STOCK WATCH: Swings and roundabouts on the ASX

Booktopia is up 4.2% in the last seven days to $0.25 and looks to continue this trend on open. The company recently announced that Tony Nash has withdrawn the notice to convene an Extraordinary General meeting following the resignation of the independent non-executive Directors. Derwent has been appointed to undertake a search for a new Chair and an additional non-executive Director.

‘The remaining Directors are working constructively with management and the Board to assist in a smooth transition,’ the notice continued. Steven Traurig has joined the Audit  & Risk Committee and Tony Nash has joined the Remuneration & Nomination Committee.

While the pureplay book retailer is down 90.7% year-on-year, it is perhaps a sign that the company has transitioned to its next stage, putting tensions behind it with a unified front.

Adore Beauty is up 11.4% over the last seven days, jumping from $1.33 at close on Friday to $1.42 at close on Monday making it the best performer on the Index in this time. There are no specific ASX announcements that would account for this shift. At time of writing, the Adore share price had dropped to $1.30. So…clearly not a long term shift. There’s a similar pattern for BikeExchange. At close of ASX on Monday, Bike Exchange was tracking well, 5.3% up over seven days to $0.020. This upwards trend has come to and end rather abruptly, dropping to $0.180 at time of writing.

Source: ASX Listed E-Commerce Index based on ASX reporting for the period

Cettire seems to be going the opposite way to Adore and BikeExchange. The luxury fashion retailer was down 9% over seven days to $0.71 at close on Monday, making it the worst performer on the E-Com Index in this time. It had already rebounded to $0.81 by lunchtime Tuesday.

Kogan closed at $2.93 on Monday, shedding 5.2% over the last week. Like Cettire, it’s already bouncing back, now $3.08 at time of writing. It released its Annual Report last week, initially experiencing a boost to share price to $3.14 dropping below $3 on Monday. It now seems to have righted itself. ‘As we now focus on FY23, we have many reasons to be excited. The Business has made great progress in driving operating efficiencies, with the ket goal of returning to positive operating leverage,’ said CEO and Founder, Ruslan Kogan. Are investors equally excited? At this point it’s still hard to tell.

Temple & Webster is another company on the Index trending upwards today. It closed at $4.95 on Monday, shedding 4.4% over the last week. It had rebounded to $5.14 by lunchtime on Tuesday.

The ASX200 is down 0.2% over the last week, just outperforming the E-Com Index which is down 2.6% over the same period. While in the shorter term performance is comparable, in the longer term there is a stark difference between online retail and the ASX200. The E-Com Index is down 72.6% over the last 12 months, with ASX200 down 12.6% in the same period. While inflationary pressures are clearly impacting ASX-listed companies industry-wide, online retail has been hit hard, a casualty of the pandemic aftermath combined with the current economic landscape and its impact on consumer spend.

Recent performance does however indicate (or at least hint) that there is a higher level of confidence in (some) online retailers as we head closer to the end of the year.

Figures are current as at close of ASX on 3 October 2022. This is analysis only and not intended as investment advice.

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