ability to respond to market conditions with speed and agility.


Glassons continues to innovate in digital marketing with its influencer events engaging and connecting

our customers to their influencers in fashion.



Hallenstein Brothers


Hallenstein Brothers continues to build on its market leadership position in New Zealand. Focus in the

last twelve months has been on driving key categories of brand ownership through the business.


The Team continue to work on innovative product, offering value, backed with engaging marketing

campaigns that take menswear to a far more exciting position in the market.


And in Australia, we are encouraged with the progress being made in the three stores in Queensland,

and remain positive about the opportunity that exists and will review their performance following the

busy Christmas and New Year trading period.



Outlook


Whilst the new financial year started well, the outlook for the balance of this season and into the new

calendar year remains unpredictable. Australia and New Zealand continue to be increasingly

challenging retail markets. Consumers on both sides of the Tasman face ever-increasing pressures and

challenges on their discretionary spend, and businesses in both countries are experiencing legislative

change as well as challenging exchange rates and cost increase pressures.


However, as a Group, we remain focused on those things that are within our control. Our inventory

levels are well controlled. We continue to build and develop our teams, to focus and build on our

customer experience and service, and to develop and deliver the best product, whilst closely managing

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our cost base. With these strategies and our team in place, we are striving for continuous

improvement across our business.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team that I work with, for their and their team’s

outstanding contribution to the business over the last twelve months, the results as outlined are a

credit to them and theirs to be proud of.



Mark Goddard

Group CEO

12 December 2018

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