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WWD : Charles S. Cohen Takes Majority Stake in Savile Row’s Richard James

Charles S. Cohen Takes Majority Stake in Savile Row’s Richard James

Cohen, a real estate and film entrepreneur, has long been a Richard James client.

LONDON – Savile Row tailor Richard James has sold a majority stake to one of its longstanding customers, Charles S. Cohen, an American real estate and film industry entrepreneur, WWD has learned.

As reported, Richard James co-founder Sean Dixon had been looking for an investor to take the business forward, and in 2015 hired Ironbridge Capital Partners to seek a new strategic investment partner. He described the new deal as a strategic partnership that will fuel an international growth in the U.S. and Asia in particular.

Cohen will take up the title of chairman, with plans to play an “active” role in the business. Dixon, who co-founded the brand with Richard James more than 25 years ago, will continue in his role as managing director.

Toby Lamb will remain design director while James will remain in an ambassadorial role. An announcement is expected later today.

Dixon called the investment a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to build the brand internationally. “Charles brings a vision that matches our own and the wherewithal to accelerate our plans. We are looking forward to taking full advantage of the new horizons this partnership will open up,” he said.

In a telephone interview, Dixon said Cohen has been a client for about 15 years and has a “strong” sympathy for, and understanding of, the brand. “He also has a real appetite for quality, and for doing things correctly and properly.”

Dixon, who retains a minority stake in the company, added that Cohen’s property holdings and expertise would also help the brand expand. Already Richard James plans to take over the entirety of its Clifford Street building, adding ready to wear to the ground floor, with bespoke services upstairs. The Clifford Street shop currently offers bespoke only.

The brand’s collections also sell at stores including Selfridges, Harrods, Matchesfashion.com, Mr Porter, Brown Thomas in Ireland, Barneys New York, and Hudson’s Bay Co.

Although fashion may be a new business for him, Cohen said he was intrigued by the opportunity. He said his wife, Clo Cohen, introduced him to the team after “recognizing the creative skill of Toby and the ambitions of Sean and Richard.”

Richard James

Richard James Courtesy

He said the decision to invest and get involved was an easy one.

Cohen’s real estate holdings include 12 million square feet of prime properties across the United States, including the office tower at 623 Fifth Ave., Manhattan’s Decoration and Design (D&D) Building, the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif., and the renovated and soon-to-re-open Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village. Cohen is also building Le Meridien hotel at the Design Center of the Americas in south Florida.

Cohen is in the film business, too. He is the owner, chairman and chief executive officer of Cohen Media Group, an independent film production and distribution company that owns a library of Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks, Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Bunuel, films as well as a library of classic Merchant Ivory ones.

Cohen Media Group also distributes independent, foreign language and art-house films throughout North America and has released more than 64 to date. His company also has a library division that has restored and distributed more than 200 classic films.

In addition to tailoring, Richard James sells rtw and accessories and, until recently, was a fixture on the London men’s wear calendar. Founded in 1992, the tailor has one shop on Savile Row and the other on Clifford Street nearby. Clients include George Clooney, John Legend, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ronson.

Richard James was advised by Michael Pearce of Ironbridge Capital Partners LLP. Charles Cohen was advised by Jamie Dworkin of Threadstone Partners LP and David Fogel, senior vice president acquisitions and finance, handled the transaction internally for Cohen.

TechCrunch : Carriers banking on cars to drive 5G, rev up a new growth engine

From connecting all of the people to connecting all of the cars. As we noted earlier, car companies have a much bigger presence at this year’s Mobile World Congress tradeshow.

Wander the flashy hall 3, where smartphone makers have traditionally bagged most of the prime carpet-space to show off their latest glass slabs, and you’ll find a sprawling Ford booth and — everywhere you turn — another parked car being used as a prop by carriers and chipmakers keen to flog the 5G-plus-IoT future.

In hall 4, where in years past most of the space used to be given over to an elaborate free conference lunch, the GSMA now has a showcase touting IoT, and a minimalist exhibition space for Peugeot’s new concept car. Its self-driving slogan? ‘Augmented freedom’.

Passing this booth I overhear two grey-haired businessmen chatting. “It’s amazing that you find cars in this place,” says one to the other. “I suppose it’s all the IoT stuff in the cars,” he responds as they walk on without breaking stride.

The reason for all these fancy cars sitting idle at the world’s biggest mobile phone show is indeed simple: the smartphone market is facing saturation point. So even as former global mobile leader Nokia seeks to revive its iconic brand to retrotastically connect people again, the big scramble now is to connect things. Lots and lots of things.

And what’s the next best target when you can’t rely on big growth from connecting more people? Why, connecting cars. As many of the billion+ of them that you can…

Wearables have never looked like another smartphone-sized phenomenon, and are looking more like a niche health or fitness category every passing quarter. While tablets were quickly cannibalized by phones with bigger screens. And while some carriers have been toying with novel ideas like connected toys for kids (TC parent AOL’s parent Verizon is an investor in Toymail, for example), this sort of niche will live happily on Wi-Fi — at least when the category isn’t being mired in security issues…

Which just leaves cars as the most obvious thing for operators and chipmakers to focus on for selling more connectivity.

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who last year acquired chipmaker ARM, took a turn on the MWC stage to talk up the prospect of the Singularity turning driverless cars into superintelligent four-wheeled robots within 30 years. Because of course he wants his company to be installing as many of the trillion chips he can which he reckons are coming down the pipe.

In another session here, Ola’s Ankit Jain described how the Indian ride-hailing startup is trying to differentiate its business from typical taxis by launching a personalized entertainment experience called Ola Play which automatically syncs users’ music preferences when they get into an Ola car. And while it’s using retrofitted tablets to power the offering, the impetus to turn cars into connected ‘entertainment pods’ is clear.

Add in the prospect of driverless cars in future and the car becomes even more of an entertainment hub. How are you going to kill all that driverless time? Why by streaming movies, chatting with friends, listening to music, browsing the Internet etc, etc.

And that’s just the tip of the connected car vision: connected cars will also be talking to connected cars and to other connected objects — to share data on road conditions, for safety, for navigation, and so on.

At least they will so long as the network coverage is there. Hence the carrier pitch for upgrading 4G/LTE networks to 5G. In a session yesterday on ‘building the 5G economy’, Orange’s CEO and chairman, Stéphane Richard, touted the next-gen network tech as having “much wider coverage” and ultimately enabling a “smarter society” with improved “public safety”.

“At some point we can all imagine a world of cars communicating with each other and red light will become useless,” he said, suggesting, for example, that connected cars plus 5G will lead to fewer traffic jams — thanks to the added layers of connectivity as connected cars speed through connected cities.

“All of the cities, social ecosystem infrastructure will be connected,” added Son on Monday. “All those things will be connected. All connected securely and managed from the cloud.”

“Cars might be what tablets could not be for carriers,” suggests Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. “Connected cars play a big role in the whole 5G roll out which is why both chipset vendors and carriers are talking about it.”

“When it comes to cars the interesting part for me is that network need will not just come from the sensors — as well it’s entertainment. I have an LTE car in the U.S. that is my daughter’s dream as she can now be connected when we go for long drives. 5G will allow for that experience to be much richer than it is today, although I’m not sure if necessarily cheaper.”

“It will be interesting to see how they price it,” she adds. “For instance I pay $10 a month for 2GB which is gonna go very fast if you stream.”

And with European carriers finally having to hang up on roaming costs this June, the prospect of a new type of streaming data plan with accelerated revenue potential will surely be music to their ears.

NYT : Snap Is Said to Have Worked on a Drone

Snap Is Said to Have Worked on a Drone

Snap has long been known as the maker of Snapchat, an app that sends disappearing messages, photographs and videos. But over the past few years, the company has repositioned itself as a modern-day camera company.

One of the products that Snap has worked on to bolster that direction is a drone, according to three people briefed on the project who asked to remain anonymous because the details are confidential. A drone could help Snap’s users take overhead videos and photographs, and then feed that visual data to the company.

It is unclear when or if Snap’s drone would become available to consumers. Like many technology companies, Snap often works on experiments, many of which are killed or repurposed into other projects. A Snap spokeswoman declined to comment.

The work on a drone builds on Snap’s unveiling last year of Spectacles, sunglasses that record short video clips. The company also changed its name to Snap from Snapchat to reflect that it intended to branch out into myriad products.

The drone gives a glimpse into what kind of future products Snap may be considering, which would affect the company’s growth. How the company plans to grow is on the minds of investors as Snap prepares to go public this week. Snap is expected to price its initial public offering on Wednesday and the stock is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, in what is set to be the biggest technology I.P.O. since the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba in 2014.

Snap has said it planned to price its offering at $14 to $16 a share, which would value the company at as much as $22.2 billion.

Getting more visual data such as photographs and video is important to Snap because it helps bolster people’s interactions with Snapchat. Communicating on Snapchat is a highly visual process, intended to create an intense engagement among people with the app. Snap said in its public offering prospectus that the average Snapchat user opened the app more than 18 times a day, and that more than 2.5 billion messages and images were sent each day with the app.

Evan Spiegel, Snap’s chief executive, has been vocal about his company’s ambitions around cameras. In a video for investors about Snap’s public offering this month, Mr. Spiegel said cameras augmented the way a person communicates, rather than a person’s memory.

“We’re at the beginning of what cameras can do,” Mr. Spiegel told viewers of the video.

When Spectacles appeared, Snap faced questions from critics about why it would enter the realm of hardware products. The product is designed to make taking videos a fun and seamless part of everyday life, which dovetails with the company’s goal of getting users to feed Snapchat a steady stream of images and videos.

“We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way that people live and communicate,” Snap said in its public offering prospectus. “Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.”

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:

IPXL -21.1%, PANW -19.5%, BW -15.2%, ENPH -12.8%, CYBE -9.9%, SSW -9.2%, (also reduces quarterly dividend)
CHUY -8.8%, AKRX -8.7%, SRPT -7.2%, NVDQ -7%, CFI -6.6%, CLNS -6%,ETSY -5.9%, AEO -5.4%, LQ -5.3%, GORO -3.5%
CROX -3%, QUMU -2.8%, BBY -2.8%
CBI -2.4%, ( enters into a definitive agreement to sell its Capital Services business to an affiliate of private equity investment firm Veritas Capital for $755 million in cash)
BVN -2.4%, AMBA -2.3%, VSI -2.3%, PTLA -2%, TSRO -1.8%, VEEV -1.6%
MXWL -1.6%, (Maxwell Tech to acquire substantially all of the assets and business of Nesscap for $23.175 million ), CRM -1%

M&A news:

IBKC -5.6% (IberiaBank to acquire Sabadell United Bank in a stock and cash transaction valued at $1.025 billion; to be accretive to EPS in 2018)

Select Cyber Security related names showing weakness:

PFPT -1.7%, CHKP -1.6%, FTNT -1.4%, SYMC -1%, CYBR -0.8%

Select metals/mining stocks trading lower:

GG -1.8%, MUX -1.7%, GDX -1.4%, AG -1.3%, AEM -1.2%, EGO -1%, GFI-1%, ABX -0.9%, GLD -0.8%

Other news:

AKRX -8.7% ( received FDA approval for its ANDA for Mycophenolate Mofetil for Injection USP 500 mg/vial)
NVS -3.4% (head of North America Operations and President of Novo Nordisk Inc. has resigned from the company)
SFR -1.4% (light volume; commences public offering of 18,476,891 of its common shares, of which 10,476,891 common shares will be offered by certain selling shareholders)

Analyst comments:

AVT -1.3% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman)
INTC -0.7% (downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Bernstein)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:

WTW +20.6%, BGFV +18.2%, DAR +9.1%, LOW +8.5%, LOGM +7.5%, DY +5.7%, EVH +5.3%, (light volume), MACK +5.2%
MYL +4.9%, MCHP +4.8%, FOLD +4.8%, MIDD +4.5%, CRH +4.5%, DPLO +4.4%, DLTR +4%, BLDR +3.9%, HLIT +3.7%
PCRX +3.1%, KERX +2.4%, ODP +2.4%, EVEP +2.3%, BUFF +2.2%, BV +2.2%, TASR +1.9%, NAME +1.5%, WIN +1.5%
AMC +1.4%, TCON +1.3%, DXCM +1.1%, ORA +1.1%, GTN +1.1%, MNK +1.1%

M&A news:

CLNE +33.1% ( sells the upstream portion of its renewable natural gas business to BP)
TIME +9.1% (Bloomberg reporting that five suitors were asked to submit bids next week)
TRCO +8.9% (said to have been approached by Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI) about a possible combination, according to Reuters; also reported earnings)

Select financial related names showing strength:

DB +4.1%, CS +3.7%, SAN +2.4%, RBS +2.4%, MS +2.2%, C +2.1%, ING +2%,BAC +2%, GS +2%, WFC +1.5%

Select metals producers trading higher:

CLF +3.2%, X +3% (also VP/CFO that David Burritt has been elected Pres/COO), VALE +2.7%, BBL +2.3%, BHP +1.5%

Select Gaming related names showing strength following release of Macau gaming revs rising 18% YoiY:

MPEL +3.8%, WYNN +3.3%, LVS +3.3%, MGM +2.6%

Other news:

DVAX +28.9% (FDA has accepted for review its responses to the CRL issued by the FDA in November 2016 for the Biologics License Application for HEPLISAV-B; PDUFA action date of August 10, 2017)
CLSD +14.6% (receives a NOA from the USPTO for methods of treating the posterior ocular disorder Uveitis)
AGIO +3.7% (Agios Pharma and Celgene (CELG) announce that the FDA has accepted and granted priority review for the NDA for enasidenib)
LXRX +3.5% (receives FDA approval for XERMELO)
WLH +3.3% (will replace Arctic Cat in the S&P SmallCap 600)
PRCX +3.1% (reports 'positive' topline results for phase 4 study of Exparel )
AMD +2.9% (Advanced Micro and Bethesda Softworks announce partnership)
OMER +2.5% (presents additional 'positive' data from the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating OMS721)
JKS +2.3% (entered into a Power Purchase Agreement with the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Co)
NVDA +1.8% (released GeForce GTX 1080 Ti)

Analyst comments:

MU +2.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman)
KITE +1% (target raised to $85 at H.C. Wainwright)

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers

Gapping up: DVAX +28.9%, BGFV +16%, WTW +12.6%, DAR +9.1%, KERX +8.7%, LOGM +7.5%, LOW +6.9%, LXRX +6%, FOLD +5.5%, EVH +5.3%, TIME +4.8%, MCHP +4.8%, AKRX +4.5%, MIDD +4.5%, DPLO +4.2%, BLDR +3.9%, CSIQ +3.7%, CSIQ +3.7%, HLIT +3.7%, WYNN +3.5%, WLH +3.3%, MACK +3.3%, AKS +3.2%, DB +3%, FCX +3%, JKS +2.9%, AMD +2.8%, MU +2.8%, X +2.5%, LVS +2.5%, BHP +2.4%, ING +2.4%, WIN +2.4%, CLF +2.3%, MGM +2.3%, EVEP +2.3%, SAN +2.2%, BUFF +2.2%, BV +2.2%, RBS +2%, ORA +2%, BBL +1.7%, C +1.7%, BAC +1.6%, NAME +1.5%, TCON +1.3%, DXCM +1.1%, GTN +1.1%, KITE +1%

Gapping down: PANW -19%, BW -15.2%, CYBE -12.8%, EVHC -12.1%, SRPT -10%, BBY -9.7%, IPXL -9.1%, NVDQ -7%, CFI -6.6%, SSW -6.3%, CLNS -6%, IBKC -5.6%, LQ -5.3%, ENPH -5%, AMBA -4.4%, CHUY -3.3%, CYBR -3.1%, QUMU -2.8%, BVN -2.4%, VSI -2.3%, CRM -2.1%, PTLA -2%, VEEV -1.9%, TSRO -1.8%, PFPT -1.7%, CHKP -1.6%, MXWL -1.6%, PRGO -1.5%, SFR -1.4%, GDX -1.4%, CBI -1.4%, CROX -1.4%, FTNT -1.3%, AG -1.2%, VOD -1.1%, ABX -1.1%, SYMC -1%, DRYS -1%, PBMD -1%, EGO -1%, AEM -1%, ETSY -1%, GG -0.9%, INTC -0.8%, GLD -0.8%, ROST -0.8%, HSY -0.8%, AIRM -0.7%, TASR -0.7%, HACK -0.6%, FEYE -0.5

WWD : Moncler Reaches $1 Billion Benchmark

Moncler Reaches $1 Billion Benchmark

The company reached the milestone in 2016, boosted by all markets and divisions.

MILAN — The year 2016 was sweet for Moncler SpA, as net profits rose 17 percent and the company reached the $1 billion in sales benchmark, with a performance that was lifted by all markets and channels.

Earnings in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 reached 196 million euros, or $215.6 million, compared with 167.9 million euros, or $186.3 million in the previous year.

Revenues were up 18 percent to 1.04 billion euros, or $1.14 billion, compared with 880.4 million euros, or $977.2 million, in 2015.

During a conference all with analysts, Remo Ruffini, chairman and chief executive officer of Moncler, said he was “proud” of achieving “another important milestone” in 2016, reached while “staying true to the brand’s heritage and DNA.”

He touted “a solid company with no debt” for the first time in 2016, underscoring how in 2003, when he took over, Moncler had sales of “a few tens of millions, mainly in Italy and through its wholesale channel.”

Things have changed and Ruffini was instrumental in building Moncler to an international brand relying on a retail network that at the end of last year had 190 directly operated stores.

“Today, I am proud to say that Moncler is a brand synonymous with quality, innovation and reliability for a growing number of consumers around the world,” said Ruffini, citing the group’s 3,200 employees “whose commitment and hard work made it possible to deliver this performance.”

“In the last quarter of 2016, Moncler saw double-digit growth in all markets and across all channels, despite an uncertain and volatile environment, that I expect to continue in the near term. Therefore, I consider it fundamental, today more than ever, to have a flexible and streamlined business capable of making decisions quickly. I am, therefore, convinced that Moncler can look to the future with confidence with the aim, also in 2017, to continue to grow and create value for all of our stakeholders,” said the executive. Ruffini observed that 2017 started on a positive note.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, before non-recurring costs related to stock based incentive plans, rose 18 percent to 355.1 million euros, or $390.6 million, resulting in a margin of 34.1 percent, the same as in 2015.

Adjusted operating profit increased 19 percent to 313.4 million euros, or $344.7 million.

In 2016, sales in Italy grew 5 percent to 143.2 million euros, or $157.5 million, representing 13.8 percent of the total.

The Europe, Middle East and Africa region gained 13 percent to 303.3 million euros, or $333.6 million, accounting for 29.2 percent of total. The U.K. delivered a strong performance thanks to local customers and tourists, and boosted by the opening of the Bond Street flagship in London, while Germany and France accelerated in the fourth quarter. During the call, chief operating officer Roberto Eggs said there were “especially encouraging” signs in France, where “Chinese consumers are coming back.”

Revenues in Asia and the Rest of the World were up 25 percent to 418.5 million euros, or $460.3 million, accounting for 37.9 percent of the total. Japan had double-digit growth, and China and South Korea also delivered very good results. Ruffini underscored a “very important relocation” in Hong Kong’s Harbor City on Canton Road. It will be the only store with an entrance from the mall and the street, Eggs said, and will grow five times in size.

The Americas gained 24 percent to 175.2 million euros, or $192.7 million, representing 16.8 percent of total, growing in both channels and benefiting from new openings, such as New York’s Madison Avenue flagship, which showed “encouraging results,” said Eggs, and a consistent growing trend in the last quarter.

Revenues from the retail distribution channel rose 23 percent to 764.2 million euros, or $840.6 million, organically and through the opening of stores. Eggs said the company had secured 14 locations for 2017 in cities such as Dubai, Almaty, Stockholm and Melbourne. Eggs also emphasized the enlargement of the store in Milan’s Via Montenapoleone, which will more than double in size. “The average size of stores is increasing to accommodate new categories.”

Eggs said that “complementary categories are performing very well, with knits, shoes and bags, growing at a stronger pace, twice as much, than outerwear,” helped by “improved visibility” and through a change in customer experience.

Like-for-like sales grew 7 percent.

The wholesale channel posted a 6 percent increase to 276.1 million euros, or $303.7 million, supported by a good performance in the European and North American markets.

Chief corporate officer Luciano Santel underscored that as of Dec. 31, Moncler’s net financial position was positive, standing at 105.8 million euros, or $116.4 million, compared with a net debt of 49.6 million euros, or $55 million, at the end of December 2015, with a strong net cash generation of 155.4 million euros, or $171 million.

Asked by one analyst about the possibility of investing cash in mergers or acquisition, Ruffini said he felt the company was “not very old” and that its retail business started eight years ago. “There are many things to do in our supply chain and there are a lot of relocations to do. There are cities that need better stores, such as Zurich, Vienna or Munich,” he said, pointing to investments in retail also in China, South America and Australia. “Not too fast, but we need to open more doors.”

Eggs also touched on the subject of digitalization, a priority for Moncler. He said while the company has “internalized part of the service,” the plan is to continue to work with Yoox Net-a-porter, “letting them do what they are doing better than us,” as Moncler is preparing for omnichannel in 2018.