Are Curry's away to follow Woolworths?

[danrc]

Not usually one for the whole doom and gloom credit crunch malarky as frankly i don't really believe in the whole thing. It's just restoring the balance after the country has been having a good ol' knees up for 10 years or so and people spending what they do not have.

Anyway - my point.

I was having a chat with a chap i know who manages a big electrical retail store tonight. He's never seen it so bad. They are not taking on xmas staff this year and one of the managers has been made redundant. Not good as he's just had a kid. The guy i was speaking with has actually taken up plastering (self taught) to keep the money coming in.

He also mentioned that Currys have been refused credit for buying next years stock so they have to buy it with this years profits. If they have a rubbish xmas then i guess its game over. Thats a lot of jobs that will be lost and its not like shops are recruiting that much at the moment!!

I guess its just hitting home that this is starting to affect people i know and that is scary. Could get tough

If you read all that - well done. I just wanted to add to the doom and gloom of the P&P (Espcially after reading about GB wanting to print more money )

EDIT
I know that of course the guy could have just been talking ste but i guess the rumours come from somewhere...

Edited by danrc on Friday 5th December 20:53

[Momentofmadness]

Bridisco (BDC) are in going into receivership too..

[Alfa_75_Steve]

Lots of it going on out there, I'm hoping for good news next week, or I'll be looking at stacking shelves to pay the bills....

http://in.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAnd...

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%...

Edited by Alfa_75_Steve on Friday 5th December 21:00

[andy-xr]

Currys are still DSGi arent they? Retail looks to have been ste but B2B not as bad

[Kinky]

Pinnacle - the largest independent music distie has also gone the way of the woods.

It was all done yesterday - ironically, as I understand, the day before this months royalties were due to be paid. And their current top seller .... Paul McCartney

[triggersbroom]

I'm sure he'll survive, after all, the divorce is over now

[transactor]

[quote=danrc]Not usually one for the whole doom and gloom credit crunch malarky as frankly i don't really believe in the whole thing. It's just restoring the balance after the country has been having a good ol' knees up for 10 years or so and people spending what they do not have.



Well said

Edited by transactor on Friday 5th December 21:46

[DucatiGary]

andy-xr said:

Currys are still DSGi arent they?

yep

pc world etc

they have had all insured credit lines cut, suppliers are only giving uninsured credit so im told

the ones who dont want to get involved are not supplying at the moment

[carmonk]

If Curry's were going under and only me buying a £499 TV for 0.99p could save them I'd stand in the doorway and laugh.

[Simpo Two]

danrc said:

He also mentioned that Currys have been refused credit for buying next years stock so they have to buy it with this years profits. If they have a rubbish xmas then i guess its game over.

Well TBF that's the risk you run by living on credit. I only buy stuff with dosh after tax.

Think how much cheaper things would be if part of the price wasn't used for interest repayments!

[andy-xr]

I think he means more 30 days/net monthly type of credit

They're not showing many signs of slowing down in the channel, if anything they're doing more with Catalist/OGC

[Alfa_75_Steve]

It's a bit mixed for DSGi - UK operations would appear to be fairly solid, with Currys losses being off-set by PC World profits - total UK loss is £10m on their interim results.

However, the continental parts of the business have lost significant amounts - leading to a swing from around £50m profit to £30m loss.

I don't think they'll go under, but they are struggling.

Credit insurance issues are more to do with the credit insurance industry being more cautious, rather than any specific DSGi issues.

[DucatiGary]

Alfa_75_Steve said:

Credit insurance issues are more to do with the credit insurance industry being more cautious, rather than any specific DSGi issues.

ok

so the insurers are just picking on dsgi, yeah right.

remind me to call you next time I need some credit insurance advice.

[Adrian W]

I hope so, as in the past most of their profit has been made from selling people insurance policies they don't need. there stock is revaluing itself while sitting on the shelves. The price of consumer electronics is about to increase just to keep tabs with the exchange rates.

Edited by Adrian W on Friday 5th December 22:23

[Alfa_75_Steve]

DucatiGary said:

Alfa_75_Steve said:

Credit insurance issues are more to do with the credit insurance industry being more cautious, rather than any specific DSGi issues.

ok

so the insurers are just picking on dsgi, yeah right.

remind me to call you next time I need some credit insurance advice.

No, the whole industry is looking very carefully at the risks they're exposed to, it's just that DSGi are one of the most high profile and media-worthy victims.

Here's the non-story on Atradius, their usual supplier:

http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/story.asp?storycod...

They've also cut back their exposure with Comet, which hasn't hit the headlines.

I know DSGi are unpopular, and I'm not a big fan either, but this isn't just a DSGi bashing opportunity.

[DucatiGary]

Alfa_75_Steve said:

No, the whole industry is looking very carefully at the risks they're exposed to, it's just that DSGi are one of the most high profile and media-worthy victims.

Here's the non-story on Atradius, their usual supplier:

http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/story.asp?storycod...

They've also cut back their exposure with Comet, which hasn't hit the headlines.

I know DSGi are unpopular, and I'm not a big fan either, but this isn't just a DSGi bashing opportunity.

if you knew what you where talking about you would also know most profitable smaller business are having their credit raised.

if you wish my post to be seen as bashing anyone feel free to create that part yourself.

as before, ill make a mental note to call if we get our credit limits cut

[Alfa_75_Steve]

Yeah, whatever, Gary.

You *always* know best. About everything, ever.

Many big name retailers are having their credit insurance curtailed as a result of the current climate.

Congratulations on having yours extended, I'm sure you can single handedly turn around the UK economy.

[DucatiGary]

Alfa_75_Steve said:

Yeah, whatever, Gary.

You *always* know best. About everything, ever.

exactly, live and learn, steve, live. and. learn.

(but unlike you, im not going from hearsay or what you read on the internet )

[catso]

I'd have thought WH Smith would be next, I mean do they ever sell anything?.....

[Mikeyboy]

danrc said:

He also mentioned that Currys have been refused credit for buying next years stock so they have to buy it with this years profits. If they have a rubbish xmas then i guess its game over. Thats a lot of jobs that will be lost and its not like shops are recruiting that much at the moment!!

I guess its just hitting home that this is starting to affect people i know and that is scary. Could get tough


EDIT
I know that of course the guy could have just been talking ste but i guess the rumours come from somewhere...

Edited by danrc on Friday 5th December 20:53

I was having a discussion with a banker the other day on the principal I've highlighted. Its funny, before the obsession arose with paying out dividends to share holders with profits there was a time when it was normal to use profits to spend on the expansion of the business and pay out dividends afterwards. I.e to buy new stock is part of your running costs not a post profit pay out. It could be argued after all if you don't have enough money after trading to buy stock its not actually profit.
And taking credit used to be for companies that were starting or expanding in a new direction over and beyond what profits would cover. This is now seen a sold fashioned but how many big companies collapsed when this was their model?
Taking the advantage of credit when you really didn't need to as a business model is what has done for the likes of Woolworths who the year before made 16.5 million in profit and 65 the year before that.
Or am I being ( as I'm sure someone will agree) stupid.