Name the Retailer That's Lost 92% in Eight Months

(Bloomberg) -- Just eight months ago, all was looking rosy for U.K. fast-fashion brand Quiz Plc. Business was growing across all channels and the shares were trading at a record high.

Since then, it’s all gone horribly wrong. Thursday’s profit warning was the third in six months, causing a renewed plunge in the shares, which have now fallen 92 percent from their July peak. At a price of about 16 pence, investors who paid 161 pence apiece in a 2017 initial public offering have been left nursing hefty losses.

Like so many retailers, Quiz is battling against a never-ending wave of online competition that has led to severe discounting in a battle to maintain custom. However, Peel Hunt analyst Jonathan Pritchard suspects the company has a more fundamental problem: that its ranges “are not cutting it with shoppers.”

“Improving the range is a must, but brands can lose their credibility and recovery from there is often tough,” Pritchard wrote in a note, cutting his rating to sell from hold. “Management doesn’t seem to have any answers in the short term and it’s hard to see sales growth returning any time soon.”

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