Consumer stocks to explore ahead of Thanksgiving - YouTube

Hello everyone, great to have your  company on Kalkine TV. I'm James and  

you’re watching Buzzing Trends. In today’s  show we’ll be looking at ASX-listed Consumer  

stocks. In our first segment of the show today  we’ll be taking a closer look at Merchant House,  

Live Verdure. In the second segment we’ll look at  Ridley Corporation, Atlas Pearls, and Blackmores.

It’s commonly understood that the  consumer staples always remain  

in demand despite the uncertain market  conditions. However, like other industries,  

the COVID-19 pandemic has caused  headwinds in this sector as well. 

Although, the demand for consumer staples does not  change - despite the change in income or prices,  

on the condition of other factors being constant.  

The reason is because their demand  is inelastic. This makes consumer  

stocks less volatile and is preferred by those  investors who wish to avoid taking high risk.  

As a result, riding on this trend, some consumer  stocks have strongly grown during the pandemic.

Let’s take a closer look at the  top consumer stocks to explore.

The first company on our list today  is Merchant House International  

which is an ASX-listed designer and marketer of  

leather shoes, home decoration items  and other consumer durables products.

The company reported positive financial  results for the quarter ending on 30 June 2021.  

Merchant House anticipates a rebound in sales  of the footwear business following the easing  

of lockdown periods in the USA and an increase  in economic activity. The building sector is  

very active, as is manufacturing of consumer  products creating a strong demand for work boots.

Meanwhile, people are travelling more freely  within the USA resulting in an increased demand  

for western boots. Merchant House will continue to  work closely with their Chinese associates as the  

footwear business is expected to grow following  the rebound in the USA economic activity.

However, longer term prospects are  clouded by underlying trade tensions  

between the the US and China coupled  with recent container shortages  

impacting planned delivery dates. During  the lock down period, Merchant House  

concentrated on new projects including  safety boots, work boots, western boots,  

safety toe boots with metatarsal guards, and  boots for use in deep freezer storage facilities.

The company is also planning to develop  its “own brand” of work boots using the  

FIT branding, as it can bring higher  margins to the Group. As shipments  

are expected to increase from August  2021, this will help Merchant House  

to break even its operating costs with  the revenue generated from its business.

The shares of Merchant House were trading at  AU$0.13 during the mid-market this afternoon.

The next company on our list today is Live  Verdure. With a market worth of AU$18.23 million,  

Live Verdure is an ASX listed plant-based  food, nutraceutical, and wellness company.

Live Verdure’s revenue from ordinary  activities increased by 52.4percent. The  

increase in revenue resulted from an increase  in online sales and customer growth numbers.

Other income during the financial year increased,  which primarily resulted from COVID-19 related  

government grants, an Export development grant  and Research and Development tax incentive grants.

The Company saw an increase in  online sales which was a result  

of additional sales and marketing expenditure  compared to the previous financial year.

The shares of Live Verdure were trading at AU$0.32  during the mid-market trade this afternoon.

And in the final segment of the  show – let’s now discuss the rest  

of the stocks featuring on our list today.

Let’s begin with the next company on our list  today - Ridley Corporation which is an animal  

nutrition solutions provider, along with providing  rural products services across Australia.

Ridley has seen improvement in all financial  metrics in the financial year 2021.  

The underlying EBITDA has increased  16 percent year-on-year whereas the  

net profit after tax has risen significantly to  

AU$25 million in comparison to AU$11 million loss  incurred during previous corresponding period.

The company also announced 100 percent  franked dividend of 2 cents per share.

The shares of Ridley were trading at AU$1.33  during the mid-market trade this afternoon.

The next company on the list is Atlas  Pearls which is one of the world’s  

largest pearl producers operating across  7 farming locations throughout South Seas.

A notable impact to the Atlas’ business  during the financial year 2021 were the  

continued restrictions placed on the traditional  

distribution network, which prior to the pandemic  had predominantly relied on face-to-face auctions.

As a result of heavily restricted international  travel and social distancing requirements,  

it became apparent that the Company  needed to find alternative methods of  

selling pearls to ensure that disruptions to  the Company’s revenue stream were minimised.

In response to this challenge, the Company  developed a bespoke online auction platform  

for the exclusive sale of Atlas Pearls.  The Company launched its online auction  

platform in November 2020 and hosted the first  full harvest online auction in December 2020.  

The online platform proved to be highly  successful with clients participating  

from all over the world including Australia,  New Zealand, Japan, China, the USA and Spain.

The shares of Atlas Pearls  were trading at AU$0.025  

during the mid-market trade this afternoon.

The last company on our list today is Blackmores.

With a market capitalisation of AU$1.78 billion,  

Blackmores operates as natural health  solutions provider in Australia.

The company achieved a strong progress in its  transformation program despite the headwinds in  

Australia. The performance of traditional  channels in AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND  

remained subdued as ongoing  COVID-related travel restrictions  

have resulted in low levels of  international travellers and students.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 has changed consumer behaviour  and diverted spending from the pharmacy channel to  

the grocery channel where the average spend  per trip is much lower. This has driven a  

period of heightened promotional activity as these  channels have sought to maintain a greater share  

of consumer vitamin spending. Sales were also  impacted by a prolonged lack of cold & flu season,  

and a period of out of stocks of BioCeuticals  due to limited supply of high demand ingredients.

Blackmores’ continued improvement in earnings and  strong operating cashflow has allowed Blackmores  

to declare a fully-franked final dividend of  42 cents per share. This corresponds to a full  

year payout of 71 cents per share and a total  dividend payout ratio for the year of 48 percent.

The shares of Blackmores were trading at AU$90.95  during the mid-market trade this afternoon.

With that, it’s time to wrap up today’s show.  I hope you found today’s show informative  

- stay tuned for more news and updates on  Kalkine TV Live. This is James signing off.