Bounce Backs and Failures in British Retailing (HMRTY, MAKSY, TSCDY, MRWSY)

British Retailers HOME RETAIL GROUP S/ADR (PINK:HMRTY), Marks and Spencer Group Plc (ADR) (PINK:MAKSY), WM MORRISON UNSP/ADR (Public, PINK:MRWSY) and Tesco PLC (ADR) (PINK:TSCDY) had a mixed holiday season last month with direct consequence on retailers Jan share price. 

It wasn’t the best Christmas ever for British retailers; but it wasn’t the worst either. Here are a couple of winners and a couple of losers… 

Fortunately for giant Euro-Retailer Tesco, its assets, stores, and clients are spread out in Europe and provide it some diversity, but in Sept the Company decided to trigger a price war moving into the holidays and as AP reported it lowered the price of 3,000 everyday products.

Post-Christmas TSCDY acknowledged that the number of customers drawn in by its holiday promotion had not been enough to offset the lower prices. Manipulating promotions can backfire. Shares of TSCDY were trading on Jan 3 at $19.42 and are currently trading in the $15.11 range; a loss of 22% in a month.

Another Jan 3 loser was British supermarket giant MRWSY. Shares fell from $25.61 to $21.88 on Jan 17; a loss of 14.5% in a couple of weeks, however shares are trending towards a rebound that is underway and are currently trading in the $22.63 range.

Two British retail winners coming out of Dec are HMRTY and MAKSY. 

Home Retail Group has nearly 1,100 stores in the U.K. and Ireland operating under the Argos name and the Homebase name. Argos is more of a Target type operation and Homebase more akin to Lowes or Home Depot. HMRTY was trading in the $4.85 range on Dec 19 and is currently trading in the $6.41 range; a five week gain of 32%.

And Marks and Spencer, with over 700 stores, also came out of the holidays with a bang. MAKSY shares were trading at $9.35 on Dec 23 and topped out its run-up on Jan 20 at $10.54; a gain of 12.7% in five weeks. A little profit taking has set in this past week and shares are currently trading in the $10.38 range.

I haven’t, don’t, and do not intend on holding any of the companies mentioned in this article.