Takeaway: The mgmt shuffle at Juicy is great news, but not unexpected. It's clear that CEO McComb supports the part of the business that matters most.

FNP announced after the close that LeAnn Nealz, President and Chief Creative Officer at Juicy Coture, is leaving the company effective March 1st.  This is absolutely positive news, but comes as no surprise to us as noted in our comments as recent as last month (see below). One of Juicy’s problems is that it has been run by a creative person as opposed to a business person. We’ve seen that strategy too many times in this business, and it always fails.

The reality is that in early December CEO Bill McComb inserted a business and operationally-focused leader (Paul Blum) between himself and Nealz – not exactly a great vote of confidence. It was clear that the two would gel and endure, or would disagree and she would leave. There was no question that Blum had McComb’s full support.

We continue to think that Juicy will be monetized to help pay down debt and allow investors to focus on Kate Spade – one of the fastest growing assets in retail.  To be clear, we’re not saying that getting rid of Kate is a catalyst. Everyone is expecting that – and in fact, if it does not happen then the price will take a hit (unless the brand is immediately returned back to profitability under FNP’s banner). But very few people call us asking about Kate, believe it or not. It’s all about Juicy. When people understand the sales and margin upside at Kate from what we see today, we think that we see the next leg of upside from where we are today.  

HERE"S OUR LAST TWO NOTES ON FNP

01/31/13

FNP: FOCUS

Takeaway: Getting closer to a sale of Juicy? Regardless of the decision, we think the team has focus. Only good can come from that.

Reuters just noted that FNP is exploring alternatives, including a sale, of Juicy Coture. It says that the company has been having discussions, but has not yet made a decision.

This is completely in-line with our thesis on the company, that Juicy has gotten to a point where disposing the asset and paying off debt will allow FNP to focus on its crown jewel – Kate Spade – which is one of the fastest-growing assets in retail. At the same time, it will have Lucky Brand to continue its role as the annuity in the portfolio to help fund Kate’s growth prospects.

It’s easy to get hung up on internalizing near-term growth and margin performance – a hundred million in revenue here or there, or margins plus or minus a point or two. That seems like a lot in a given reporting period.

But with Kate, the company is en route to adding another $1bn+ in revenue and doubling margins. Will COH or KORS double margins? Not when they’re sitting at 31% and 20%, respectively. In fact, we’d argue that COH and KORS margins will converge closer to 25% over the next 2-3 years.  Kate should get close as well from its current margin rate of around 12% (fully loaded).

Kate is doing it right. The company has been investing capital consistently back into building the operating platform to aggressively gain share. Some of that base investment tapers off as the company moves into adolescence. Our point is that in looking at what the company is capable of, think big. This is not about a few points of comp here or there.

We know that we sound like a broken record with our bull call on FNP. But quite frankly, it is a great story worthy of being a bull.

The company is hosting an analyst meeting for Kate Spade in 1Q where the growth opportunity should be more apparent to the investment community.

As for Juicy, we’re often asked “is it really worth anything?”, our answer is ‘definitely’. Think of all the times people chalked up certain consumer brands as being dead. It happened at FNP, actually, when the company owned Mexx – which was a far bigger dog than Juicy. We hate to pick a multiple out of the air in valuing assets, but does 0.5x sales sound in the ‘fair’ category? Sure, it's consistent with past transactions in retail. We wouldn’t be shocked by more. That suggests about $250mm, which could repay 65% of FNP’s debt.

(If the table below is tough to read, let us know and we'll send the file).

FNP: Getting Closer To A Solution - lizsop

01/17/13

FNP: SOMETHING TO CHEW ON

Takeaway: We expect FNP to undergo meaningful structural change in 2013 that will continue to unlock shareholder value.

Dinner with a management team rarely (if ever) shifts ones’ investment thesis on a stock, and our’s with FNP last night was no exception. But we definitely walked away with confirmation that the management team is deploying assets to the areas that will fuel growth, and will do what it needs to do in order to purge parts of the portfolio that are simply not working. The bottom-line is that we expect FNP to undergo meaningful structural change in 2013 that will continue to unlock shareholder value.     

The only negative point we could really think of is that with a ~20% hit to EBITDA guidance (Juicy plus general conservatism) and a resulting 12% increase in the stock price, it would be flat-out dishonest of us to not admit that this latest update started the clock and set expectations that something strategic will, in fact, happen this year. Fortunately, we think it will happen, and when it does the path to a $20 stock will be apparent.


In the process of reflecting on his current “State of the Industry,” CEO Bill McComb highlighted that apparel is becoming increasingly commoditized requiring brands to become more differentiated in a consumer-direct format with a focus in part on accessories to shape how he runs each of his portfolio brands for tomorrow. In listening to McComb talk strategyvabout the future of the business, he most similarly sounds like Dick Hayne of URBN. Not a bad stock chart overvthe past year to follow.

Here are a few musings from last night:      

  • As for branded commentary, while Kate continues to be the fastest growing, Juicy remains the most dynamic. McComb put new Juicy CEO Paul Blum in place to set a path for the brand’s approach to market and its product allocation/mix across categories. This leadership has been sorely missed in recent years, which has lead the brand to run astray under Chief Creative Officer Leann Nealz in 2012. Simply put, a creative designer has been running the brand, and our opinion is that she had too much latitude to skew the brand up and down in price point and age. The brand needs a business person to instill a process to methodically target a consumer and procure product accordingly. We’re not declaring victory for Juicy. But we think that it has more going for it today as it relates to touting leadership to make it salable.
  • The upshot is that Paul is setting the course, but that’s just the start. In order to execute effectively, 1) the role of Chief Merchant still needs to be filled, and 2) the chief creative visionary has to be onboard and willing to follow the course set before her. Any deviation there would likely result in a replacement.
  • At Lucky, it’s clear that the focus beyond core denim (i.e. more fashion product) is critical to driving store productivity from $460 up to and beyond management’s $650 per sq. ft. target. In addition, e-commerce will be the primary driver of comp over the next 12-months as the team integrates successful initiatives at both Kate and Juicy.
  • As for Kate, there’s a ton of moving parts over the next year or two that drive brand growth, but McComb remains focused on the bigger picture – investing to ensure the Kate Spade business achieves a critical mass not necessarily managing to profitability. We’re not talking about a $460mm brand at 10% margins getting to 12% overtime, but a path and vision for sub $500mm brand to ultimately achieve $3Bn in revenues at margins over 20%+. We don’t think that investors are looking at the big picture here with what this brand can become. Focusing on the baby steps is an opportunity cost.

As we look ahead to the upcoming catalyst calendar, we expect confirmation shortly that a Kate Spade analyst day will take place over the next 3-months. Given the transformation and multitude of moving pieces underlying Kate’s growth trajectory, the added detail and visibility will be a net positive in light of the discounted multiple the market assigns to this brand.


Prior to then, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the addition of a Head Merchant at Juicy. Beyond 3-months is when we suspect more significant divestiture events are most likely. Among the assets likely to be monetized first are the Adelington Group and then Juicy.


The impact of these events on the balance sheet and P&L would be substantial and set free FNP’s most important asset i.e. Kate Spade. Keep in mind that a 0.5x sales multiple on Juicy Cotoure would net $250mm, which would eliminate 65% of debt, and leave FNP with debt to total capital of under 15%. That’s definitely consistent with what investors want to see from an early cycle high growth story. A better informed market following a 1H analyst day is more likely to reward the remaining business with an appropriate market multiple, which could in turn reward investors with a 40%-65%+ return from current levels and a stock worth $20-$24 per share. FNP remains one of our top longs for 2013.