Premier Investments Limited: Speciality Retail Fashion Company

Retail Segment and Brands

Premier Investments Limited is a company situated in Australia and deals in the speciality retail fashion market in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. It is a public listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange and has the code PMV for its securities. It earns its revenue through operations in the retail chain of speciality fashion, in which it employs approximately 11,000 employees (Ibisworld.com 2022). The company is the owner and operator of the Just Group, a conglomerate in the retail sector and contributes the highest in its retail revenue. Under the Just Group, it has seven major brands serving all segments of the society in fulfilling the fashion needs of the society. According to Premier Investments (2022), the brands under this group are Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui-E, Peter Alexander, Portmans, Dotti and Smiggle. The focus of the brands is as follows:

• Just Jeans: It targets the young generation by providing fashionable wear through its outlets in Australia and New Zealand, which are 400 in number.
• Jacqui-E: It is targeted at the women by providing women clothing in the countries like Australia and New Zealand.
• Peter Alexander: Under this brand, the company operates approximately 100 stores and through an online business. In this brand, the company includes daywear, sleepwear, footwear and giftware items.
• Portmans: This brand targets women and sells women’s fashion wear, with 110 stores.
• Dotti: This is an online brand that offers accessories and women’s fashion wear and also has some presence in the stores.
• Smiggle: This brand offers stationery products to the Australian population.

The retail segment operates mainly through the physical stores and has an online presence through its brands that are targeted to the online market. In total, the company has 1200 outlets that operate in the countries of its operation, and the online revenue of the company is approximately 20% of the total revenue which is almost $300.7 million in revenue. Out of all the brands, Peter Alexander is the most selling brand, with a total sales figure of $388.2 million in 2021. The nature of the revenue stream from the retail segment of the company is based on the transactions and depends on the operation of the stores. The company generates most of its revenue from Australia, gathering around 81% and second from New Zealand, which contributes 11% of the revenue (Premier Investments Limited 2021).

The other segment of operation for the company is the investment in securities that are listed and money market deposits. This is the second line of business of the company, due to which the balance sheet of the group is strong for the high value of asset holdings. As of 2021, the dividend earnings from Breville Group Limited, an associate holding of the company, are $12.2 million. The company has invested in 26.27% shareholding of Breville Group Limited, which has a fair value of approximately $1,173.5 million as per the quoted market price for the shares of the company. Apart from this, the company has investments in Myer Holdings Limited, which has a fair value of $ 63.5 million as of 2021. The company Premier Investments also owns the distribution centres of the company in Australia and the head office building of Premier Retail which is valued at $74.2 million as of 31^st July 2021 (Premier Investments Limited 2021). The company’s investment segment focuses on making strategic investments and earning dividends from them.

The company has a main focus on its retail segment that has strong competition in the Australian market that comes from companies like the Woolworths Group, Cotton On Clothing Pty Ltd and Mosaic Brands, which also operates in the fashion retail market in the same countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Investment Segment and Holdings

The regulatory environment comprises the applicable laws and rules of the country that the company has to abide by. The company is registered in Australia, due to which it has to follow the Corporations Act, 2001 for its basic requirements that are expected of the company. The Corporations Act, 2001 provides the rules regarding the formation, operation and presentation of financial and non-financial information to the public. Under the same Act, it is mandatory for the company to prepare its accounts as per the accounting standards prescribed by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) (Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, 2022). The company has to prepare its financial statements as per these standards and has to also follow the ASX Listing Rules of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) as it is a listed company (Australian Securities Exchange 2022). Under these rules, there is a requirement to have continuous disclosure of information that may affect the market and the decision of investors and has the potential to influence the price of the shares (Asx.com 2022). Along with these obligations, the company is also bound to follow the Income Tax Assessment Act, 1936 and the Income Tax Assessment Act, 1977, along with the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act, 1986. The company also has to follow the requirements under the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act, 1999 for the indirect taxation applicable to the company. The labour laws are an integral part of any company dealing with employees for which the company has to follow the rules of the Fair Work Act, 2009 to provide the minimum conditions of employment and entitlements (Legislation.gov.au 2018). Any changes in these laws will impact the operations of PMV.

The company’s financial information for the year ending on 31^st July 2021 was audited by Ernst & Young, who audited the financial report of the company Premier Investments Limited and its 45 subsidiaries that are consolidated in the consolidated financial statements of the group (Premier Investments Limited 2021). As per the auditors of the company, the financial report of the group of companies is prepared as per the requirements of the Corporations Act, 2001 and fulfils the conditions that are required for them to state an unqualified audit opinion. According to the auditors, the financial statements give a fair and true representation of the consolidated financial position of the group and its financial performance as of 31^st July 2021. The statements also comply with the requirements of the Australian Accounting Standards and the requirements of the Corporations Regulation 2001. According to ASA 700: Forming an opinion and reporting on the financial report, the audit opinion expressed by the auditor makes the auditor give a reasonable assurance about the financial information presented in the consolidated financial statements of the company that these does not include any misstatement of material in nature (Auditing and Assurance Standards Board 2021). The basis of the opinion of the auditor is the audit evidence that has been collected by the auditor during the audit of the company and its subsidiaries. The evidence collected provides confidence to the auditor about the accuracy, completeness, existence, valuation and occurrence of the financial transactions and information presented on the financial statements (Accaglobal.com 2022). The auditor also evaluates the following aspects of the company to express his opinion on the financial statements:

• The entity has followed the applicable accounting norms while preparing its financial statements and makes required disclosures in the report.
• The entity maintains consistency in applying the accounting policies, estimates and measurements.
• The estimates that the management of the company has made are reasonable for the business.

Competition and Regulatory Environment

The auditor has to comply with the requirements under the Corporations Act, 2001 and the Code of Ethics given under the APES 110 for the accounting professionals (Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board 2018). The auditor also has to fulfil the other responsibilities of auditing the entity and express his opinion.

As per ASA 706: Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs and Other Matter Paragraphs in the Independent Auditor's Report, the auditor is required to put a paragraph in the audit report that draws the attention of the users of the audit report to the matter provided in this paragraph if he considers some matter to be significant and necessary to be represented separately (Auditing and Assurance Standards Board 2020). The emphasis of the matter paragraph does not require the auditor to modify his opinion. Premier Investments Limited’s audit report does not have an emphasis of matter paragraph as the auditor does not consider any matter of such significance that is required to be presented separately.

The factors that led to the formation of the audit report also contain the key audit matters that were of critical importance for the audit of the company. The key audit matters are dealt with under ASA 701: Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report, which requires the auditor to present matters that were material to the audit and the response of the audit to such matter to be recorded and presented under key audit matters segment of the audit report (Auditing and Assurance Standards Board 2021). In Premier Investments Limited, the key audit matters consist of the matters like the carrying value of the intangible assets, existence and valuation of inventory, and leases. In the audit report, the auditor has presented the company’s approach to dealing with matters under key audit matters and how the audit has responded to such matters by modification in his audit procedures to validate the information.

As per the auditor, the entity, Premier Investments Limited, does not have any material misstatement in their financial report for 2021, due to which they have expressed an unmodified or unqualified audit opinion.

References

Accaglobal.com, 2022. Forming an audit opinion | ACCA Qualification | Students | ACCA Global. [online] Accaglobal.com. Available at: <https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f8/technical-articles/forming-an-audit-opinion.html> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board, 2018. APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards). [ebook] Available at: <https://apesb.org.au/uploads/home/02112018000152_APES_110_Restructured_Code_Nov_2018.pdf> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Asx.com, 2022. Continuous Disclosure: An Abridged Guide. [ebook] Available at: <https://www.asx.com.au/documents/about/abridged-continuous-disclosure-guide-clean-copy.pdf> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, 2020. Auditing Standard ASA 706 Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs and Other Matter Paragraphs in the Independent Auditor's Report. [ebook] Available at: <https://www.auasb.gov.au/admin/file/content102/c3/ASA_706_Compiled_2020.pdf> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, 2021. Auditing Standard ASA 700 Forming an Opinion and Reporting on a Financial Report. [ebook] Available at: <https://auasb.gov.au/media/da0clvbr/asa_700_12_21.pdf> [Accessed 19 April 2022].

Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, 2021. Auditing Standard ASA 701 Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report. [ebook] Available at: <https://www.auasb.gov.au/media/mrrj5uuh/asa_701_12_21.pdf> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Australian Securities Exchange, 2022. ASX Listing Rules. [online] Australian Securities Exchange. Available at: <https://www2.asx.com.au/about/regulation/rules-guidance-notes-and-waivers/asx-listing-rules-guidance-notes-and-waivers> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, 2022. CORPORATIONS ACT 2001. [online] Commonwealth Consolidated Acts. Available at: <https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Ibisworld.com, 2022. IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics. [online] Ibisworld.com. Available at: <https://www.ibisworld.com/au/company/premier-investments-limited/28172/#:~:text=Premier%20Investments%20Limited%20is%20a,head%20office%20in%20Melbourne%2C%20Victoria.> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Legislation.gov.au, 2018. Fair Work Act 2009. [online] Legislation.gov.au. Available at: <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00512> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Premier Investments Limited, 2021. Annual Report 2021. [ebook] Available at: <https://www.premierinvestments.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Premier-Investments-Limited-Annual-Report-July-2021.pdf> [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Premier Investments, 2022. Our Company - Premier Investments. [online] Premier Investments. Available at: <https://www.premierinvestments.com.au/about-us/> [Accessed 25 April 2022].