Joules calls on KPMG to help boost liquidity

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 11, 2022

Joules on Monday confirmed that it has called in KPMG to help it boost its cash position following a weekend press report. In a stock exchange statement it said that it “continues to focus on improving profitability, cash generation and liquidity headroom”.

It said it has “appointed KPMG debt advisory to assist in this process” after The Sunday Times first reported the news. 

As of 29 May, it had net debt of £21.4 million, giving it £11.3 million headroom within its banking facilities, in line with its expectations. 

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And it added that while it “continues to manage its cash resources carefully over its seasonal borrowing peak, it expects to have sufficient liquidity to manage its working capital requirements over this time”.

The group also said it’s making “good progress against previously announced key initiatives aimed at simplifying the business and optimising the cost base to improve long-term profitability. This includes implementing significant changes to its wholesale operations to focus on fewer, profitable wholesale accounts and improving and simplifying the group's end-to-end product process to reduce costs and shorten lead times”.

The company has faced some major problems in recent periods — some of them of its own making — but the combination of external issues pressuring its supply chain and the cost-of-living crisis have added to its woes. It has issued more than one profit warning over the last year, as well as announcing that its CEO is to step down.

In its most recent trading update it said that the market has become more challenging since Easter with consumer confidence hit hard by surging inflation.