BWX for 2022 yesterday,shocking the market with a $335 million loss that was largely driven by its revaluations of its business,including a $73 million writedown on the value of Foster Blake’s business.
Entrepreneur and author Zoe Foster Blake’s brand Go To remains a key business for BWX.James Brickwood
The embattled company’s share price plumbed new depths on Tuesday,falling to 29 cents after its long hiatus from trading. BWX’s shares had been suspended since August amid a dispute with its auditors which delayed the release of its annual accounts for 2022. Its shares had last traded at 63 cents before the suspension.
BWX’s Tuesday fall capped off a horror year for the company’s share price which began the year trading at $4.33.
BWX wiped the value of its brands yesterday including delivering a $30 million cut to the amount it expects to have to pay Foster Blake to acquire the remaining 49 per cent share of her Go-To brand. BWX,which acquired 51 per cent of Foster Blake’s company in 2021 for $89.9 million will still likely pay the entrepreneur nearly $60 million for her remaining share of the business.
BWX,which counts billionaires Nicola and Andrew Forrest as investors,has been hit hard by the slowdown in consumer spending on discretionary products after a bumper two-year run during the pandemic and structural issues within its business including the use of aggressive sales tactics.
,which recently secured emergency funding to keep itself afloat,revealed on Monday that it had overstated the revenue it earned in 2021 and had made other errors in its accounts in the two prior years.
It also significantly reduced its guidance for the 2023 financial year citing lower growth forecasts across its business and the impact of high inventory levels of unsold stock it had expected to sell during the year but had not.
In an effort to reset the business,BWX has hired advisers to assist in the sale of assets outside of its four core brands – Sukin,Mineral Fusion,Andalou Naturals and Go-To. The advisers will also help the business in its talks with its bankers. The group has also brought in a new chairman Steven Fisher,who will replace Ian Campbell who will remain as a director.
The share market plunge came as analysts issued downgrades of their ratings and price targets following the results.
Shaw and Partners analyst Philip Pepe described the result as messy and one that “would not win over many fans”.
“After almost four months of voluntary suspension,BWX released a very messy set of FY22 financial results that included prior period restatements,” Pepe said in a note to clients.
“Whilst the company has made some progress with its board renewal and its FY23 outlook statement is quite solid,we believe the company will struggle to outperform in the near-term,especially given the potentially challenging outlook for retail both in Australia and the USA.”
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