Concerns and Questions
Upon reading Aeffe
Group’s financial statements, I was concerned over the fact that the figures
from one year’s report were completely different in the next year. I stressed
over whether or not this was because I’d found the wrong reports, was looking
at the incorrect statement, maybe there were errors in the document. That’s when
I noted the asterisk in brackets next to the previous year’s title. Following
the asterisk down I found it said:
“(*)
Following the retrospective application of the amendment to IAS 19 from 1
January 2013 the comparative figures at 31 December 2012 have been restated as
required by IAS 1. More specifically, the figure for closing Equity reported in
the Consolidated Financial Statements at 31 December 2012 has decreased by EUR
1,050 thousand, of which EUR 1,039 thousand relates to Equity attributable to owners
of the parent and EUR 11 thousand relates to Non-controlling interest.
Reference should be made to the section "Accounting policies" for
further details.”
This was definitely a “Eureka!” moment
for me, and then upon watching the lecture videos listed on Moodle, the issue
was further clarified for me. Having no background knowledge of accounting, I
never knew that you could have different accounting policies that varied a
company’s financial statements so much.
Another concern was that the starting
date of the annual period was changed for the Statement of Changes in
Consolidated Shareholders’ Equity. In 2011, the year started 31st
December 2010, with the 2012 year also starting on the 31 December of the
previous calendar year. However, from there on, the starting date was changed
to the 1st January. This confused me as well until I saw listed on
the 2013 Annual Report “IAS 19 revised
adoption effect”, which then clued me in that it was a result in their
change of accounting policies, just as I had seen occur in the figures earlier.
Critical Business Aspects and Key Challenges Facing
Aeffe
Aeffe’s most
critical business aspect is their retail market. As witnessed in their annual
report, their sales vary dramatically from country to country. As you can see
in the included screenshot of Aeffe’s Sales by Geographical Area, the largest
overwhelming percentage of sales for them come from Italy, with Europe as a
whole making up 67.4% of their total sales for the 2014 calendar year.
Aeffe Group’s
sales by geographical area comparison 2013 to 2014
As noted by them further
down in their own explanation of these figures, sales in Russia dropped
dramatically by 14.1%.
An article I found
of Aeffe’s success also comments on the incredible drop in sales in Russia. The
article contends that as a result of the “uncertain economic and geopolitical climate, abetted by a
slump in oil prices and trade sanctions imposed by Western countries late last
year”, sales in Russia have dropped
53% between the first quarter of 2015 and the same time the previous year.
It goes on to say that Russia
used to be Aeffe’s third largest marker outside of Italy and Europe (also
evidenced in the statement pictured above), has now fallen below the United
States. Such a slump in sales has got to be a key concern to the company, and
they will have to evaluate a number of options as to what can be done to
counterbalance the slide in sales that is occurring. They either have to find a
way to increase sales in the region (which they have been trying to do by
decreasing prices) or they will have to focus on another market and create more
sales there.
One of the key
challenges is that being a company in the high fashion industry, Aeffe is
incredibly susceptible to the numbers concerning disposable income. With a slowdown
in the economic statues of all markets, particularly Europe – their main target
market – there just isn’t a large demand for high end, expensive luxury labels
when more pressing concerns such as food and shelter consume a large portion of
individuals’ income.
Another key
challenge or concern is the abdication of Moschino’s CEO, Alessandro Varisco.
As of 30th June 2015, he has stepped down in order to head a womenswear
brand Twin-Set Simona Barbieri, leaving the position of CEO vacant. Reports
indicate that the duties of the role will be carried out by Massimo Ferretti, executive president of Aeffe and
Marcello Tassinari, Aeffe's managing director and chief financial officer
until they can find a suitable replacement.
All of this begs the question,
how will this affect Aeffe in the upcoming months? Will it affect sales?
Shareholder confidence? Stock prices? Further research into the topic has lead
me to believe that Varisco’s abdication will have an effect on the company to
some extent. An article I discovered states:
“When the market’s reaction to the CEO news is dramatic, however, a surprising
relationship comes into play. Of the 20 companies whose stock popped 5% or more
upon the announcement, only 40% sustained a rise over the course of the CEO’s
tenure—but of the 14 companies whose stock plunged 5% or more upon the
announcement, 79% experienced a long-term gain” (http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr166.pdf)
Aeffe’s
stock prices from 30 April 2015 to 29 July 2015
In searching for the
announcement date for Varisco’s stepping down,
all I can find are articles dated from the 30th June 2015 onwards.
So going off this day as the announcement date, Aeffe’s stock price has increased by approximately 8% in the month since
the ‘announcement’. Going off the article quoted above, could this mean that
the CEO turnover may not lead to sustained increase? Only time will really
tell, and I don’t have the necessary accounting or economic insight and
knowledge for me to really evaluate the potential repercussions.
A SWOT analysis of
Aeffe indicated that overall, it is a company with many strengths and
relatively few weaknesses and while it has few opportunities and a number of
threats, it is on the whole a company with great promise and a formidable future.
Their many strengths
include their existing distribution and sales network (already having an “in”
enables them to focus on extending their reach instead of having to do the hard
yards of having to break into the market), their high growth rate, high
profitability and revenue, the barriers of market entry for competitors,
reduced labour costs and their highly skilled workforce. One of their only
weaknesses identified is their tax structure and upon looking at their
financial reports, my inexperienced eyes picked up that their tax financials
looked a little odd. Their taxes under the income statement of my Company
Spreadsheet look like this:
2014 2013 2012 2011
Taxes (2,107,267) (1,253,908) (4,579,666) (2,859,885)
I found such a huge
owing in taxes in 2012 to be out of place. How can a company pay €1.7m more tax
one year and then go to pay €3.3m less the next? It just didn’t really seem
right to me, seeing as the rest of the company’s figures were rather
comparable.
Moving on, Aeffe’s
opportunities included a growing demand for their products and their new
acquisitions. However, their threats were perceived to be tax changes (which
ties in with their weakness), the rising cost of the raw materials it takes to
create their products, as well as the added increase of the cost of labour and an
increase in government regulations.
Business Strategies
Aeffe Group has a very simple business strategy, involving a
multi-brand strategy. A multi-brand strategy involves the marketing and sale of
similar and/or competing products under the banner of different houses, labels
or brands. It can have the benefit of offering products in all price ranges and
qualities, providing products for all markets. It also provides for less space
for competitors in the market as the multiple brands under the one company
saturate the market. It also maintains customers and users who like to change
things up and try different brands, meaning they are still buying from the one
parent company. The extra added bonus is that it increases productivity of each
of the brands as they compete with each other.
With this multi-brand strategy, Aeffe focusses on the
management of their brands that are internationally renowned so as to maintain
their distinctive and unique style that attracts a wide variety of clientele.
