Homewares and furniture retailer Temple & Webster says it is in no rush to deploy its $80 million in cash reserves despite a year of stellar growth following a coronavirus-induced online shopping boom.
The ASX-listed business revealed its unaudited full-year results to investors on Tuesday, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up nearly 500 per cent on last year to $8.5 million as consumers stuck at home splurged on a new dining table or desk.
Temple and Webster CEO Mark Coulter says this year's results are pleasing in the face of tough retail conditions.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Sales also boomed, jumping 74 per cent to $176.3 million. Volumes doubled across the second half of the year as online shopping became the new normal in the pandemic.
The retailer also revealed it was sitting pretty on about $80 million in cash reserves with no debt, in part due to its $40 million capital raising earlier this month. However, chief financial officer Mark Tayler said the business was in no rush to start investing just yet.
"Having a very negative outlook going forward in terms of the macro environment, it's good to be sitting on excess cash heading into a very uncertain financial 2021," he said.
However, Mr Tayler said the business was also assessing a number of acquisition opportunities in the sector and was in a "good position" to execute on those deals if they were suitable.
Widely considered one of the worst IPOs of 2016, Temple & Webster has since become a market darling for investors, with shares up nearly 200 per cent since the start of the year. Shares jumped 5.8 per cent to $8.23 on Tuesday, putting the business just millions away from a coveted $1 billion valuation.
Active customers grew 77 per cent on last year to about 480,000, with around 140,000 of those first-time shoppers. But the number of returning customers is also growing, a metric chief executive Mark Coulter said would be key to ensure continued growth post-pandemic.
"If customers have a great experience with us, what that means is going forward is that even if people go back to shopping offline, we're now in the consideration set," he said.
"They may not have even considered online before, but they're now considering us so that that will lead to a permanent increase in the adoption of our category."
While customers initially stocked up on home office goods when the lockdown began, shoppers are now back to buying general products, Mr Coulter said.Credit: Denise Braki
For the first four weeks of the new financial year, trading has continued to be strong, with July's sales growth in line with the 130 per cent increase reported across the fourth quarter.
Mr Coulter said customer spending habits skewed towards home office equipment at the start of the pandemic lockdown, but have since normalised to be across most of Temple & Webster's major categories.
"It seems as though people have now adopted the channel as their go-to for general furniture," he said.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Tim Piper said the result was slightly ahead of expectations as growth through June was better than expected, noting the business was well-placed to benefit from a structural shift to the online channel.
"While we see a strong structural tailwind as sales shift online, there is also material upside in our view as Temple & Webster drives greater brand awareness, repeat purchase behaviour and expands the product offering," he said.
Mr Piper expects capital to be primarily invested in its existing platform rather than new acquisitions, highlighting areas such as customer service, logistics and product range as main areas of investment.