TOP NEWS: Dr Martens lowers annual guidance amid operational issues

(Alliance News) - Dr Martens PLC shares tripped over on Thursday, as the boot maker lowered its ...

Alliance News 19 January, 2023 | 9:08AM
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(Alliance News) - Dr Martens PLC shares tripped over on Thursday, as the boot maker lowered its annual guidance due to "significant" operational issues.

The FTSE 250-listed firm identified a bottleneck at its Los Angeles distribution centre, which it said was caused by a "combination of people and process issues".

It expects the impact of lost wholesale revenue and costs incurred as a result of the issues to hit annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by around GBP16 million to GBP25 million.

Consquently, it now expects annual Ebitda in the financial year ending March 31 of between GBP250 million and GBP260 million. In financial 2022, the footwear brand posted Ebitda of GBP263.0 million.

Shares in Dr Martens fell 22% to 163.20 pence in London on Thursday morning. The stock has halved in value over the past 12 months.

The company also guided for annual revenue growth of between 11% and 13%, having previously expected "high teens" annual growth back in November.

The bottleneck is "significantly" impacting throughput, which will limit its capacity to meet wholesale demand as well as its fourth-quarter shipment forecasts, the firm explained.

Its performance over the third quarter was also held back by weaker-than-expected US direct-to-consumer trading. The firm put this down to "unseasonably warm weather" in October in November, with trading improving over December.

Nevertheless, in the third quarter, Dr Martens did manage to achieve revenue of GBP335.9 million - a 9% year-on-year increase.

This was below its expectations, however.

In its year-to-date, it has brought in revenue of GBP754.5 million, which was 12% higher than the comparable period in the previous year.

Looking ahead, the boot maker said the knock-on disruption at the California distribution centre, alongside a "more uncertain" economic backdrop, will continue to disrupt revenue growth in the next financial year.

The disruption should normalise within the first half of financial 202, Dr Martens said.

It also outlined several measures to resolve the issues at the distribution centre. These include the opening of three temporary warehouses, starting a third shift at the centre by the end of this month, and reconfiguring its east coast distribution centre to ship wholesale orders.

The firm also said it was reducing volume into pure-play wholesale e-commerce accounts in the next financial year.

"Over time, the benefit will be to underpin DTC mix expansion but in FY24, revenue growth will be impacted. These factors together lead us to believe FY24 revenue growth will be mid to high single digits on a constant currency basis," Dr Martens said.

By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Dr. Martens PLC Ordinary Shares 87.40 GBX 4.05 -

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