ASX Earnings Wrap: Mosaic Brands, Flight Centre swing from loss to profit; City Chic tumbles 10pc

It’s earnings season again as the ASX market announcements page becomes increasingly flooded with earnings lodgements.

To save you the trouble of trudging through it all, we’ve wrapped up the highlights from some of the reports that caught our eye.

Beam Communications (ASX:BCC)

Highlights:

Full year record revenue of $40m, up 67% on pcp
Record NPAT of $2.1m from a loss of $0.2 in the pcp
FY24 EBITDA guidance is for further growth

The satellite and cellular tech company surged 24% this morning after reporting strong growth and metrics across all its business segments for FY23.

Total recurring revenue was up 40% to $1.6 million, and the company expects this to grow strongly over the coming periods.

Beam says it is benefiting from the growing demand for mobile satellite solutions worldwide. The global market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% to US$9.2 billion by 2030.

Beam’s long-standing partner, Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ: IRDM), also continues to report strong growth in its business and subscriber numbers.

Beam’s wholly owned subsidiary and Telstra’s largest satellite dealer, SatPhone Shop, recorded a 7% YoY increase in revenue to $2.5 million in the period.

Looking ahead, Beam’s FY24 EBITDA is forecast to increase by double digits with further margin expansion.

“Increasing recurring revenues, the successful launch of new products and services and a range of exciting growth projects on our immediate horizon will allow us to build on the strong gains we have made over the past year,” said Beam CEO, Michael Capocchi.

City Chic Collective (ASX:CCX)

Highlights:

Full year sales revenue of $268.4m, down 15.8% on FY22
Underlying EBITDA loss of $24m; and NPAT loss of $45m
Net cash position of $10.9m

Women fashion retailer City Chic share price tumbled by 10% this morning.

During the year, City Chic undertook a strategic review to return the business to profitability, and has made progress towards streamlining its operations and driving down its cost base.

The company also conducted a right-sizing of its inventory in order to return to a positive cash position, which it has achieved against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.

These measures, together with the sale of the Evans brand and assets since year-end, has allowed City Chic to return to a more commercial inventory position to support sales from Q2 FY24.

In the first eight weeks to 27 August, City Chic continued to aggressively clear winter inventory in the ANZ and summer inventory in the USA.

The company is now streamlining its product range to focus on core fits and stylish, high-quality options.

It will also focus on offering a more refined and desirable assortment with fresh lifestyle additions, at higher average selling prices that deliver better margins.

Looking ahead to FY24, the cost reduction program will continue through the first half as it aims to maintain positive net cash at year end.

Mosaic Brands (ASX:MOZ)

Highlights:

FY23 EBTDA of $17.1m against FY22 loss of $16.4m
Sales growth of 6% compared to the pcp
Plans to launch 40 more stores in FY24

The specialty fashion retailer surged 17% this morning after reporting full year results that were in line with its market update in July.

Bottom line EBITDA has turned around from a loss of $16m in FY22, to a profit of $17m.

CEO Scott Evans cited the growth of online, which now contributes a fifth of group revenue and saw 4.4 million items shopped in FY23, and the shift towards big box retailing and away from higher-rent, smaller-format stores as key elements of the turnaround.

Evans said 40 new mega stores, which are typically three times more profitable than mall or standard size stores, are planned to be rolled out in FY24 – the majority located in regional Australia.

“Mosaic Brands has survived the pandemic-induced downturn and emerged as a more value driven, operationally-lean, and strategically-focused organisation that has a clear vision as to where future growth opportunities in the retail landscape sit,” he added.

Based on the above factors, Mosaic expects to continue its earnings growth in FY24.

Flight Centre Travel (ASX:FLT)

Highlights:

Full year underlying EBITDA of $301.6m, from a loss of $183.1m in FY22
Profit before tax of $70 million, from FY22’s $378m loss
Profit guidance to be provided at AGM on November 15

The travel retailer traded flat despite reporting a big turnaround in its profits in FY23.

FLT cited strong recovery and improved trading conditions during the year, with an increase of 112% in total transaction value (TTV) growth to $22 billion – its second strongest result achieved on record.

Tight cost controls were maintained throughout the year, with 92% of FY19 TTV achieved with 75% of the FY19 cost base.

The strong results were heavily 2H weighted, with almost 70% of underlying EBITDA generated during the six months to June 30. This weighting reflects improved market conditions after travel restrictions were removed globally, and improved airline capacity growth.

“Looking ahead to FY24, we are well placed to capitalise on opportunities that will arise as industry recovery continues,” said CEO, Graham Turner.

“Already, we have seen further solid TTV and profit growth in early trading in a resilient travel market that seems to be holding up reasonably well compared to other sectors.”

Dicker Data (ASX:DDR)

Highlights:

First half revenue of $1.107bn, up 5.3% on pcp
NPAT of $54.1m up 7.8% on pcp
Operating costs have increased by $16.1m or 23.3% on pcp

Dicker rose 1% this morning after reporting its first half results.

Dicker says the highly-diverse nature of the company’s vendor and technology portfolios enabled it to offset declines in other segments.

The first half revenue contribution from the Dicker Access and Surveillance (DAS) business was $73m, which includes the addition of new vendors in this segment.

CEO David Dicker conceded that the current market is challenging.

“We performed well in the first half of 2023. Gross sales are up over 9%, despite a challenging market where traditionally strong segments, such as devices, went into decline.”

The company did not provide guidance for the second half.