Category Archives: Wage Slavery

The Fisheries Agency updated the US Department of Labor on its efforts to eliminate forced labor on Taiwanese fishing vessels at a meeting in Washington on Friday, it said yesterday.

Taiwanese seafood products were added to the US List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2020, and the Fisheries Agency said it was hoping Washington would remove them from the next list, which is expected to be published later this month.

The labor departments decision in 2020 came after 19 non-governmental organizations sent a letter to the department saying that forced labor on Taiwanese longline fishing vessels continues unabated with little to no consequences.

A delegation led by Fisheries Agency Director-General Chang Chih-sheng () held a meeting with representatives from the departments Bureau of International Labor Affairs on Friday, the agency said in a statement.

The meeting was titled the Taiwan-US Bilateral Consultation on Fishery Labor Rights and Benefits, the agency said.

The delegation shared Taiwans progress in improving fishers human rights, Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Lin Kuo-ping () said in Taipei yesterday.

The agency said it told US officials that the Executive Yuan on May 20 approved its Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights.

The action plan covers major strategies for bolstering labor recruitment processes and the management of foreign-flagged fishing vessels and recruitment agents, as well as improving the monitoring and management of living and working conditions on longline fishing vessels, the agency said.

To be taken off the departments list, Taiwan would be expected to increase the number of labor inspectors and inspections, and implement additional measures to safeguard the welfare of fishers, it said.

The US hopes that the prevalence of forced labor can be reduced by implementing social protection programs and establishing migrant fisher unions, itthe agency said.

The delegation also visited Greenpeaces US branch to convey Taiwans support for safeguarding the rights of migrant fishers, it said.

Greenpeace was one of the first to draw wider attention to claims of labor rights violations on Taiwanese-flagged longline fishing vessels in a 2019 report titled Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas.

Meanwhile, the agency released a revision to the Regulations on the Authorization and Management of Overseas Employment of Foreign Crew Members (), saying that the minimum monthly wage was raised from US$450 to US$550, while the insurance compensation limit for deceased crew members was increased from NT$1 million to NT$1.5 million (US$32,563 to US$48,844) and the maximum pay-as-you-go medical insurance compensation limit was set at NT$300,000.

The standard for minimum daily rest hours was also amended to be in line with the ILO C188 Convention for migrant fishers, the agency said.

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Agency visits US to share efforts to end fisher abuse -

BY BARNEY OREREborere@spp.com.pg

The subject of personal income tax that does not give a fair return to workers in Papua New Guinea has been talked about for a long time but it continues to fall on deaf years.

A year or so ago, a tax expert from the United kingdom who visited the University of Papua New Guinea raised the matter of high income tax regime in PNG. No one really took any notice of the academics views.

There was no reaction from the government.

Now were making whispers on the same topic. It is to be hoped that a follow-up will come by if theres any real seriousness involved.

Huge tax burdens and increasing law and order problems are the challenges facing the government.

Economic hardship of unprecedented dimensions, corruption, and unemployment are on the rise.

Fifteen years ago the Governor General, late Sir Silas Atopare, when opening the seventh parliament said PNG was facing many social, political and economic challenges. We suffered from prolonged and unmanageable level of inflation, he said.

It distorted our economic decisions, penalised growth and disadvantaged the already struggling families, said Sir Silas.

Unemployment and for the employed, the denial of a fair return to them by the tax system penalised successful achievement and kept us from maintaining full productivity.

But as great as our tax burden was, it had not kept pace with public spending.

For years, we had piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our childrens future for the temporary convenience of a few, Sir Silas said.

When you assess it, the poor management of the country is being carried by the taxpayer.

The poor management of the country means the people cannot prosper; the tax burden is killing them and it is an unfair system.

The more economic troubles we get into the tax burden increases as a result, hoping that it will provide the solution.

But the mismanagement continues which means the taxing will still go on; potentially in an ever-increasing upward spiral.

This makes no sense if there are no results for the better..

HER MAJESTYS GOVERNMENT

The G-G is the Queens representative.

We have him because the Queen is far away in England; half way across the world.

She is the Head of State.

That is how we wanted it by becoming a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations at Independence and adopting the Westminster system of government.

It means the government of Papua New Guinea is Her Majestys government and the people of PNG are the Queens loyal subjects under her watch. We must understand this structure.

As great our tax burden is, the G-G pointed out it has not kept pace with public spending.

Law and order problems have become rampant and social problems are on the rise, predominantly to do with poverty.

The high income tax regime denies a fair return and penalises successful achievement and keeps Papua New Guineans from achieving full productivity.

The people is the countrys No1 resource. But they have been looked down on and they will not rise.

There is no innovation; they are dispirited and will not use their God-given talents. It is too expensive to live in a poor country. Many dreams have been shattered and there are fewer dreams out there.

The worker has less money in his pocket because the high income tax takes it from him.

The poorly managed economy in the same system means there are no jobs and the cost of living is too high.

It denies the human person from realising his full potential. In the final analysis this country is poor because its people are.

WHY PEOPLE ARE POOR

There are two reasons why we should worry about the poverty and the lack of jobs.

The first is what economists call human capital which means any nation relies on its people to create development.

If the population is healthy and well educated the country has the base on which to build and create jobs and wealth.

If the population is sick and poorly educated the opportunities for attracting investment and creating employment are bad and investment will go to other countries.

The second is that a poor and unemployed population still needs to eat and live under shelter and somehow it has to find the means to do this.

If there are no jobs available the only recourse is to crime.

The Australian National University has estimated that nearly 20 per cent of the total population of PNG towns are in some way dependent upon crime or prostitution for their living.

The level of crime and other lawlessness is now one of the major reasons businesses dont invest in PNG.

This applies to existing businesses as well as new business.

Almost every day we hear about how rich PNG is, how we have unlimited mineral resources or the potential to grow any sort of cash crop we want.

We had tremendous wealth from oil and minerals over the last few years.

Income from our primary products has been very high and we have watched our timber resources being harvested at record rates.

This has all produced income that should have translated into development.

SLUSH FUNDS

Instead the opposite has happened.

Three times in the 1990s PNG has come close to bankruptcy.

Some of the causes have been beyond our control but we have had to get to the edge of a very steep cliff before we realised that we have to do something about it.

The Slush Funds were increased year after year and yet services to rural areas got worse.

We never learned where all the money went. All we knew was that suddenly we did not have any more.

A government is no different to how a family works.

It gets money from taxes and other sources and it makes a budget for the year.

It will decide how much money it can borrow and how it can repay that money. When the government and the public service is running properly it follows that budget.

To manage a large organisation there has to be experienced and honest people running it.

Appointments have to be made on the basis of what a person has done before and what he knows about the job that he will be doing.

Part of that job is to advise governments that what they plan to do is illegal or will not be good for the country.

They should be able to give reasons and what will happen if the government or the minister insists on doing what they want.

In the end they have to do what the government of the day instructs them to do no matter if they think it is good or bad.

We have not followed this practice for many years now.

Appointments have been made not on the basis of what the person knows but who they know.

Ministers almost always sack the person in charge of their department when they get appointed. .

They replace them with people from their own party or people who they owe favours to and the person doesnt need to know anything about the job or have had any management experience.

The trend has been that these people have been appointed at larger and larger salaries and conditions packages, especially chairmen and managers of statutory institutions.

The person who has been sacked will be paid out, not like someone in the private sector for three weeks pay and other entitlements, but the whole of the contract.

We have allowed management of government to get so bad there is no care taken to see that government or the statutory body gets the best deal for the people. We continually read about contracts that are made for much more than they should be.

Corruption is bad because it means that our managers dont do their jobs and we dont get the best value for our money.

Corruption leads to lazy and bad management.

These conditions are not fixable by raising taxes or making people pay for them.

MINIMUM WAGE

Lifting of living standards for workers is a means of addressing poverty.

Responsible upward adjustment to wages is good for the national economy. In our capitalist-styled economy supply and demand is the main driver.

An upward adjustment in wages drives demand.When there is money in workers pocket they will spend on goods and service.

This will have the effect of generating economic and business growth.

Some years ago the General-Secretary of PNG Trade Union Congress, John Paska made these observations: Minimum wage earners spend nearly all their money onshore on local produce while those on the upper echelon of the wage structure tend to spend a high proportion of their income on offshore products and services. Luxury goods are mostly imported. They command prices that are beyond the minimum wage so it is those at the high level of the wage bracket that buy such goods. In the 1992 Minimum Wage Determination, minimum wage was slashed from K120 per fortnight to K45 per fortnight.

The 2008 Minimum Wage Determination set the new rate at K2.28 per hour or K182.40 per fortnight. The current rate is K3.50 per hour.

The negative impact of not being judicious enough can be seen clearly in the difference between the wage bill and the contribution of minimum wage earners.

Paska said wage economics, because of its intrinsic value to the economy had to be based on logic and economic sense.

The reason for the minimum wage slashing in 1992 was that cut in real wages would create the impetus for employment as employers would be incentivised to hire more workers.

While it was true that employers would be willing to pay wages to a certain point, it was also equally true that workers would be willing to accept employment when offered wages to a certain point.

Spending on luxury goods and services meant repatriating money offshore since most companies that engaged in such business had their roots outside the country.

The value of the minimum wage earner therefore was very vital to the growth of the domestic economy particularly in rural areas where most income earners shied away from.

The idea that workers somehow respond to robotic command at the flick of a finger by the employer was as archaic as the master/servant conundrum of serfdom and slavery. And yet it did happen and not just once but twice.

The first in 1992 Minimum Wage Determination and the second in 2000 Minimum Wage Determination.

The result proved disastrous, Paska said. There was no bump in employment period and that 10 per cent has remained static to this day.

It prompts the question of why there was insistence to pursue the same failed pathway. We had eight years between 1992 and 2000, sufficient time to analyse the data.

But we persisted with a failed prescription. The answer did not lie in econometrics but rather ideology.

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High income tax in PNG is a disincentive - POST-COURIER

The pandemic shone a glaring light on this often overlooked backbone to our social and economic structure, the report notes. Childcare facilities shut down, nursing homes were overrun with COVID, and home care was harder to find but desperately needed.

In Massachusetts, women make up about 85 percent of home care workers and employees in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, and 92percent of child-care workers, according to the report, while Latino, Black, and immigrant women account for a disproportionate share of those working in home and long-term care. Black workers account for 24 percent of home care workers and 43 percent of those employed in long-term care facilities in the state, despite making up just 7 percent of the workforce.

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These workers are less likely than the average employee to have employer-provided health insurance or retirement plans, and are more likely to be on MassHealth, the states Medicaid program. Nearly a third of the states home care workers are enrolled in SNAP, the program formerly called food stamps.

The median hourly wages in all three subsectors ranged between $13 and nearly $16 an hour based on 2016-2020 Census data used in the report slightly more than half the median hourly wage statewide. Wages have risen across the economy in the past two years, but care worker pay is still likely half that of the statewide median.

Even when controlling for education levels, skill requirements, and job characteristics, care workers are paid 5 to 15 percent less than similar workers, the report notes.

The roots of this inequity go back to slavery, the report says, when many Black women were forced into caregiving roles. And this didnt end with Emancipation. Many freed slaves were coerced into indentured servitude caring for white families, and then were excluded, along with other women of color, from higher paying, less physically taxing jobs, said Mignon Duffy, a sociology professor at UMass-Lowell whose research is featured in the report. These jobs were later left out of early 20th century labor protections that elevated many other occupations. In fact, it wasnt until 2015 that federal minimum wage protections were expanded to include most care workers.

All these factors, along with cultural norms that women are natural caregivers, have culminated in todays workforce of women of color in low-paying, largely invisible jobs, Duffy said. All together, care work extends into a number of sectors, from health care to education to social services, that account for about a quarter of all jobs.

Care work is very central to understanding race and gender inequality in the world and the US, Duffy said. They are inextricably intertwined.

For those of us who are interested in dismantling sexism and racism, youve got to pay attention to the care sector in particular.

The findings dont come as a surprise to Maria Castro, 55, a personal care attendant from Roslindale who works 64 hours a week taking care of three people for $17.71 an hour, plus overtime. Castro, who is from the Dominican Republic, worked throughout the pandemic, preparing food, administering medicine, and otherwise providing assistance like family would do, she said. She supports her 85-year-old mother, who lives with her, as do her two 20-something daughters, whom Castro has helped pay for college and esthetician training.

Castro served on her unions bargaining committee and recently ratified a new contract that includes a racial justice committee to address discrimination.

It feels like only people of color do this job thats why [society doesnt] see it as important, Castro said in Spanish, through an interpreter. Back in the day it was a slavery job.

And as the population ages, the demand for workers in the care sector is expected to grow substantially.

The number of Greater Boston residents over age 65 is anticipated to rise by more than 50 percent between 2020 and 2040, and the number of those over 85 nationwide is set to triple by 2060. Between 2018 and 2028, personal care and home health aide jobs are expected to increase by nearly 20 percent statewide, while jobs overall are expected to grow less than 3 percent.

Ive really become convinced through this research that improving the quality of care work ought to be at the top of any agenda for advancing racial equity in Massachusetts, said report coauthor Luc Schuster.

Upgrading these jobs would also decrease turnover and provide more stability for the families receiving care, he noted: Theres a really direct relationship between the quality of jobs that were offering in this sector and the quality of care theyre able to provide.

The risk of contracting COVID made these jobs more dangerous in recent years, but theyve always been hazardous. In 2019, nursing assistants who work in care facilities and at peoples homes had a higher rate of nonfatal injury or illness than any other worker more than truck drivers, laborers, and movers, the report notes.

To improve these jobs, the report recommends increasing the minimum wage and Medicaid reimbursement rates, making training and career advancement more accessible, and licensing home care agencies, among other policy changes. Many institutions in the care sector have limited budgets, the report acknowledges, making it essential to pair changes that raise labor costs with public funding increases.

The problems in the care industry go far beyond the jobs themselves, noted James Fuccione, head of the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative, which consulted on the report. A licensing process for home care agencies in particular would mean more oversight and policies that could strengthen jobs. Workers also need affordable housing and a reliable transit system. This is a community-wide issue, he said.

Significant investment and policy change is also needed in early education, according to the advocacy group Strategies for Children, which provided input for the report. The Massachusetts Senior Care Association said it was working to retain nursing facility workers and promote career growth, noting that increased government funding was vital to paying employees a living wage.

Preschool teacher Kiya Savannah would welcome improvements to a job she loves but isnt sure she can afford to keep. The only place Savannah, 31, can afford to live with her 3-year-old daughter is an in-law apartment she rents from her parents in Brockton.

Savannah, who is Black, worries about whats going to happen when she has to resume making student loan payments in January on the $40,000 shell still owe after the federal loan forgiveness program kicks in. To avoid dipping into savings set aside for her daughter, she might start making deliveries for DoorDash again, as she did when her hours were reduced early on in the pandemic. Shes also considering getting a masters degree, which could mean taking on more debt.

I havent figured out a way to fix this problem, she said.

It has become increasingly difficult to steer job seekers toward care jobs, said Andre Green, executive director of SkillWorks, a workforce development partnership between the Boston Foundation and the City of Boston that contributed to the report. Jobs shouldnt simply make people less poor, he said, especially crucial caregiving roles that many people will need at some point in their lives.

We know how important these jobs are, he said. Why as a society dont we act like that?

Katie Johnston can be reached at katie.johnston@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ktkjohnston.

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For women of color in care work, racial and economic inequities abound, report shows - The Boston Globe

Reports of the biggest rise in public support for unions in a half century is an encouraging response to the chokehold the policies of neoliberalism have held over U.S. workers for decades that led to a staggering inequality, the weakening of unions, and facilitated the ascendancy of the right.

Assaults on workers and unions have a long history in the U.S., dating back to the brutal, forced labor of slavery and racialized capitalism, and the exploitation of industrial workers and state and private contractor violence on striking workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It should also serve as a signal to Democratic Party strategists. Commitment to the growth of unionization is an essential component of a multi-racial, working class coalition needed to fight off the rise of what President Biden calls the threat of "semi-fascism" from the Trump cult's acceptance of repressive legislation and political violence, and a shift toward a more humane public commons.

A new Gallup poll shows 71 percent of Americans now approve of labor unions, the highest mark since 1965, concurrent with a huge wave in union organizing. Gallup also noted a 57 percent leap in union election petitions filed during the first six months of fiscal year 2021.

During the first half of this year, unions won 639 NLRB elections, the highest total in nearly 20 years, bringing a union voice to 43,092 workers, more than double the prior year.

That surge is most evident in the widely celebrated union campaigns in such prominent consumer names as Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, Trader Joe's, REI, Chipotle. It has also included registered nurses at hospitals in a wide array of states, including Maine Medical Center in Maine, Doctors Hospital of Manteca in California, Longmont Hospital in Colorado, and Coral Gables Hospital in Florida, among others, the past two years.

Less reported was a deeper dive behind the reversal of antipathy toward unions long fanned by corporate and right-wing institutions and media, and enforced by their acolytes in Congress, state legislatures, and the courts.

The success of that war on unions could be seen in the election of candidates whose war chests were fattened by corporations and the super-rich thanks to the Supreme Court's evisceration of campaign financing limits, and the proliferation of anti-union legislation, such as the spread of so-called "right to work" laws, and the gutting of worker rights under federal law primarily under Republican administrations and a reactionary majority on the Supreme Court.

Assaults on workers and unions have a long history in the U.S., dating back to the brutal, forced labor of slavery and racialized capitalism, and the exploitation of industrial workers and state and private contractor violence on striking workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the inequities leading to the current moment largely derive from the policies of neoliberalism, a model of unfettered capitalism first concocted by an Austrian and University of Chicago economist in the 1930s influenced in part by reaction to Keynesian economics and New Deal programs.

In the U.S. neoliberalism was updated by rightwing economist Milton Friedman and fully weaponized by a host of far-right, libertarian economists and their corporate and political allies as public policy, from the early 1970s.

It was intended to reverse New Deal achievements, the expansion of unionization, and the gains of the Civil Rights movement. It was also influenced by an infamous memo by future Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell in 1971 for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urging a more vigorous corporate counter revolution.

Neoliberalism, as Robert Kuttner has written, "relied on deregulation, privatization, weakened trade unions, less progressive taxation, and new trade rules to reduce the capacity of national governments to manage capitalism. These shifts have resulted in widening inequality, diminished economic security, and reduced confidence in the ability of government to aid its citizens."

As corporate profits skyrocketed, and the wealthiest of the wealthy got richer, the consequences were devastating for working people, especially for Black, Latino and other communities of color. Today three people now own more wealth than the bottom half of American society. CEOs are paid times 350 times more than their average worker.

The stock portfolios of the top 1 percent are worth $23 trillion. Since 2009 the wealth of U.S. billionaires has mushroomed from $1.3 trillion to $4.7 billion but the national minimum wage remains frozen at $7.25 an hour. And membership in unions, clearly identified by their corporate and political adversaries as a key impediment to this massive shift, plummeted from 35 percent of all workers in the 1950s to about 10 percent today.

Though most identified with the right, many Democratic politicians were complicit, or at best bystanders in neoliberalism and its disastrous trend. Too many took unions for granted, as funders and foot soldiers for electoral campaigns, while offering minimal support for challenging the fundamental tenets of neoliberalism or confronting anti-union employers and their growing industry of union busting consultants and strike breaking firms.

As President, Jimmy Carter embraced austerity and deregulation. But it was Bill Clinton who went full board with the corporate friendly NAFTA agreement, lifting more financial industry regulations than Reagan or Bush, and a savage assault on welfare recipients.

Carter, Clinton, and Barack Obama de-prioritized and rapidly abandoned major labor legislation to reverse key elements of the virulently anti-union Taft-Hartley Act and restore the intended role of labor law to protect worker and union rights, not function as a permission slip for corporate misconduct.

By contrast, Biden, has worked to undo some of the damage, with legislation to create green and infrastructure working class jobs, and a social insurance expansion of Medicare in drug pricing limits. Arguably the most pro-union President since Truman, Biden has aligned with labor through federal labor board appointments and open encouragement of union organizing drives.

The biggest test will be if Democrats can maintain and increase their majority in the Senate in the upcoming election, abolish the filibuster and move the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act billand other essential stalled legislationthrough the Senate to Biden's desk. The PRO Act would blunt some of the most routine employer harassment common in union campaigns. And it would set real penalties for anti-union corporate employers who wantonly violate worker's democratic rights even after they have won a union election, as Starbucks, Amazon and dozens of less prominent employers have done.

Citing Gallup and other polls, Washington Post columnists Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent note "the time seems ripe for Democrats to amplify the case for unions."

Another survey commissioned by a coalition of advocacy groups found that by a whopping 56 to 37 percent margin, voters would favor a Democratic candidate who supports unionization over a Republican who opposes them. Further, a recent Pew Research Center poll, 58 percent of Americans said the decline in union membership has been bad for the country, and 61 percent said it has been bad for workers.

What the workers, particularly those organizing in low wage service and retail sectors, see is the enormous disparity in survival living conditions. As the AFL-CIO has analyzed, union workers' wages are 11 percent higher on average than for their non-union counterparts. Union members are more likely to have employer-paid health coverage and pension plans, access to sick pay, and a voice on the job on workplace conditions and safety.

The economic benefits are even more apparent on race and gender. Black, Latino and women union workers are paid 26, 39 and 23 percent more respectively. Union contracts are also far more likely to provide protection from unfair discipline, as well as discrimination based on race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or gender identity.

It was the rise of unions and sweeping organizing campaigns in the private sector in the 1930s and '40s, and later in the 1960s and '70s in the public sector, that built the labor movement, and created unprecedented improvement in living conditions for working families in the 1950s and '60s.

The present moment offers seminal opportunity for a renewed growth of the labor movement and a commitment to the broadest public interest of the entire working class, and economic security for all with a concurrent united front for saving democracy and promoting racial, gender, LGBTQ, and immigrant justice. Will Democratic leaders fully encourage that movement? That is a question for our time.

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Opinion | Behind the Rise in Union SupportAnd the Challenge Ahead - Common Dreams

Lincoln Magistrates Court has handed the owners of a car wash a Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order (STRO) lasting for seven years.

The hearing followed a joint investigation by Lincolnshire Police and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), and it is the second STRO served on a car wash business in Lincolnshire in recent months.

Shorsh Ismail Hashmi, aged 34, and Humar Hamadamin Mustafa, aged 36, both of Mill Road in Boston, must follow the conditions set out in the order or they face a jail term.

The order, given to the men on August 10, relates to Diamond Hand Car Wash, High Green, Swineshead, Boston.

The officer in charge of the investigation, PC Tamzin Hurley-Roe, said: This is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and we are very grateful to our partners whose support and assistance was paramount to securing Lincolnshires second STRO. Its a privilege to work together to make a difference for people and make our county a safer place for them.

The car wash has been attended by agencies a number of times and on four occasions, a total of five people have been found working who had no permission to work in the UK due to their immigration status.

These were all vulnerable people with no money, no way to fund their existence and suspected to have been sleeping on site at the car wash. People have been working long hours for little or no wages and not able to provide convincing accounts as to how they have come to be at the car wash.

They would be very unlikely to ask for any help from any authorities due to their status and are in a very vulnerable position. Despite repeated engagement the working practices have not changed, and they continued to exploit workers. Several of the legitimate workers on site also disclosed that they were being paid below minimum wage.

Boston area inspector Colin Clarkson said: The message across the county is strong and clear. Slavery and trafficking will not be tolerated. This order is a promising step forward in protecting vulnerable people from potential exploitation and a deterrent to anyone who thinks they are above the law. This is also an opportunity to highlight the issue. Sadly, exploitation happens here as it does across the UK, and we would encourage anyone who suspects that workers are being exploited to be their voice and report it.

GLAA investigating officer Dale Walker said: We have now worked closely with Lincolnshire Police on securing Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders at two hand car washes in Lincolnshire in recent months.

The orders are crucial in protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation and acting as a deterrent to criminal behaviour by imposing strict restrictions on those we suspect are at risk of committing slavery or trafficking offences.

We will actively police the order and will not hesitate to take further action if we identify any breaches.

The order comes as a result of a wider piece of work in Lincolnshire. As well as the GLAA, Trading Standards and Immigration Enforcement also joined us in visits to high-risk sector businesses such as car washes and nail bars to engage with potentially vulnerable workers. The work is also supported by Boston Borough Council and Lincs Fire and Rescue.

The court was satisfied that the defendants acted in a way which means that there is a risk they will commit a slavery or human trafficking offence and that the order was necessary for the purpose of protecting people from physical or psychological harm.

The order specifies that the two named defendants must abide by the following:

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Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order imposed on Lincolnshire car wash owners - Forecourt Trader

$71,610.03: the back wages, interest, and civil penalties paid to a live-in domestic worker by their negligent employer in Seattle. In July, King5 News reported, the city's Office of Labor Standards orchestrated the employer's settlementredress for their failure to pay minimum wage, provide overtime pay, and track payment.

The numbers speak for themselves: domestic workers deserve sweeping protections beyond uneven state-level policies.

"I would encourage other domestic workers to come forward and not to be afraid if they believe that the contracts and the form of payment are not being fulfilled according to the work that is done," the anonymous domestic worker shared in the wake of her repayment.

In 2018, exactly three years prior, Seattle was the first city in the nation to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. The ordinance instated a host of protections for domestic workers (defined as both employees and independent contractors, "who provide paid services to an individual or household in a private home as a nanny, house cleaner, home care worker, gardener, cook, and/or household manager"): entitlement to Seattle's minimum wage, fair breaks during the workday, and written agreements outlining their employment.

Seattle also created a Domestic Workers Standards Boardcomposed of employees, employers, and community representativeswith investigatory and recommendation power through the city's Office of Labor Standards. Because of the bill, that $71,610.03 ended up in the right hands.

Throughout the last decade, Domestic Bill of Rights legislation has proliferated in capitals and city halls10 states (mostly governed by Democrats) and 2 municipalities (Seattle and Philadelphia) boast these more robust worker protections. And they've paid off: a 2021 National Domestic Workers Alliance survey revealed that workers in states with Bill of Rights protections "report overall working conditions that are better than those reported by workers who live in states without a Bill of Rights."

Still, the vast majority of domestic workers are under-protected. The 2.2 million estimated domestic workers in this countryover 90 percent of whom are women and a strong majority of whom are women of colorearned an unlivable median hourly wage of $12.01 in 2019.

While earning far too little, unconscionable percentages of these workers reported feeling unsafe at work (25 percent), did not receive breaks during working hours (36 percent), did not receive sick days (82 percent), did not have written agreements from their employers (84 percent), did not receive partial pay for late cancellation (81 percent), and did not receive pay for employers' cancellations after arriving to work (76 percent).

The numbers speak for themselves: domestic workers deserve sweeping protections beyond uneven state-level policies. As such, legislators recently revitalized their push for a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Originally introduced in 2019 by then-Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) along with Representative Jayapal (D-WA) in the House, Gillibrand and Jayapal reintroduced the bill with Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) in 2021 as Democrats lead across government.

On July 28th, 2022, the House Education and Labor Committee held a historic hearing on the legislation: "Essential but Undervalued: Examining Workplace Protections for Domestic Workers."

The event, said National Domestic Workers Alliance Executive Director Jenn Stowe, was the "culmination of years of organizing and fighting for domestic workers and women of color across the country, for the last 15 years."

The National Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights consists of three key components: including domestic workers in commonplace labor rights and protections, from which they've been long excluded; codifying new workplace rights and benefits, specific to domestic work; and bolstering capacity to enforce and implement the new law.

In other words, a Bill of Rights would not just rightfully classify care work as valued work, worthy of protectionit would recognize caregivers' distinctive policy needs across state borders.

Through the legislation, domestic workers would gain access to paid overtime and sick days. They could expect a fair, safe standard of working conditions, or recourse for poor ones. They could expect written agreements and fair scheduling to guarantee and stabilize their access to work. And the Department of Labor, along with a newly commissioned national Standards Boardcomposed in part by domestic workers themselveswould provide oversight and avenues for public accountability.

Bill of Rights-favoring panelists at the hearing included National Domestic Workers Alliance's president, Ai-jen Poo, along with C. Nicole Mason of the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) and a member of Seattle's Domestic Workers Standards Board, Dana Barrett.

A former employer of domestic labor, Barrett advocates for Bill of Rights legislation "to recognize the clear stake that I have in creating a fair and dignified system of care." Fair workplace standards and wages, Barrett argued beforeCongress, "helped establish fair and reasonable employment relationships" by eliminating ambiguity. "Just bringing recognition to employers that home is a workplace helps create a better one."

Panelists adamantly emphasized that racism and marginalization created domestic workers' present precarity.

Domestic workers have borne "a long history of exclusion from foundational labor laws, rooted in the legacy of slavery in America," testified Ai-jen Poo. "This workplace is hidden, isolated behind closed doors and in private homes."

While hammering out the details of the New Deal's signature inequality-alleviating legislation, the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, Southern lawmakers fought for the exclusion of workers in the domestic and agricultural sectorsoverwhelmingly people of color. These labor reforms, and others throughout the mid-20th century, directly catalyzed America's lowest rates of inequalityyet persistently left millions of working Americans out in the cold.

In a rapidly aging nation, the demand for care work is skyrocketing, and cannot be "automated or outsourced," said Poo in Congress. Higher workplace standards and protections, she argued, will bolster quality of care and "help secure and also attract a strong workforce for the future."

This Bill of Rights could be a similar kind of forward-looking liberty document for millions of American women of color as our first, supposedly universal version. "We see it as a statement of our collective values as Americans, a statement on how we respect all working people, regardless of whether they work in an office or in a home," wrote Harris, Jayapal, and Poo in a 2018 op-ed for CNN.

Of course, the Bill of Rights is one way to invest in care. In the New York Times, Poo explained how workforce support is just one element of solving our caring crisis: the country should "holistically" invest in care at a scale akin to infrastructure. We need to raise workers' wages and strengthen their protectionswhile also investing in Medicaid home and community-based services, child care subsidies, affordable healthcare, retirement benefits, and paid leave.

This legislative session, it's unlikely that Bill of Rights-style protections and pursuant budget appropriations will make their way to President Biden's deskinvestments in care were all too absent from this summer's Inflation Reduction Act, and Republican Committee members spent the hearing fear mongering about inflation, debt, religious descrimination, and how the legislation might undermine the ability to "make employees part of the family."

But state by state, the tide is turning. Bills of Rights are up for passage in New Jersey and Washington, DC. And Seattle is going further with its commitment to domestic workers, allocating a quarter of a million dollars for outreach to inform workers of their rightsfacilitating justice as delivered by the settlement this summer.

"Firstly, it was my ignorance of the laws and rights that I had," said the domestic worker in Seattle. "But through friends who supported me to do it, I lost my fear and filed the complaint. It was worth the risk and a favorable result was given."

See the article here:

Opinion | The Tide Is Turning: US Congress Finally Considers a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights - Common Dreams

Full Year 2022 Adairs Ltd Earnings Call Victoria Aug 22, 2022 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Adairs Ltd earnings conference call or presentation Monday, August 22, 2022 at 1:30:00am GMT TEXT version of Transcript ================================================================================ Corporate Participants ================================================================================ * Ashley John Gardner Adairs Limited - CFO * Mark Ronan Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director ================================================================================ Conference Call Participants ================================================================================ * Alexander Mees Morgans Financial Limited, Research Division - Senior Analyst * Apoorv Sehgal UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Associate Analyst * Aryan Norozi Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst * John Hynd Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking Limited, Research Division - Senior Equities Analyst * Mark Wade CLSA Limited, Research Division - Research Analyst * Wilson Wong Jarden Limited, Research Division - Analyst ================================================================================ Presentation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Adairs Limited FY '22 Results Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Mark Ronan, Managing Director and CEO. Please go ahead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Adairs 2022 Financial Year Results Call. Joining me this morning on the call is Ash Gardner, our CFO; and Jamie Adamson, our Head of Investor Relations. 2022 financial year has been a year of contrasting halves with significant lockdowns impacting results across the first half of the year, whilst the second half saw customers come back to stores in a more normal trading environment. Over the year, the group delivered a record $565 million of sales and EBIT of $76.4 million. Importantly, for the group, each brand has made progress on their strategic priorities that will drive the ongoing growth for the group in the years to come. Adairs has continued to build upon the strength of the loyalty program with more than 1 million paid-up Linen Lovers at the end of the financial year. We know that loyalty will be a key part of the future for retail brands, and we will continue to invest in this to deliver more personalized experiences for the Adairs Linen Lovers. Adairs also profitably grew the store portfolio with the opening of 4 new stores and the upsizing of a further 11 stores. These larger stores support the growth in Adairs product categories, deliver a better shopping experience and are generally more profitable. And finally, ideas completed the transition of its multiple warehouses into the national distribution center. We expect that this will see significant operating efficiencies improving both the customer experience and the distribution costs over FY '23 and beyond. At Mocka, we have spent the year building out the management team to support our growth aspirations for the brand. Whilst the year did not deliver the results we wanted, we have a clear strategy and a team with the bandwidth and capability to deliver the full potential of Mocka over the years to come. The acquisition of Focus on Furniture has added another strong brand to our portfolio, increasing the exposure of the group to the bulky furniture category. With a significant opportunity to grow the store portfolio across Australia and strong sales momentum within the brand, we look forward to seeing Focus become a national furniture retailer over the next 3 to 5 years. As part of the annual report, we have delivered our inaugural sustainability report, outlining the progress made on our commitments to sustainability. When we think about sustainability, we see it as the impact we have on people, product and the planet. Our efforts to date have seen us focus heavily on our supply chain, in particular, auditing it for modern slavery and the reduction of plastic packaging use within the businesses, whilst investing in the development of our people. Across the year, we have also increased our measurement of waste and emissions to set benchmarks upon which we can continue to improve; committed to the 40-40 Vision initiative, which will see the Board and executive leadership team having not less than 40% of each gender by 2027; continue to support the great work of Orange Sky; and have made a commitment to removing plastic bags from our stores in the first half of FY '23. Importantly, the group sees sustainability as a strategic imperative, and we continue to build new ways of working that ensure our people, product and planet initiatives are continually considered as part of our day-to-day actions. If I move to Slide 3 of our investor presentation, you will see that with the addition of Focus during the year, we have built a portfolio of brands specializing in homewares that we are confident can continue to deliver annual sales growth as we have seen over the years prior. Our brands are product-led with each business focusing on delivering great product to customers' homes at a good value price point. Through the strength of our in-house exclusive designed product delivered through our vertically integrated supply chain, continuing to build the awareness of our brands and a commitment to an omnichannel model that allows us to support customers however they choose to shop, we are well placed to double the size of the business to over $1 billion in revenue over the next 5 years. I will now hand over to Ash to walk through the FY '22 financial results in more detail. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Mark, and good morning, everyone. The group reported an underlying EBIT of $76.4 million, approximately 30% below FY '21. Adairs achieved an EBIT of $55.5 million, down on FY '21, but remaining well ahead of the pre-COVID levels, whilst Mocka's results of $3.7 million was disappointing. Focus on Furniture contributed $17.2 million for the 7 months of ownership by Adairs, which was well out of plan. Total sales for the year of $564.5 million were up 12.9% and included $82 million of sales from Focus on Furniture for the 7 months, whilst 16% or over 10,000 store trading days were lost in the first half due to government-mandated store closures. Like-for-like sales for the group, excluding Focus were down 2% and cycling the record 16.5% like-for-like growth achieved in FY '21. Online sales contributed almost 35% of total sales, reflecting the omnichannel strength of the group. Adairs sales were only 4.8% down on last year despite the lost store trading days with customers continuing to shop across both channels. Mocka delivered total sales of $64 million, up 6.5% on the prior year, albeit sales in the second half were down 7.6% as a result of the local supply chain disruptions and some product issues that led to adverse customer feedback. Focus sales of $82 million were pleasing and well ahead of plan. And the business closed the year in a strong position with an open order book of $18.5 million. Group gross profit group gross margin of 59.6% and was affected by the higher contribution from Mocka and focus, with both businesses operating at lower gross margins than Adairs, whilst all businesses were affected by the higher cost of sea freight. Adairs delivered a gross trading gross margin of 63.2%, 350 basis points down on last year but 170 basis points ahead of FY '20. The result was in line with our objectives of retaining a large portion of the gross margin gains achieved in FY '21, with underlying trading margin well ahead of FY '20, but partially offset by the elevated sea freight costs. Mocka's gross margin of 45.3% was impacted by refunds following the local supply chain disruptions and increased cost of sea freight, which Mocka is more sensitive to given its lower price point and initial margins. In addition, following a view of the Mocka merchandise strategy, high clearance activity was undertaken in the second half and a one-off provision of $1.2 million was recognized against inventory that is not considered a part of the range moving forward. Cost of doing business across the business were affected by risk management decisions taken during the first half to manage COVID uncertainty and our ongoing investment in our teams throughout the year. At Adairs, we continue to support the Adairs store teams during the store closure periods in the first half to ensure they'll be available when the stores reopen for the peak trading period. In addition, the transition to the new national distribution center was slowed down as an existing DC was retained by the Adairs business to reduce the concentration of risk and ensure stock will continue to fly to stores and online customers during this period of uncertainty. This, combined with a slower-than-planned ramp-up of operations at the new DC added considerable cost of the business, which we don't see recurring moving forward. Mocka experienced a substantial increase in cost to address the local supply chain issues and continue to invest in the team to build the capability to realize the potential for the business over time. Our balance sheet at the end of the year is in good shape. Inventory levels remain high across all 3 businesses, reflecting early deliveries of stock to manage supply chain instability. Other than the clearance stock action within Mocka, inventory quality is good and in line with what we need for the start of the year. Previously advised, we don't see a need for inventory to continue to rise. However, the pull forward strategy is likely to remain in place until there are sustained signs of global supply chain stability returning. The group closed the year with net debt of $93.2 million after funding the acquisition of Focus and the final earn-out payments for Mocka in the first half. We continue to operate with manageable levels of leverage and retain significant covenant headroom. A final dividend of $0.10 per share was declared by the Board, which brings the total dividend for FY '22 to $0.18 per share. The dividend reinvestment plan remains active for the final dividend. Back to you, Mark. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Ash. And building on my comments from earlier, we have provided guidance for the FY '23 year. We are confident with where the brands and therefore, the group is positioned to navigate the emerging macro headwinds. By focusing on the middle market with strong value propositions, we are well placed to capture those customers who are looking to make updates or changes to their homes without needing to make a significant investment, as highlighted by a relatively lower average item prices. This is supported by our commitment to omnichannel retailing that enables us to service all customers regardless of how they choose to shop, providing them with a complete customer experience and importantly, providing the group access to the total addressable market. And just as importantly, our large and loyal customer base gives us the ability to directly communicate with our customers as we showcase new ranges and offers, providing them a compelling reason to shop. With the full year contribution from Focus, an improved result from Mocka and the opening and upsizing of Adairs and Focus stores, we expect to continue to grow sales to between $625 million and $665 million, delivering EBIT of between $75 million and $85 million. Over the first 7 weeks of FY '23, we've seen sales growth of 3.9%, excluding Focus, in line with our guidance and plans. Over this period, we have also seen Focus continue to trade well. Across the group, we continue to see strong total sales growth in retail stores and a reduction in online sales against the significant lockdowns of last year. We expect this to be the case for most of the first half with our plans and guidance reflecting this more normal trading environment. Before I finish, I'd like to thank a few people. Firstly, I'd like to thank our large and loyal customer base. Across our group, we get the privilege of being a small part in helping them create a home they love. And our aim every day is to continue to inspire and delight them, and we thank them for their ongoing support. And to our teams across Adairs, Mocka and Focus, I'd like to thank all of the team members across Australia and New Zealand for their hard work and dedication. The last couple of years has seen a number of challenges well managed by the team, and this puts us in a good position to not only manage the current trading conditions, but more importantly, enables us to capitalize on a new and ever evolving retail environment. I will now hand over for questions. ================================================================================ Questions and Answers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Alexander Mees from Morgans. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Mees, Morgans Financial Limited, Research Division - Senior Analyst [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a couple of questions from me. Starting with the NDC. Just wonder if you could remind us what the quantification of the transitional costs were that you incurred in FY '22 that won't recur into FY '23, please? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So there's 2 parts to that, Alex. One is the actual transition costs, which we excluded from underlying earnings. And then the amounts that were included in our underlying earnings that relate to the retention of the old DC and the ramp-up was around -- those were around $6 million. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Mees, Morgans Financial Limited, Research Division - Senior Analyst [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excellent. And is it fair to assume that the NDC is now fully ramped up and at its operating efficiency level? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So we've got everything in there. It's not fully ramped up yet. So we'll continue to work through that over the next 12 months. I think realistically, we won't see the full efficiency benefits from a cost perspective flow through until FY '24. But from a service perspective, which is our primary focus, we're seeing significant improvements there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Mees, Morgans Financial Limited, Research Division - Senior Analyst [6] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great. Then just on pricing. Just wondering what you're experiencing out there in terms of are your competitors being aggressive with their promotions and they're discounting I suppose, especially around that end of the financial year sales period, which is so important to Focus in particular. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. I think we are seeing plenty out there. Funny enough, I think in the case of Focus, we ran a pretty traditional offer over that period and delivered the results that we expected. So we're really happy with the, I guess, the Focus performance over that period. We're probably seeing people go harder in categories that are there to trading in if I'm honest. Most of the competitors out there ran a longer sale period than perhaps in prior years. We, of course, continued with our approach of trying to reduce the number of days on sale, which we lined them up with last year as opposed to continue to run them for a longer period. So I think in the case of Focus, we're seeing the product offering and the -- I guess, the pricing and promotions resonate with customers, perhaps despite the increased discounting that others might be doing out there. And in the case of Adairs, we're comfortable that we continue to play a bit more of a long game and on the margin and working that through depending on what else is going on in the market at the same time. But we're definitely seeing a much higher level of promotions in the Adairs categories versus prior years, in particular, some of the majors out there running some bigger offers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Mees, Morgans Financial Limited, Research Division - Senior Analyst [8] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And then just finally on cost inflation. Just wondering what your assumptions are in coming to your guidance range around cost inflation, labor and rent, et cetera. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [9] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, we're factored in circa -- in terms of labor, you run circa 5%. If you think the retail award was up 4.7%, we're using that as that's the bulk of our wages are largely attributed to that. So we expect that to sort of sit at that, call it, circa 5% for the wage inflation for the year. In terms of rents, a lot of our rents are on fixed increases. There's not a lot with CPI on them. So we don't need to factor too much of that in, which sort of sees us more operated at 2.5% to 3% in line with those that are actually on a -- within lease, we've probably got about 50 or 60 stores to renegotiate this year. We're sitting with, I think last time I checked, 48 stores are either in holdover or come out of lease in the next 12 months. So as I said before, I think we'll see a continuing decline in rents in shopping centers with the exception of the guys that are particularly good in those real A-grade centers. For homemakers, we're probably seeing more like a 3% to 5% sort of increase in the rentals, which is largely in line with the leases as they roll out. So overall, I think you can probably talk the sort of 3% into the rental line in terms of inflation over the coming year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [10] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question comes from Aryan Norozi from Barrenjoey. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aryan Norozi, Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst [11] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just wondering on your debt and your gearing. Could you please let us and what your covenants are for your facilities? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [12] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. So covenants is the usual package, fixed charge, leverage and gearing ratio, capital ratio, debt-to-capital ratio. So we've got plenty of headroom leverages, obviously, the one everyone focused on. So on a gross basis, we're sitting on a leverage ratio of around 1.29. And net of cash, it's under 1 -- around 1. And the covenants are well in excess of that. So there's plenty of room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aryan Norozi, Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst [13] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All right. So a typical covenants are sort of 2.5, 3x. Is it around that range? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [14] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No, not that's the covenant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aryan Norozi, Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst [15] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. Perfect. And just in terms of -- if you just take the second half fiscal '22 results, can you break down the buckets that were nonrecurring versus sort of recurring in terms of costs? So you've obviously had the DC cost which is [6 months full year]. Can you just break down the second half '22 the extra cost to income, which won't repeat and not repeating in fiscal '23, please? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [16] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So for Adairs, the main cost is that DC cost, which is around $3.5 million to $4 million in H2. That's about it in terms of material nonrecurring costs within Adairs. And obviously, there's the various events that affected the Mocka more broadly that we would like to think don't repeat, and that sort of runs across sales, margin and costs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aryan Norozi, Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst [17] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. And like the distribution costs for both Adairs and Mocka, so that's the online slate as a percentage of sales, increased significantly half-on-half. Do we assume that's the new baseline moving forward for (inaudible)? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [18] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No. So I think there's a couple of factors that affect that. One is within Mocka particularly, there was a lot of duplicate delivery charges that were incurred to sort of deal with the supply chain disruptions that we experienced as well as the refunds and other things that I mentioned earlier, that affected margin and the stock provisions. For Adairs, I think we'll return to a level that's more sort of the midpoint between FY '21 and FY '22 with the DCs now all product running under one roof, the number of split, consignments to customers and so on will reduce part of that's offset by increased rates from our carrier partners. But we sort of think of those as a normal business cost that we need to manage on a day-to-day basis and less directly measurable unlike the carrying a whole new whole extra DC over the year. But I would expect that Mocka rates will come back. And Adairs will come back. They won't come back to the FY '21 levels. The other thing that affected FY '21 was the number of transactions and the average value transactions are very different than what was in FY '22 with fewer transactions and higher value and then more transactions at lower value in FY '22 as the world returns to normal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aryan Norozi, Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst [19] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, perfect. And so if I take Mocka in the second half of '22, obviously, loss-making versus sort of Adairs, I think, 17% to 19% EBIT margin you guys sort of talked to have talked to historically. How do we think about the progression to that in terms of first half '23, fiscal '22 and moving forward? Just in terms of how the margin will progress please to that sort of 17% and 19%, if 17% to 19% is still reasonable? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [20] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So I think we'll make a good stride in the first half, but we won't be back to 17%, 19% in the first half as we have obviously made the investment in the team. So we've got a higher CODB flowing through that business. And we have seen significant increase in the delivery costs of Mocka as we move to our partner who will actually deliver it to the customer, which is a net-net positive and I think, deliver a much better service. So we expect that first half will probably remain quite suppressed in terms of the 17% to 19%. But as we hit the second half, we'd like to think that we're pushing that back up towards the middle. We thought somewhere in the 14% to 16%. At the moment, I think the big impact we're seeing there is the sea freight impact on our gross margin percentage is as that starts to unwind a little bit, which we're hopeful of seeing in the second half of the year, we'd expect that can start to head back towards that top end of the range. But if we can get it back into the midpoint, 14% to 16% in the second half, that's our first stop in moving it back towards those levels. And I think at the moment, if we traded at 14% to 16%, and we're growing the top line, we'd be pretty comfortable with that as the business continues to invest in building the capability to reach the levels that we think it's got the opportunity to get to over the coming years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aryan Norozi, Barrenjoey Markets Pty Limited, Research Division - Analyst [21] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. So 14% to 16%, hopefully that by the second half of '23, that doesn't include any benefit from sort of the sea freight costs improving. But if that does improve, then you get to more normalized 17% to 19%, is that right? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [22] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. I think if the sea freight improves with the top end of the 14% to 16%. And otherwise, we're more towards the bottom end of that. And then as we move into -- because we have made a significant investment in team in that business and continue to work through building a process and function that allows us to operate at a greater scale. So there's a number of investments we've made, and we've probably still got a few to make that are just holding back that EBIT margin over the next 12 months to 2 years. And then we should be able to see it where the business can go from there, Ari. So we're just -- we're probably more like thinking the bottom end of that range to begin with. And if sea freight gets better, we'll be more towards the top end. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [23] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question comes from Apoorv Sehgal from UBS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apoorv Sehgal, UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Associate Analyst [24] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark, Jamie and Ash, first question, just on your FY '23 guidance, specifically on the sales guidance. Is it fair to say that you're assuming that like-for-like or per square meter sales for the core Adairs business to be lower than pre-COVID FY '19 levels? Like are you assuming that the macro environment sort of does get a bit tougher in your assessment of guidance? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [25] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, we're assuming that the macro environment gets tougher. I don't think we're assuming that the sales falls to lower in relation to the GLA number. I think we're more thinking that we might -- it's probably more reflected in the EBIT guidance versus the sales guidance and a pullback in online. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apoorv Sehgal, UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Associate Analyst [26] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Got it. Yes. Okay, okay. So online sort of slowing, okay. Maybe then on the gross margin side of things. If I look at the second half results for the core Adairs business, your gross margins are for delivery cost of 58.7%. Is that sort of a fair guide of how we should think of gross margins going forward? Like is that sort of where the natural GMs of this business see it or perhaps does it maybe step back a bit further going forward? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [27] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't think it steps back further. I think if you think about that number that -- as Ash mentioned before, there's some delivery costs in there that we'd expect to come out. If I thought about, who knows what the trading environment looks like in the second half of the year. But we're factoring in that we probably need to be mindful that we might need to drive the business a bit harder. And if that's the case, that sort of number allows for that. So I wouldn't think you'd step it down further off the back of FY '23. I think we -- I like to think about it, I operate far more at a gross margin level before delivery costs. And at the moment, I think we've retained a bunch of those, and I expect that going into next year, we should see us probably have to be prepared to think about how we give some of that up if given the cost price inflation we're seeing come through from suppliers, sea freight not stepping back and potentially a slightly more challenging environment. But I think if you thought of 58.7% as the margin that you guys are putting in there, I wouldn't be uncomfortable with us about the mark. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apoorv Sehgal, UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Associate Analyst [28] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. That's clear. And just another one. Normally, you split out the trading update by brand and sort of on a 2-year stack or in this case, a 3-year stack sort of basis. But just curious as to why on this occasion, that sort of wasn't disclosed. And if possible, are you able to give some sort of color on how those first half '23 first 7-week numbers so far compare versus first half '20 pre-COVID? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [29] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not off the top of my head, I don't sort of pay that much attention. But if you think about it, the reason we haven't done it is we were more thinking about it versus last year versus first half '20. And we would -- the concept behind that is the first 7 weeks last year is such a different trading environment than the one we're operating in now. As we've said in the commentary there, our online businesses are trading down against first half '22 or the first 7 weeks of '22, which was in line with our plan and our expectations given stores have reopened and come back relatively strongly. So we're seeing, as we mentioned, they're good sales growth out of store and solid results out of our stores, both in Focus and Adairs and the digital sales step back now that customers have the choice and are regularly choosing to go into store. So we'll take it on -- I'll take the question on notice in relation to against first half '20 and think about that one a bit more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [30] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question comes from Mark Wade from CLSA. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Wade, CLSA Limited, Research Division - Research Analyst [31] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just on the long on the long-term expectations for the Focus brand. I mean, when you acquired that business, last year, I think you thought maybe sales would get to about $125 million. The pro forma results this year were $135 million, so that's getting a bit closer. But your EBIT is -- you've more than doubled those longer-term targets. So the question is are those longer-term targets still the right numbers? Or do you think you can actually hold up a bit stronger than initially expected? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [32] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Look, I think I wouldn't move away from the longer-term targets at this point in time. We own the business 7 months, I think a 20% EBIT margin on that business is too high, and we'll hurt us in scaling as we start to roll that out. It's very efficient in the way that it operates today. But as we need -- we will need to put some additional cost in to roll it out more broadly. But -- and we had a terrific gross margin result. The guys have done an amazing job at driving great top line sales and a really good gross margin. So we think there's probably a couple of things in our favor in the first 7 months. But if we thought about a longer-term, more normal trading environment, there's no doubt, I think Focus is winning by having stock available as opposed to long lead times with some other furniture retailers out there. So we're making the most of that environment at the moment. So I think as that starts to perhaps normalize a bit, we probably see that EBIT margin step back a little bit. But we do -- we said we wanted to get it to a $35 million EBIT, $250 million, $300 million of sales. And we think that's still well within our wheelhouse. I think the question for us is how quickly we can open stores given the homemaker space is harder to get those opportunities, and we want to make sure we're doing the right deals in the right centers rather than just rushing to open stores. One of the things we always think about as being really disciplined on our store opening portfolio. So we'll keep working through that. So I wouldn't want to write them up after 7 months. And realistically, we haven't opened a store in that time and opening stores is a big driver of that growth. So start to roll them out, Mark. I'd like to think that perhaps that might be the case, but let's get a bit more time under our belt and start to open some stores and see where that goes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Wade, CLSA Limited, Research Division - Research Analyst [33] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Understood. And on the Mocka, it's come back a long way on the profitability. The sales are up a bit, though, I suppose some of the clearance activity. Are you still confident in that, that damage to the brand is you can't recover from it, it's not irreparable? I guess it'll come to how many return customers and how the new customers put off by it? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [34] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. I think -- it's a good question to own, Mark. We're definitely -- what we wanted to do is solve the underlying operational issues within the business and make sure that we are in a good place before we really step into a brand recovery piece of work. So I expect that we'll be able to roll that out over the first half of '23. So what we're seeing in trade is that customers are prepared to give us another go. And now that we're starting to get the delivery piece right and we've solved a couple of the product issues that we've had, we're starting to see that tick back into actually, this is a pretty good product that's at a pretty good price. And we can actually nail the delivery experience. We start to build the confidence and momentum back into the brand. So that's why we sort of see first half us continue to invest in that process and the second half really should be a place where we start to get that -- get some more runway and some more traction on that. So I remain confident that I think the product we've got is good. I think it serves a real purpose in the Australian market. And I think the team we've got now are really focused, as I said, with a really clear strategy on what matters to our customers, and let's deliver on that. So I'm confident time will tell. Customers always give you the ultimate answer, but I'm happy that we've got a plan in place. And from my perspective, we'll know a lot more in 6 months and in 12 months as to how well we've gone at rebuilding the trust that we've -- with the brand damage that we did over the FY '22 with those -- the supply chain issues that impacted the results. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Wade, CLSA Limited, Research Division - Research Analyst [35] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. And lastly, just across edition NZD, has the view on that market moderated? I mean it sounds like some of the retailers are doing a little bit tough over there. We heard from news this morning, others are doing a little bit better. What's your view on that market and how prospective it is for expansion across the various brands under this table? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [36] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. New Zealand stuff, there's no doubt that New Zealand is trading tougher than Australia across Adairs and Mocka. So we've certainly seen the consumer over there step back a bit faster than the Australian consumer has. So I think at the moment, we're actually just in a matter of let's just pick the right deals, we'll still be looking to open stores and do all those sorts of things in terms of Adairs. Mocka will continue to do what it does. And actually trading half okay, in New Zealand, it's not gone up against major lockdowns, so we're getting a better read on how that's trading week to week, but it's definitely a more challenging market, NZ than AU at the current time, which just perhaps slows you down in terms of whether you rush to open that store. There's no big drive to open a bunch of stores in a trading environment that's a bit more challenging in the first half. But equally, we haven't seen a lot of opportunities at the moment. And we're finally able to go back and actually start to walk centers and see the stores and do all those sorts of things. So we'll be a bit more active in that market over the first half '23, but I wouldn't expect to see too many new stores or changes to our portfolio in that half, whilst we look at the trading environment and we look for the opportunities that are out there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Wade, CLSA Limited, Research Division - Research Analyst [37] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I guess you guys are probably be excited they can travel overseas as well and see some product and pick up some trends from overseas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [38] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. It is a real positive that we've had a number of the team off in May and June, to your point, getting around the world. Eventually, we'd love to be back into China when working with our suppliers hand-in-hand. There was a lot of samples moving backwards and forwards from Australia to China at the moment. But yes, no, there's no doubt that, that definitely has created a bit of a spark and I expect that we start to see some of that real enthusiasm and look and trend start to hit the business Q2 of this half, so that we start to see some of those changes occur. Because I think our trend has been largely pretty similar for the last 12 to 18 months, and we're certainly starting to see some of that movement now, which is exciting for Adairs in particular with our fashion focus. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [39] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question comes from John Hynd from Wilsons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Hynd, Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking Limited, Research Division - Senior Equities Analyst [40] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staying with Mocka, how badly did delivery failure hit third quarter? Can you give us some color now on with sales count? So did you have to offer material discounts? And then on your comments, Mark, about the customer making the final choice about recovery. Did you start to see a recovery in the fourth quarter and then for the first 7 weeks of '23? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [41] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me work my way through the 3 questions, John. I think Q3 was definitely impacted by ongoing challenges. I would have said at the February call that we felt like we locked it down, and we were moving in the right direction with a new delivery partner, and we were managing that very tightly and closely. And in the end, we made a subsequent change which we -- which impacted ongoing refunds and discounts provided to customers. So Q3 was definitely impacted by that. Q4, we had some product issues that impacted our ability to be out there really pushing it. So we didn't push it too hard in Q4 generally. But what we did see was we solidified the delivery experience, and we started to get the customer feedback that, that was now getting back on track, which was important. And obviously, in Q1 of FY '23, as I've mentioned before, we're going up against lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales. So we're trading well off the numbers of the prior year, but that was all part of -- reflected in the planning guidance that we've provided as part of this presentation. So what I'm -- I'm looking forward to Q2 where we get a little more normality back into the market and year-on-year. And equally for Mocka, that will be going up against a period where we could see what the delivery was impacting us in Q2 last year that obviously then flowed through into Q3. So we'll get a much better view as we hit Q2 to the trading performance of the Mocka business over -- and the impact perhaps that the delivery issues of last year have resulted in, in terms of conversion and those sorts of things. But what I do find in that digital space is as you get further along, commentary and all of those things get further down pages, right? So we can get enough positive. What we're really focused on in that business is how do we how do we continue to deliver great customer experiences day in day out now. And as we start to get that is the message coming back through from the customers, that's what people will see in the short term versus where we were, obviously, this time last year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Hynd, Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking Limited, Research Division - Senior Equities Analyst [42] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. And I guess, it's important to note that customer base refreshes every 1 to 3 years as the younger family cycles and new families cycle in. That said and given the shorter term cycle of the customer, have you given us a, like some guidance on where revenue and EBIT might sit for Mocka like you have with Focus on? And -- or did you want to perhaps give us some updated mid-cycle guidance on how you think this business could perform? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [43] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. I mean, at the moment, what we're seeing is obviously in the past, we've provided the thought that we should double the size of the Australian business. Given the population of Australia versus New Zealand, we see the business heading towards $150 million of revenue. We don't see that as being unachievable. We don't see that needing to significantly change at the moment. What we need to do is -- and if you think about it, we held the top line relatively well, but we blew costs, which really came back to, as we said, refunding delivery costs, refunding full sales for customers despite them having the inventory. So we went with a customer resolution that was expensive and that impacted the EBIT significantly. So I still don't think that $150 million is not a number that we shouldn't be chasing down in this business over the next 3 to 5 years. And FY '22 was disappointing, FY '23, will start to rebuild that the consumer confidence in the brand. And as we move into FY '24, I expect that we should be able to accelerate that. We talk to -- we've always talked about us being an omnichannel retailer. So at some point along the journey, it won't be in the next 12 months. But we start to think about how does that also play out into our broader strategy, not just pure play online, which obviously helps drive that top line and build customers' ability to interact with the product and the experience and all of those sorts of things. So I think as we look forward, I still see comfortably, we should be hitting $150 million to $200 million in this business as we look forward 3 to 5 years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Hynd, Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking Limited, Research Division - Senior Equities Analyst [44] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. And you both -- I think, you, Ash, actually talked about adding costs, particularly the staff for Mocka. Do you want to give us some color on, I mean, how much of the management team maybe was replaced or what you're comfortable talking if you know what I'm getting at there, like what's being done there, what you're comfortable talking about? And what's top of the list with their KPIs? Are there -- what's on the agendas when you're catching up within every week or month or whatever? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [45] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, there's been a large change to the team, which probably reflects the movement of the center of gravity of that business from New Zealand to Australia more so than anything else. And obviously, there are a number of people within the business that have worked closely with the founders that elected to step away once we made the change. So with -- as I mentioned in my presentation, we're really comfortable with the team that we're putting together there. Lots of people with good experience, digital marketing, and building out the capability of that business. As we know, brand awareness is a big part of it. So how do we keep building that out. We've brought in some people that we think have really good prior experience in that space. And obviously, the leadership is now based out of Brisbane. So we've seen a lot of changes. And realistically, when you start to think about KPIs as the KPIs in every business, how we're going on sales and margin. And in this Mocka more so than even Adairs, given it is a pure play online business, we're looking very heavily at delivered margin and how that plays through. So a range review at Mocka is very different to a range of review in Adairs where I'm talking to the guys in here about gross margin. And at Adairs, I'm thinking about gross margin and I factor in the delivery costs, and I can work that out. Whereas at Mocka, because we are a pure play, we're very much right what is the size of the boxes, how does that knock down, is that the best way we can run it as KD, where does that end up, are we getting the delivered margin we need and can we -- how do we make sure we maximize that. So the real focus for that business at the moment is really on 2 core things. How do we get -- how do we make sure we're delivering great product and continuing to build our product range and being really focused on what that looks like, manage inventory probably a little more tightly than we have in the past, such that we don't end up with things like the range that we've had to take the write-off of -- or the write-down on -- at the end of the financial year. And then how do we make sure we maximize that delivered margin in that space. And with that, the delivery experience for the customer. Like there's no point getting a better delivered margin if we find we lose stock all around Australia and don't get it to the customer. So getting the balance right between a good delivery experience and the price we're prepared to pay for that is crucial. So when I think about the conversations that we have at Mocka, we're not much more on that. And then obviously, the third element of that is traffic. How do we get traffic and conversion. So I mean it's no different to any business really, but we're trying to keep Mocka in particular. It's a pretty simple business. As retailers, we all get good at complicating things, but how do we get good product to get the right margin and then make sure we're putting in front of the right people. All of our KPIs are based on sort of those 3 big rocks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Hynd, Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking Limited, Research Division - Senior Equities Analyst [46] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. That all makes sense. Last one for me. The order bank with Focus. Does -- how does that work? I thought it was you're going to be holding inventory not taking orders, so to speak? And I mean how many -- can you give me an understanding of how many weeks, volume or sales, this would represent, please? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [47] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. So we -- that probably represents circa 4 to 5 weeks of sales in terms of the order book that we've got. A lot of that is working with customers to be fair, John. So a customer says, I'm ready for it in 3 weeks. So you get to the end of the year, we've got stock coming in. We've got to move it around, pick the right day, all of those sorts of things. So we're more running a business where you are selecting a day in the next 3 to 4 weeks. On the large majority of orders, we'll also obviously have containers on the water and look to sell out of those containers. But yes, you should think of that as 4 to 5 weeks sort of trade and that will be about where it probably remains. That's ultimately, as you ride our role at Focus is not a -- we don't take customer orders. We're not trying to change. We take a few of them, which will be reflected in there. But largely, it's looking at when the customer can receive the delivery. And obviously, you want a pretty full order book. So you don't want to be sitting here with no deliveries this week on Monday. So you sort of run that 3- to 4-week sort of window. And if someone needs it urgently, we can probably make those things happen. But compared to a lot of our competitors out there, that sort of 3- to 4-week window for deliveries is pretty good. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [48] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your next question comes from Wilson Wong from Jarden. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilson Wong, Jarden Limited, Research Division - Analyst [49] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a question on the trading update. Can you just provide us a sort of indication of what sales growth was on a like-for-like basis (inaudible) store closures? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [50] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, can you please repeat that, you're pretty quiet? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilson Wong, Jarden Limited, Research Division - Analyst [51] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, sure. So just in terms of the trading update for the first 7 weeks, just an indication of what sales growth like-for-like excluding Focus and store closures was? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley John Gardner, Adairs Limited - CFO [52] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We don't (inaudible) largely irrelevant. It's just not something we're looking at, at the moment, Wilson, given the trading environment last year when you've got for 50% to 60% of stores closed. Online -- as we said, online has come back against that period given the store closures. And therefore, you're left with such a small part of your network that you come back with a number that's largely irrelevant, which is why we think about how we grow it totally and didn't put it in there because we thought it really reflected the way the business is trading. And given our guidance, that's where we wanted to make sure we're operating in line with that guidance. So yes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilson Wong, Jarden Limited, Research Division - Analyst [53] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sure, sure. That's a fair response. I guess just on Focus, I just want to get a sense of that store model refinement that you previously mentioned. How do you sort of expect this to sort of, I guess, impact EBIT margins on a store basis and sort of any update in that? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [54] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. We'd like to think that we would be improving our EBIT -- our contribution performance as we consider it at a store basis as we start to think about that refinement. We've tried a few things in terms of product and played around with some stuff in the first 6 months. We'd like to think that we get a refurb store done in this next period. We would have liked to have done it faster. However, in the couple of stores that we would have loved to have done it with, we're just working through some lease negotiations to make sure that we've got strong enough lease period that we're comfortable investing a little bit of money to see how that works. And we've had a couple of -- actually over this last half, we had a couple of stores in Melbourne that we would have liked to have done, impacted by some of the storms and rain that came through. So while we're waiting on insurance quotes and the like, that slowed us down as well. So we've got a few stores that we've got earmarked for it, almost ready to go. Just need to lock in these last couple of piece of the puzzle. But we think the investment is -- we probably had an investment of circa $100,000 we thought in the past. I probably think that's more like a couple of hundred because we probably need to operate a bit more in lighting than we once thought. And so we've added that in. But equally, we think we can drive the contribution margin of the stores. And that's what we've seen. Obviously, Adairs, we've been upgrading and upsizing and refurbing stores that we -- it does drive a good sales lift and lets us showcase the product a bit better. So I think we've got an opportunity there, remains an opportunity. I really would have liked to have had it done. So I can point you all in the store that we -- you go have a look at it, but we just want to make sure we get the commercials right before we step ahead with that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilson Wong, Jarden Limited, Research Division - Analyst [55] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sure. And just on that order book, that 17 (inaudible) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [56] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, what was that? I didn't catch that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilson Wong, Jarden Limited, Research Division - Analyst [57] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. So the order book for Focus, $17.5 million, that's above or below your expectations at this stage? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [58] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So to be honest, it's about where I expect it to be. Coming back to that conversation question from John, we don't see -- we're not aiming to build a big order book. Our aim is to keep stock flowing and make sure we maintain the inventory and not grow inventory. So we only -- we will see growth in inventory in Focus as we put new stores on the ground because we have to have display stock on that element. But our view is how do we keep this business running really efficiently with inventory stocking, stock out but don't look to build a big order book unless the 5 weeks before we come out and talk about it are bigger in sales than in other periods. So it's probably great for you guys (inaudible) 4 to 5-week sales. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [59] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That wraps up our question-and-answer session. I will now hand back to Mr. Ronan for closing remarks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Ronan, Adairs Limited - MD, CEO & Executive Director [60] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just want to say thanks, everyone, for taking the time to join the call this morning. And obviously, here at Adairs and across all the brands, we look forward to the year ahead. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [61] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Link:

Edited Transcript of ADH.AX earnings conference call or presentation 22-Aug-22 1:30am GMT - Yahoo Finance

Since Jan. 6, 2021, many Trump supporters have been preparing to wage war against the U.S. government. The Onion asked conservatives why they are preparing for a civil war, and this is what they said.

Ryan Williams (Mechanic)

We have no choice. The Constitution clearly states that the South shall rise again.

Lee Skillman (Magazine Editor)

It would just be nice to have a civil war we could teach about and not bring up slavery.

Jeffrey Gunnell (Software Developer)

I recently killed someone, and if the war comes soon enough, Im hoping it can just get lumped in.

Vicki Dupree (Skin Care Specialist)

Um, something about George Soros and immigrants orhold on, I have it written down somewhere.

Bo Rhodes (Carpenter)

I feel like carnage on a national scale might shake things up a little.

Oscar Torres (Data Scientist)

Its either prepare for a civil war or try to get out there and date again.

Travis Kutterman (Furniture Salesman)

Ive got some vacation days saved up.

Gina Lopez (Personal Assistant)

Itd help me get my steps in.

Terry Brown (Dentist)

If Ive learned one thing from watching the modern Democratic Party operate, its that theyre an uncompromising faction working in perfect harmony, and theyll do anything to accomplish their goals.

Dennis Robels (Network Administrator)

Not really sure. Ill probably just do it until the NFL regular season starts.

Scott Windmire (Superintendent)

Oh, this isnt for a civil war. Ive always had this many guns.

Jason Iuppa (Bank Teller)

Just because you fantasize over something so much it becomes your entire personality doesnt mean you want it to happen.

Peter McGuire (Marketing Executive)

You can only bomb so many Middle Eastern countries before you eventually start bombing your own.

Guy Arnold (Bus Driver)

When I was a child, the government forced me to learn to read, and I cant unlearn that. Thats tyranny.

Greg Abbott (Governor of Texas)

If regular war is good for the economy, a civil war must be twice as good.

Gregory Hayes (Raytheon CEO)

Im rock hard just thinking about the profit wed make.

Tucker Carlson (Fox News Host)

My ratings have been way up. So thats not a great sign.

Megan Grindle (Antiques Dealer)

We need new statues.

Clyde Dugan (Contractor)

Its just easier to go to war again than take down my Confederate flag.

Lori Welch (Video Rental Cashier)

I really dont see any solution to this other than us getting killed by the government.

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Conservatives Explain Why They Are Preparing For A Civil War - The Onion

Benjamin Franklin once said that nothing is certain except death and taxes. In 2019, American taxpayers paid$1.6 trillionin individual income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. And according to Emory University tax law professor Dorothy Brown, author of the bookThe Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans and How We Can Fix It,Black Americans pay more in taxes because the U.S. tax system has long favored white Americans.

When investigating investigate race and tax policies, Brown determined the system puts Black Americans at a disadvantage, mainly due to marital status. Few African Americans are married in comparison to whites. On top of that, when Black people are married, they most likely have a two-income house, meaning they pay higher taxes.

Lets say someone makes $50,000. As a single person, their taxes are going to be a certain rate, she told WBUR. But as a married person with a single wage earner, that $50,000 household will end up paying fewer taxes than that single wage earner had they remained single.

There are some Black Americans who feel Black America should be exempt from paying taxes. Due to slavery and its negative financially legacy Black people have paid a Black Tax Credit, they argue. Some tried it to not pay taxes but, of course, the IRS wasnt in agreement. It was reported as atax scam.

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Hip-hop mogulIce Cubeproposed in 2020 that he wanted the IRS to exempt Black people from paying taxes.

THE HIGH COST OF RACISM: BLACKS in America should be exempt from paying any taxes for 462 years. This would help to start repairing the damage done to us by America. OUR BILL IS PAID BY NOW. No more, Ice Cube tweeted at the time.

In another tweet, he wrote, We will ask for board seats, hefty shares of the company, and you will pay a heavy-heavy fine for what youve done. Or we will ask the believers in justice. To not support your business for 40 days & 40 nights WE DONT REALLY GIVE A FK IF WE WERE BEING FAIR OR NOT. Hos-style is my style!

Some reparations advocates argue that tax exemption for Black people could be a form of reparations.

Black people should not have to pay taxes. No income taxes. No sales taxes. No wage taxes. No business privilege taxes. No property taxes. No gas or utility taxes. No Excise taxes. No telecommunication taxes. Not a single iota of money which is collected by the United States government should come from the pockets of Black people, wrote journalist Charing Ballin Madamenoire.

She added, And the way I see it, the lack of tax burden will provide incentive and space for Black folks to acquire and, more importantly, maintain wealth in this country. It certainly would serve as an incentive for global corporations to seek out partnerships with Black-owned businesses, who too would benefit from not having to be held down by a whole bunch of business-related taxes.

In the Nation of Islams Muslim Program one of the points says, We want the government of the United States to exempt our people from ALL taxation as long as we are deprived of equal justice under the laws of the land.

Another theory is that many wealthy Black Americans who struggled due to discrimination to get to where they are can not reconcile giving the U.S. government 40 percent-50 percent of their income.

Here are 10 Black millionaires who got busted by the IRS for failure to pay taxes.

In 2021, billionaire Robert Smith avoided indictment in a multimillionaire-dollar tax case by cooperating with the Fed. This came following a four-year investigation by prosecutors and IRS agents who claimed money manager Smith attempted to hide more than $200 million in income. The government signed off on anon-prosecution agreement that required Smith toadmithe had committed crimes, pay $139 million and cooperate against a close business associate indicted in the largesttax-evasion casein U.S. historyTexas software mogul Robert T. Brockman, Bloomberg reported.

The entertainer had to dig himself out of a $25 million IRS debt. Steve Harvey discovered in 2008 that he owed the IRS the astronomical amount.

My old tax accountant, who passed, had done some, lets say, not so smart things, recalled Harvey in a recent interview withEarn Your Leisurepodcast. And since hes not alive anymore, and I dont slam people who are gone, so lets just say some bad things were done, and I looked up, and I was in a lot of trouble to the tune of almost $25 million.

Headded, They were cashing the checks, keeping the money, and not turning in the tax forms.They didnt cash it; they took the money out [of] the account that matched the exact number.

Harvey went to work to make the money to pay the IRS back. An actor, author, T.V. and radio personality, Harvey is famous for hisobservational humorinspired by situations in his own life. He later became known for his self-help advice, especially about relationships.

In 2919, the hip-hop artist had to pay a whopping $14 million in taxes owed to the IRS, XXL reported.

The IRS had accused Wayne of owing a cool $7,341,399.07 for 2011 and $6,853,545.77 for 2012, with the lien officially in 2014.

Wayne credited Jay-Z for helping him in the past with his tax issue.

Theres people like Jay-Zhe helped me out when I was really, really, really down. Really, really, really down, Wayne said. Jay dont want me to tell nobody. That man helped me with my taxes. Hes a real friend yall. Shout out my nigga Jay!

Actor Wesley Snipes wound up spending time in federal prison over his $23.5 million IRS debt. He received a three-year prison sentence on tax-fraud charges in 2008 after a lengthy trial. Snipes blamed the debt on his financial advisers. She also called the IRS was an illegitimate government agency, Time reported.

Besides his infamous criminal and civil legal issues, California state still claims the former star football player and actor owes the state $1.4 million in back taxes, Time reported. This is not the first time hes been accused of owning taxes. In 1997, the IRS said The Juice needed to cough up $700,000 in back taxes, CNN reported.

Legendary songstress Dionne Warwick, whose father ironically was an accountant, was on Californias list of the most delinquent taxpayers, Time reported. At one time she had an outstanding debt of more than $2 million. She also owed the IRS and in 2019 Warwick sought a court order discharging her $7 million tax debt from 1990 2008. The debt was discharged in her bankruptcy, Blast reported.

The comedian and TV star Sinbad also owed the state of California. He had a tax debt of $2.5 million in personal income tax, Time reported. And in 2019, it was revealed he owned the IRS over $8 million in unpaid taxes, and the feds attempted to foreclose on his home to pay off his outstanding tax liens, Accounting Today reported.

Former Jay-Z partner and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc-A-Wear, Damon Dash owed the New York State $4.14 million in taxes, among his many financial woes. According to datareleased by the Department of Taxation and Finance, Dash was hit with a lien over state income tax he owes from 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011, Page Six reported.

In 2011 he admitted to owning the IRS, he way more than $2 millionin taxes.

Blockbuster movie star Chris Tucker faced lawsuit in 2021 claiming he owed IRS more than $9 million in taxes, USA Today reported.

The IRS claimed the comedian owed taxes that date back to 2002. Despite notice and demand for payment of the assessments set forth above, Mr. Tucker has neglected, refused, or failed to fully pay the assessments against him, the 16-page lawsuit stated.

Tuckers attorneys said he entered several installment agreements in 2010, 2011 and 2016 to pay the IRS back in lump sums over a 10-year period but payments were overdue by 1,112 days at the time of the lawsuit.

Fugees singer Lauryn Hill was sentenced in 2013 to three months in prison and an additional three months in home confinement for failing to pay taxes on about $1 million in earnings. Hill pleaded guilty in 2012 in the case, Billboard reported.

Grammy-winning singer continued to be plagued by debt and she reportedly settled the roughly $1 million tax debt in 2019 on her South Orange, New Jersey home, escaping foreclosure, HipHopDX reported.

Photo: Lauryn Hill walks from federal court in Newark, N.J., April 22, 2013. She was sentenced tothree months in prison in Connecticut for failing to pay about $1 million in taxes. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)Robert F. Smith is seen during a live recording of Reid Hoffmans hit podcast Masters of Scale at Summit LA19, Los Angeles, Nov. 11, 2019. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)Lil Wayne performs Im The One at the BET Awards, June 25, 2017, in LA. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)

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10 Black Millionaires Who Got Busted By The IRS For Failure To Pay Taxes - Moguldom

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S.G. Goodmans songs make urgent, messy shapes in air. On Work Until I Die, the Kentucky-bred singer-songwriter yelps about gutted unions and wage slavery while her band pushes the downbeat like a golden retriever straining its leash. On When You Say It, she mutters "don't call me honey, it dont mean nothing when you say it" as if she were trying to bite through the song itself. Goodman may come from roots rock, but her music's live-wire unpredictability means she's at home nowhere: in her best and most vivid moments, she leaps across the yearning distance separating Waxahatchee from Lucinda Williams.Jayson Greene

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S.G. Goodman: Teeth Marks

Japanese city pop was more than a decade old by 1991, when Shoko Igarashi was born, but the 31-year-old Berklee graduates music is so faithful to the recently revived genre that itd be easy to mistake it for the real thing. Her solo debut, Simple Sentences, is a cheerful tour of vintage sounds that sparkle as if they just came out of shrink wrap: glassy FM synths, rubbery slap bass, cryogenic faux woodwinds. Dreamy downbeat jams like Comfy Place find a halfway spot between Flat Earth-era Thomas Dolby and Detroit techno, and while the albums release on Tigersushi places it in dialogue with a broad swath of contemporary electronic dance music, her jazz training shines through in her dazzlingly unpredictable chord changes, which are less Berghain than Burt Bacharach. Philip Sherburne

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Shoko Igarashi: Simple Sentences

On her 2020 album Mi specchio e rifletto, Italian violinist and composer Silvia Tarozzi explored motherhood and uncertainty through the poetry of Alda Merini. For Junes Canti di Guerra, di lavoro e damore, she linked with cellist Deborah Walker to reinterpret the traditional work songs of women rice planters in rural Italy. They sing in joyful, dense layers and dive into open spaces; it often sounds like theyre on an infinite feedback loop, each finding thrill and inspiration from the other. Walker and Tarozzi highlight the under-acknowledged creativity and virtuosity of women working together. Allison Hussey

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Silvia Tarozzi / Deborah Walker: Canti di guerra, di lavoro e damore

Skullshitter, a New York-based trio that plays vicious, full-speed grindcore, are here to challenge your assumptions about hallucinogenic drugs. Forget blissful jamming, swirling colors,and the interconnectedness of the universe: their debut album, Goat Claw, represents the darker side of the experience. A 16-song, 35-minute blast that samples liberally from the 1987 supernatural horror film The Gate, the music bursts with broken-motor riffs, Satanic imagery, and gory, surrealist visions of death. And while song titles like Doing Drugs With the Devil seem to embody the whole story, Goat Claw is the type of bad trip you need to experience yourself, all the way through, to fully understand. Sam Sodomsky

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34 Great Records You May Have Missed: Spring/Summer 2022 - Pitchfork