Courts Asia

https://www.kelive.com/KimEng/servlet/PD...3&ky=22809

Wah lau... didn't know Courts tanked till so jialat...

Moral of story... when PE sells, never touch...

The company's Indonesia story has just begun. Let's see the progress.

(not vested)

Singapore’s Courts Asia to open Indonesian store in October

Singapore’s electronics and furniture retailer Courts Asia will open its first Court Big Box Megastore in Indonesia on a 2-hectare plot of land in Bekasi, West Java, by end of October, said Court Asia Indonesia CEO Roy Santoso.

The company has spent US$3 million ($3.8 million) to US$4 million on the store.

It plans to open another in Tangerang next year and targets opening 10 stores in Indonesia within the next five years.
http://www.theedgesingapore.com/the-dail...tober.html

Still a long term hold for me. It is afterall a good stock if you want exposure to consumerism in SEA.

This is a hidden gem in the making. Courts should be view as a finance company in the same vein as a hybrid pawnbroking business.

It is apparently possible for courts to pool the interest they receive into a trust and securitise them into different classes of investments for vaious investors to invest in.

I am surprised on the weaker sale, since I saw the Courts advert almost every Saturday paper in Singapore...

(not vested)

Courts Asia’s 2Q earnings fall 76.2% on weaker sales in Singapore, Malaysia
By PC Lee / TheEdge Markets.com | November 12, 2014 : 9:12 PM MYT

SINGAPORE (Nov 12): Courts Asia Limited ( Financial Dashboard), the retailer of furniture and electrical consumer goods, said it posted 2Q FY14/15 earnings of $1.7 million, down 76.2% from $7.2 million a year ago (2Q Fy13/14).

Basic earnings per share fell to 0.31 cents from 1.28 cents correspondingly.

The decrease in bottomline came as sales fell 19.9% to $178.6 million from $222.9 million.

Singapore sales, which contributed to 68% of the group’s sales, registered a 22.9% decrease in 2Q FY14/15 compared to 2Q FY13/14.

The fall in sales was mainly due to a lacklustre retail environment and lower bulk sales from digital products. Like-for-like sales excluding bulk sales of digital products decreased by 3.9%.

Malaysia’s sales, which contributed to 32% of the Group’s sales, contracted by 12.6% due to muted consumer response during the Raya festive period and reduction of fuel subsidies have also negatively impacted consumer sentiment.

Gross profit decreased by 7.9% or $5.0 million while gross profit margin increased from 28.5% in 2Q FY13/14 to 32.7% in 2Q FY14/15.

This was mainly due to Singapore’s sales mix shifting towards electrical and furniture categories which carry a higher gross margin.

The group’s trade and other receivables increased by 5.6% from $488.2 million as at 31 March.

Courts Asia said to partially offset the muted consumer sentiment in Singapore and Malaysia, the group undertook a review of its operating costs and management structure to right-size the cost structure.

It will also continue to carefully assess opportunities that will add long-term value for shareholders.

Courts Asia ended the day 1.1% lower at 44 cents
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...e-malaysia

The outlook of the company isn't good, in the eyes of analysts...

Courts Asia price target cut 23% to 40 cents by Maybank Kim Eng

SINGAPORE (Nov 24): Maybank Kim Eng has cut its price target for Courts Asia from 52 cents to 40 cents, based on eight times projected FY2016-17 earnings, after lowering its earnings estimates for FY2015-17 by 36%, 28% and 6% respectively.

The retailer's core markets are expected to remain weak as consumers withhold spending, according to Maybank Kim Eng analyst Truong Thanh Hang, who has a "hold" rating on the stock.
...
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...nk-kim-eng

The company has done badly in latest full year.

Let me share an experience with Courts Asia Singapore. I bought an appliance recently. I received a call for a survey, which is absolutely normal. What surprised me, was the caller requested a top rating of experience, before the survey was started. After I expressed unwillingness, the caller terminated the survey immediately. She said, the survey form would be sent via email, which I have never received.

What a survey! I reckon the survey result should be very favorable, by design.

(not vested)

Courts Asia see 38.7% fall in full-year net profit to $17.4 million

SINGAPORE (May 27) Courts Asia, the electrical, IT and furniture retailer, reported a 16.4% drop in 4Q net profit to $6.6 million from a year ago.

Revenue fell 7% to $192.5 million.

Courts Asia said profits in its core markets, Singapore and Malaysia, were flat due to currency exchange in Malaysia.

Overall, results were down as Indonesia has yet to achieve operational efficiency.

“Since May 2015, three stores have been operational and we expect the fourth store to be opened by the calendar year-end, which should ensure economies of scale will kick in for the Indonesia market,” says Courts Asia in its SGX filing.

For the fiscal year ended March, the group registered a 38.7% fall in net profit to $17.4 million, down from $28.3 million a year ago.

This was mainly attributable to the group’s cost-efficiency initiatives, which resulted in a one-time impact of $2.2 million, higher exchange loss of $1.3 million from Malaysia and the $5 million loss from Indonesia operations.

Revenue fell 8.6% to $785.5 million.
...
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...74-million

The current market valuation, is almost half of IPO valuation...

(not vested)

Courts Asia kept at ‘hold’ with unchanged TP of 45 cents by DBS

SINGAPORE (May 28): DBS Group Research is maintaining a “Hold” rating for Courts Asia with an unchanged target price of $0.45.

The research house does not expect its Indonesian ventures to breakeven anytime soon.

Overall, DBS says, it expects muted revenue growth for the year ahead on the back of soft consumer sentiments.

Courts Asia released its 4QFY15 and full-year results yesterday and was within expectations of the house.
...
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/sg/article...-cents-dbs

(27-05-2015, 09:49 PM)CityFarmer Wrote: Let me share an experience with Courts Asia Singapore. I bought an appliance recently. I received a call for a survey, which is absolutely normal. What surprised me, was the caller requested a top rating of experience, before the survey was started. After I expressed unwillingness, the caller terminated the survey immediately. She said, the survey form would be sent via email, which I have never received.

What a survey! I reckon the survey result should be very favorable, by design.

That's very interesting! It will be good if others could share their experience as well.

Essentially, I find management to be a little lost on their initiatives. The small things which they have done such as offering mobile phones (with no value proposition except to attract poor credit) and partnership with an insurance (which destroy any shopping experience there is) seem to indicate so. Negligible on revenue contribution but huge on evaluating management's capability.

Months back when I walked past a Courts store, they had their insurance booth in it and immediately, I got surrounded by 3 to 4 agents. No surprise the booth is now empty.

It's becoming a numbers game for management as they are are trying every mean to inject "life" to their business.

I USED to buy at Courts. At least that's what I was brought up with. Dad and mum used to bring me to Courts as a kid. I guess it had a lot to do with my dad being a low income earner and yet, the need for him to furnish the house brought him to tapping on their installment schemes.

Naturally when I grew up and gotten married, my first instinct at buying furniture and electricals was at Courts. My more experienced and bargain hunting colleagues however introduced me to alternatives such as Kong Tai and Parissilk. Not sure if you guys heard of them. They sell electricals at better pricing. Way lower than Courts. Last I checked. Problem is, those places do not accept credit cards (which I adore for the rebates). Again last I checked in 2012.

There was once when I wanted to buy this Sony TV, NX-40 I think. It was a 3D HD TV in 2012. I called Kong Tai for a quote and compare to Courts. The prices were at least 20-30% cheaper despite all the deals that Courts threw at me. I asked the Courts salesmen if they could do price matching. They were pretty hostile to the suggestion and just didn't want to entertain me. Fine. Suits me. Their lowest price guarantee or triple your money back extends to only very limited sellers by the way.

http://www.courts.com.sg/ourpolicies/cou...owestprice

I stepped into Harvey Norman (I stay near Jurong Point by the way. They have both Harvey Norman and Courts there) and checked with the sales person. Harvey Norman just did the price match without a blink of the eye. I was a Harvey Norman convert since then. I now get the price of the products beforehand and just seek Harvey Norman to match them. If I'm too busy to do market research, I would just try asking 20% lower. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. They seem to have their own internal price floor that they can go until. But bottom line is that you can negotiate for prices at Harvey Norman but ceteris paribus for Courts, they won't entertain.

As a consumer, I'm definitely not very enthusiastic about frequenting Courts unless I need to tap on their installment scheme which I have never done so. Courts do still have some great deals, sometimes better than the rest of their competitors but in all, I won't patronize them. I wonder how many customers feel the same way.