Hornby in Trouble?
Discussion
James May urges nation to 'save Hornby' as shares plunge 62%
Well-known producer of railway sets, Airfix kits and Corgi cars issues third profit warning in five months
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/10/ho...
Its ok everybody saying that they'll be ok, but as an account of theirs I have to say that they are pretty terrible at the moment. For several years now the day to day running of the business (from our perspective) is not great.
Dont get me wrong the products are OK, but they have major issues and let us down too often. I mean they even struggle to get invoicing and actually delivering products to us right - so l have no idea how they are going to implement a long term strategy that can secure the future of the business and maintain happy investors? Now I dont know much about stocks etc, but from my position going public has not helped at all. What they really had to do to pull themselves out of their hole was to focus on their core business, innovate, whip up excitement to a new generation and then keep shops happy to stock the product. But with the added pressure of trying to keep investors happy and churning out good report after report, they have struggled.
They immediately put a lot of customers noses out of joint by turning the wick up on their own B2C selling channels (presumably to put some easy cash in their pocket). We are fairly resilient to this being a renowned specialist of their products and trading predominately online - but it doesnt bode well when even we get customers trying to return goods as they can buy it cheaper from Hornby directly!
So whilst I dont think the individual brands are going anywhere, they are too valuable. I do wonder about the future of the Hornby group as a collective.
Dont get me wrong the products are OK, but they have major issues and let us down too often. I mean they even struggle to get invoicing and actually delivering products to us right - so l have no idea how they are going to implement a long term strategy that can secure the future of the business and maintain happy investors? Now I dont know much about stocks etc, but from my position going public has not helped at all. What they really had to do to pull themselves out of their hole was to focus on their core business, innovate, whip up excitement to a new generation and then keep shops happy to stock the product. But with the added pressure of trying to keep investors happy and churning out good report after report, they have struggled.
They immediately put a lot of customers noses out of joint by turning the wick up on their own B2C selling channels (presumably to put some easy cash in their pocket). We are fairly resilient to this being a renowned specialist of their products and trading predominately online - but it doesnt bode well when even we get customers trying to return goods as they can buy it cheaper from Hornby directly!
So whilst I dont think the individual brands are going anywhere, they are too valuable. I do wonder about the future of the Hornby group as a collective.
They have a lot more competition to fend off these days
In trains Bachman and Heljan are producing some fantastic models these days,Hornby have a fight on their hands.
In slot cars, there is much greater availability of good stuff from SCX and Ninco
Airfixs product range is tired and dated,kids dont make kits anymore and the airfix stuff doesn't cut it with serious model makers.
Be a shame to see them crash and burn they are one of those comforting British brands that is such a part of our heritage
In trains Bachman and Heljan are producing some fantastic models these days,Hornby have a fight on their hands.
In slot cars, there is much greater availability of good stuff from SCX and Ninco
Airfixs product range is tired and dated,kids dont make kits anymore and the airfix stuff doesn't cut it with serious model makers.
Be a shame to see them crash and burn they are one of those comforting British brands that is such a part of our heritage
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