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.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Jarvis in London at pjarvis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon, Phil Serafino

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