Hornby cuts model shops' allocations of items due summer 2022

[rob D2]

i thought with SK at the helm the days of "design stupid " and direct selling had been consigned to the bin , along with that set of suits .

 

Now i'm kinda getting a ... feeling

 

 

[Drifter]

2 hours ago, rob D2 said:

i thought with SK at the helm the days of "design stupid " and direct selling had been consigned to the bin , along with that set of suits .

 

Now i'm kinda getting a ... feeling

 

 

SK? If you are referring to Simon Kohler, as he isn’t a Board Member, not sure what he can do. 

[spamcan61]

On the basis of no evidence other than timing, and the phrase "digital transformation' in the press release, I suspect the current shenanigans has more to do with the appointment of Henry de Zoete to the board, as discussed at the time:-

 

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/Hornby/news/rns/story/x52lj0x

Edited July 17, 2022 by spamcan61

[adb968008]

5 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

On the basis of no evidence other than timing, and the phrase "digital transformation' in the press release, I suspect the current shenanigans has more to do with the appointment of Henry de Zoete to the board, as discussed at the time:-

 

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/Hornby/news/rns/story/x52lj0x

 

Previous directorships or partnerships:

Look After My Bills Limited

This is the Big Deal Limited

38 Degrees

 

it feels somewhat appropriate for the Times we are in..

 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by adb968008

[JohnR]

5 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

On the basis of no evidence other than timing, I suspect the current shenanigans has more to do with the appointment of Henry de Zoete to the board, as discussed at the time:-

 

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/Hornby/news/rns/story/x52lj0x

 

"digital transformation"

[The Stationmaster]

34 minutes ago, Drifter said:

SK? If you are referring to Simon Kohler, as he isn’t a Board Member, not sure what he can do. 

Simon Kohler is the 'Marketing and Development Director' at Hornby.  He is one of the two people with the title 'director' who are not a member of the Board of Directors but judging by his title he presumably has some executive responsibility and the posts are referred to (indirectly) in the fFinancial Report as 'senior executives'.  

 

In the past both of these posts shared, with the two executive directors (who are both board membersI in the share based performance payments and that still appears to be the case.  The size of their holdings in the company and any shares obtained under the PSP scheme are openly declared in the public arena should anybody care to look.

[The Stationmaster]

13 minutes ago, JohnR said:

 

"digital transformation"

Presumably translates in more basic terminology to 'pull your finger out' 🤪

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Presumably translates in more basic terminology to 'pull your finger out' 🤪

Or put a finger up to everyone...

[Les1952]

Talking to my local dealer recently.

 

He sells models of all descriptions with railway specific being only a part of the business, and most of his stock of trains has been Hornby and Bachmann (plus Peco etc and the scenics suppliers which also cover war games and other modelling interests).   He has recently approached Accurascale and Dapol and is looking to see if he can stock KR and Rapido.  

 

If this is typical then Hornby will be the losers in the end- people do go into model shops where they exist to look at and buy models........

 

Les

[Oldddudders]

10 hours ago, Les1952 said:

 He has recently approached Accurascale and Dapol and is looking to see if he can stock KR and Rapido.  

Way to go. My recent visit to Collets Models of Exmouth showed me how even a shop with modest premises can stock products from all sorts of suppliers such as you list. And the piles of packed orders he was bagging up to post indicated that a healthy mail-order demand exists even for the smaller business. 

[Covkid]

11 hours ago, Les1952 said:

Talking to my local dealer recently.

 

He sells models of all descriptions with railway specific being only a part of the business, and most of his stock of trains has been Hornby and Bachmann (plus Peco etc and the scenics suppliers which also cover war games and other modelling interests).   He has recently approached Accurascale and Dapol and is looking to see if he can stock KR and Rapido.  

 

If this is typical then Hornby will be the losers in the end- people do go into model shops where they exist to look at and buy models........

 

Les

 

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Way to go. My recent visit to Collets Models of Exmouth showed me how even a shop with modest premises can stock products from all sorts of suppliers such as you list. And the piles of packed orders he was bagging up to post indicated that a healthy mail-order demand exists even for the smaller business. 

The only product brand I haven't seen on the shelves of my LHS is Accurascale hence my orders to Accurascale direct for the items the shop couldn't get me.  For those who don't yet get it, if you don't support your LHS you will lose it. In actual fact, I called in at the Chasewater railway yesterday, and the guy in the model railway shop, who comes from Tamworth mentioned a dozen model shops in Staffs and the West Mids that he remembers have closed down.  

Hornby - please remember this. 

[deepfat]

yep agreed but we are really close and as ours is opposite our local Tesco's. mrs Deepfat is my courier and they treat her very well when she tries to remembr the thingy I want

[Matt C]

1 hour ago, deepfat said:

yep agreed but we are really close and as ours is opposite our local Tesco's. mrs Deepfat is my courier and they treat her very well when she tries to remembr the thingy I want

 

 

" Hello Mr Modelshopman its me again"

"Oh hello Mrs Deepfat what can I get you ?"

" He needs a thingy"

"??"

"You know a whatsit"

"??"

Sigh " you KNOW a thingy for his whatsit, a fiddly thingy?!"

" Oh right Mrs Deepfat a point for his fiddleyard maybe ?"

"!Yes!, Thats it ! A point for his fiddlethingy !"

"Ok Mrs Deepfat, (Smiles) A left hand or right hand thingy ??" 

"Oh gawd how should I know ! ? I said I was going to Tesco's and he says while your there nip in to the model shop and get me a point, and he stuck two fingers up !!!"

"Oh RIGHT it's a Y point your wanting then Mrs Deepfat, there you go now have a nice day !"

 

"RING RING, RING RING, " YO deepy it's Mr Modelshop here. What's that ? Yes She's just been in, yes I gave her the Y Point you ordered last week, Oh and next time you go to Tesco's and get something wrong on her list I don't think you'll get much grief 🤣"

Edited July 18, 2022 by Matt C

[deepfat]

Ha, I see you have met her!

however she did let me buy a Rapido APT-e , the Rails SECR D class an ADM turntable so it's not all bad in the loft

[APOLLO]

On 15/07/2022 at 23:14, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Somebody somewhere linked to Hornby is monitoring RMweb. A couple of months ago, Andy Y provided a link to the company responsible for Hornby's website - I spotted a couple of typos in the text on their website and commented on RMweb. Two days later the errors had been corrected.

.

 

CIA ? FBI ?  - Whoops, gotta go, men at the door and a black helicopter flying low overhead !!!!!

 

Brit15

[deepfat]

I really do hope Hornby watch this space,  but I don't think they really analyse their own forum. Either way  but they should be open about it. compare that to Rapido who are open about being on here and actually fit in as do other vendors. 

[Littlethorpe]

18 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Simon Kohler is the 'Marketing and Development Director' at Hornby.  He is one of the two people with the title 'director' who are not a member of the Board of Directors but judging by his title he presumably has some executive responsibility and the posts are referred to (indirectly) in the fFinancial Report as 'senior executives'.  

 

In the past both of these posts shared, with the two executive directors (who are both board membersI in the share based performance payments and that still appears to be the case.  The size of their holdings in the company and any shares obtained under the PSP scheme are openly declared in the public arena should anybody care to look.

 

Hornby Hobbies are wholly owned by Hornby plc & SK is not listed as a Director of either Company.

 

My knowledge of this area is from several years back so things may have changed but I was always led to believe that, for example, the title "Marketing Director" could only be applied to someone who was listed with Companies House as a Director of the Company with all the legal implications & responsibilities of being a Director. Whereas "Director of Marketing" is simply a job title reflecting someone's role but who is not a Company Director, or Board Member, in the legal sense.

 

I'll get me coat except it's too hot.

[Bucoops]

Kind of like US Vice Presidents (of companies) - they can outnumber water coolers.

 

We have two grades of fake directors - Non-Executive Director (NED!) and Associate Director.

 

Not really sure what either of those actually means, but the real directors all own a stake in the company.

[The Stationmaster]

19 hours ago, Littlethorpe said:

 

Hornby Hobbies are wholly owned by Hornby plc & SK is not listed as a Director of either Company.

 

My knowledge of this area is from several years back so things may have changed but I was always led to believe that, for example, the title "Marketing Director" could only be applied to someone who was listed with Companies House as a Director of the Company with all the legal implications & responsibilities of being a Director. Whereas "Director of Marketing" is simply a job title reflecting someone's role but who is not a Company Director, or Board Member, in the legal sense.

 

I'll get me coat except it's too hot.

SK quotes his own job title on the internet (and it is also quoted on the Hornby Show as 'Marketing and Development Director') and it is basically a job title although but as I mentioned previously both he and the other senior executive who has 'Director' in his job title both benefit from Hornby's PSP scheme and are able to obtain shares in the company as part of that scheme; the size of their holf dings from that source is - like any Board level Director - in the public arena.  If you want to know how many shares each and any of them own, and how much they paid for them, it takes little more than a couple of minutes to find the information in the relevant place on Hornby's own website.

 

Hornby nowadays has only two executive Directors, all other board members are non-executive. But it is clear from its own Reports that it has delegated some executive responsibility to persons below board level with director in their job title.  That is no different from the practice in some other companies including one where I worked in the 1990s.

[Mike Harvey]

18 hours ago, Bucoops said:

Not really sure what either of those actually means, but the real directors all own a stake in the company.

You can be a Company Director without owning shares. I have been a registered Director of upwards of 40 companies in the UK and across the rest of Europe and have only owned a share in just one of those. I was a real director involved in running the day-to-day business. The non-executive directors often bring expertise from other disciplines and provide scrutiny on behalf of the shareholders.

[Bucoops]

51 minutes ago, Mike Harvey said:

You can be a Company Director without owning shares. I have been a registered Director of upwards of 40 companies in the UK and across the rest of Europe and have only owned a share in just one of those. I was a real director involved in running the day-to-day business. The non-executive directors often bring expertise from other disciplines and provide scrutiny on behalf of the shareholders.

By real director I meant direct the company :) The others are just ranked higher than senior managers, they don't any more say in how the company is run than the seniors.

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, Mike Harvey said:

The non-executive directors often bring expertise from other disciplines and provide scrutiny on behalf of the shareholders.

BR always had a number of Non-Exec Directors, to balance the Board a bit. I recall one, whose name escapes me, was enormously helpful in making the most of the Board's Investment Committee, where she saw real benefit in making the most of investment opportunities while keeping DTp (on behalf of HM Treasury) happy. In her day-job I think she ran one of Grand Metropolitan's Divisions. 

[Mike Harvey]

15 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

By real director I meant direct the company :) The others are just ranked higher than senior managers, they don't any more say in how the company is run than the seniors.

 

I think I understood your original point. But I would not be quick to dismiss the role of non-Executive Directors in the direction of the company. I had at least two concrete examples where the non-Execs opened doors with government and EU organisations,  which proved to be very fruitful in advancing the company's performance over the short and longer term. I am sure that my experience is not unique. More than anything, I think that it demonstrates the advantage of well-chosen non-Execs rather than the "gravy-train" non-Execs who, in my experience, are rare beasts. 

[Bucoops]

1 minute ago, Mike Harvey said:

 

I think I understood your original point. But I would not be quick to dismiss the role of non-Executive Directors in the direction of the company. I had at least two concrete examples where the non-Execs opened doors with government and EU organisations,  which proved to be very fruitful in advancing the company's performance over the short and longer term. I am sure that my experience is not unique. More than anything, I think that it demonstrates the advantage of well-chosen non-Execs rather than the "gravy-train" non-Execs who, in my experience, are rare beasts. 

 

I've been there long enough to have the insider knowledge on these people ;)

[Mike Harvey]

6 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

BR always had a number of Non-Exec Directors, to balance the Board a bit. I recall one, whose name escapes me, was enormously helpful in making the most of the Board's Investment Committee, where she saw real benefit in making the most of investment opportunities while keeping DTp (on behalf of HM Treasury) happy. In her day-job I think she ran one of Grand Metropolitan's Divisions. 

Prue Leith, another BRB non-Exec, was a strong force behind the relaunch of Travellers Fare station and on-board catering.