UK: Investors reluctant to invest in Boohoo following company’s “inadequate response” to allegations of labour exploitation and poor working conditions in supply chain
“Boohoo is ready to party but investors may not be as keen”, 02 May 2021
[W]hile shoppers remain enthusiastic buyers of Boohoo’s inexpensive clothing, investors are more circumspect about its shares after revelations last summer linked it to factories with poor working conditions here and overseas.
The share price, which touched 415p in June 2020, almost halved in the wake of the scandal, with Aberdeen Standard Investments, one of its biggest shareholders, dumping most of its stake and bemoaning Boohoo’s inadequate response.
Despite the shares' performance, many investors are waiting until they're sure there are no skeletons left in the closet
Fast-forward nine months and the company is jumping through hoops to show the world it has changed…
How Boohoo behaves matters more than ever now that it has hoovered up struggling high street names including, most recently, the Debenhams brands; with a market value of £4.2bn, Boohoo is already worth £1bn more than Marks & Spencer…
Boohoo also acquired Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton from … Arcadia.
Today its shares are back at 337p but despite the positive financial performance, many investors are reluctant to get involved until they are sure there are no skeletons left in the closet…
Analysts at the investment bank Berenberg predict Boohoo will be a beneficiary of the easing of lockdown measures … However its actions on social and environmental matters will be key to the shares’ performance, they say…