Bye Bye BHS and Austin Reed?
Discussion
Things looking gloomy for another couple of high street names,
Austin Reed files notice for administration with 1,000 jobs at risk
BHS 'could file for administration' threatening 11,000 jobs
Austin Reed files notice for administration with 1,000 jobs at risk
BHS 'could file for administration' threatening 11,000 jobs
hora said:
£571m pension deficit...
How did that happen?
BHS was doomed a longtime ago. Why would you shop there when there was Primark and H&M offering better wear for -£.
Strange, Phillip Green gets called a retail genius for his work at Topman/Topshop but he failed completely as far as I can tell at BHS (although I'm sure he probably managed to make a fortune as the business collapsed). Although he sold the business last year for a pound I read a story in a paper somewhere that it won't get him off the hook for the pension deficit. Apparently the pensions regulator has some teeth.How did that happen?
BHS was doomed a longtime ago. Why would you shop there when there was Primark and H&M offering better wear for -£.
Fittster said:
hora said:
£571m pension deficit...
How did that happen?
BHS was doomed a longtime ago. Why would you shop there when there was Primark and H&M offering better wear for -£.
Strange, Phillip Green gets called a retail genius for his work at Topman/Topshop but he failed completely as far as I can tell at BHS (although I'm sure he probably managed to make a fortune as the business collapsed). Although he sold the business last year for a pound I read a story in a paper somewhere that it won't get him off the hook for the pension deficit. Apparently the pensions regulator has some teeth.How did that happen?
BHS was doomed a longtime ago. Why would you shop there when there was Primark and H&M offering better wear for -£.
Not great news, but BHS has been playing in Primark territory for sometime now and doesn't have the presence to pull it off. Had no idea they had 11,000 people working for them.. seems huge. Worrying for staff with such a large pension deficit, although many large co's seem to declare and run significant deficits on their pensions.
Phillip Green did exactly what BMW did to MG Rover, take the good bits - Topshop etc, take the better stores for his other brands and then leave the remainder under-invested until somebody else takes it on for a token amount and takes the liabilities with it.
If he's smart it'll have been separated as a separate company yonks ago, leaving all liabilities with it.
If he's smart it'll have been separated as a separate company yonks ago, leaving all liabilities with it.
kiethton said:
Phillip Green did exactly what BMW did to MG Rover, take the good bits - Topshop etc, take the better stores for his other brands and then leave the remainder under-invested until somebody else takes it on for a token amount and takes the liabilities with it.
If he's smart it'll have been separated as a separate company yonks ago, leaving all liabilities with it.
Topshop and BHS appear to have come from different places:If he's smart it'll have been separated as a separate company yonks ago, leaving all liabilities with it.
- 2000: Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green buys BHS from Storehouse Plc for £200m
- 2002: BHS becomes part of the Arcadia empire, controlled by Sir Philip, when he buys the clothing group and its Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands
- 2005: The store resurrects its "British Home Stores" branding, but it is losing ground to cheaper rivals like Primark
- 2015: Sir Philip sells the loss-making BHS for £1 to Retail Acquisitions led by Dominic Chappell, writing off £215m of debts in the process
- 2016: BHS begins an insolvency procedure to reduce its rents and transfer its pensions liabilities into the Pension Protection Fund, the government-supported rescue agency
The BHS in Uxbridge used to have a decent Mens clothing floor, but cut it down to a quarter of it's original size by installing a large cafe/coffee shop and home goods area. They ruined the shop completely. Oh and they put some poor soul at the entrance welcoming customers into the store...all very awkward for the modern world.
BHS is a victim, the victim of an obligate parasite. The name of this parasite is Mistletoe Capitalism. Green (like so many these days) was an obligate parasite and the kiss of death as he came in and took all the sap out of the Company and was feted by all who looked on. We in the West have recently lost the essential discernment needed to differentiate between good capitalism and bad capitalism. To many (perhaps most) advocates of capitalism there is only the good sort, but that is like saying that every man and woman should be beatified, the holders of the belief that 'making a profit' alone is good are morons. Green parasitised BHS, he got a discrete advantage but at a final cost to 11,000 people.
I am a capitalist because it is the only way we have found that makes huge strides in the advancement of us all, but parasitic capitalism does the exact opposite, it drags down peoples lives and raises only a handful of pariahs. I coined the phrase Heroic Materialism 20 years ago to describe what we should be aiming at, over those two decades the West has become increasingly incapable of the discernment needed to stop another Woolworths.
It appears that no-one is being educated at any time in their life as to how to identify the parasites and stop cheering them on. With BHS those cheers have turned to ashes in many mouths.
I am a capitalist because it is the only way we have found that makes huge strides in the advancement of us all, but parasitic capitalism does the exact opposite, it drags down peoples lives and raises only a handful of pariahs. I coined the phrase Heroic Materialism 20 years ago to describe what we should be aiming at, over those two decades the West has become increasingly incapable of the discernment needed to stop another Woolworths.
It appears that no-one is being educated at any time in their life as to how to identify the parasites and stop cheering them on. With BHS those cheers have turned to ashes in many mouths.
I believe he's a high roller (not a person who likes to sit on the top of an observation wheel) in las vegas there was more to it than opening a flagship store of topshop there.
oh and of course the wail when you want it, 3 yacht green.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3510128/A-...
oh and of course the wail when you want it, 3 yacht green.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3510128/A-...
Edited by tescorank on Monday 25th April 07:46
CoolHands said:
^ you sound like a religious nut.
Anyway it doesn't really matter - the jobs and everything else will simply pass to a more efficient business. Customers can still shop, goods will still be available, jobs will still be provided. It's just passing the batten.
Really? I've been called a few things over the years but that's a new one.Anyway it doesn't really matter - the jobs and everything else will simply pass to a more efficient business. Customers can still shop, goods will still be available, jobs will still be provided. It's just passing the batten.
It really does matter, but perhaps because it doesn't effect you directly your insouciance is understandable. Only 'some' of the jobs will transfer and even they will cost us Tax payers something, the rest will cost us dearly. Courtesy of a parasite, if you're happy with that then I suggest rather than calling me some sort of nut, you might consider speaking those words to a mirror. Businesses are variably efficient over time, the idea of having a spread of businesses is to provide broad portfolio to combat this natural fluctuation. The entire principle of take-overs has been corrupted by parasitism.
It's not passing the baton, it's passing the buck and it stinks.
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