Oliver Raeburn to join Hornby as CEO in early 2023 from Paperchase

[1andrew1]

Interesting to see the new CEO joining from a high street retailer.

 

Quote

"Oliver has an extensive background in marketing, becoming Chief Marketing Officer of Paperchase in 2019, whilst it was in a Creditors' Voluntary Arrangement. He was promoted to CEO in 2020 and he guided the company through an administration process during the Covid pandemic. This was followed by a turnaround process, refinancing and sale of the business."

Upon Oliver starting in the business on 23 January 2023, Lyndon Davies, the current Executive Chairman, will become Non-Executive Chairman.

 

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/Hornby/news/rns/story/wko412x

Edited November 16, 2022 by 1andrew1
.

[Fireline]

Oh great. Another grocer....

[New Haven Neil]

26 minutes ago, Fireline said:

Oh great. Another grocer....

 

Didn't learn from the first time. #sigh

[spamcan61]

Maybe their financial backers are getting impatient. "He was promoted to CEO in 2020 and he guided the company through an administration process during the Covid pandemic. This was followed by a turnaround process, refinancing and sale of the business" isn't something I'd want to see on the CV of a new CEO in a company I was working for.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Anybody seeing "kneejerk" and "panic" in this move?

 

Mike.

 

 

[Flying Pig]

1 hour ago, Fireline said:

Oh great. Another grocer....

 

I'm now imagining Arkwright trying to say "TT Trains".

[BachelorBoy]

I wonder if his first decision will be to abandon TT120. 

 

[spamcan61]

13 minutes ago, BachelorBoy said:

I wonder if his first decision will be to abandon TT120. 

 

Nah, too much at stake / sunk cost there I reckon.

[G-BOAF]

Presumably the current CEO has had a strong hand in choosing his successor, and given Mr Davies' commitment and enthusiasm for the company and the industry I can't imagine he will hand off to someone who is going to head in the other direction again....!

[micklner]

How many Chairmen does a small company need ? Exec!  non Exec ! what a loada of spin title  nonsense.

 

No wonder the Company is losing money (most years), how much is going in wages on those two.

[RichardT]

3 hours ago, micklner said:

 

How many Chairmen does a small company need ? Exec!  non Exec ! what a loada of spin title  nonsense.

 

Just the one. The corporate governance best practice advice  (from the SFO? LSE Cadbury Committee Report, post-Maxwell scandal - Cap’n Bob that is, not Ghislaine) is that the posts of Chair and Chief Executive be held by separate people to improve oversight. That’s what’s happening here.  Hornby might not be a huge company in stock market terms, but it’s still slightly more complex to manage than Modelmaster Transfers.

 

Not to say that there isn’t ever an element of snouts in the trough in these processes, but that’s part of the bigger problem of how executive pay has ballooned in the past 15 years whilst staff wages have stagnated. 
 

RichardT

Edited November 17, 2022 by RichardT
Updated corporate governance info

[Oldddudders]

Where would we like the CEO to come from? Do we see any prospect of a suitably-qualified person from within the hobby industry jumping ship to this post at Hornby? Perhaps Paperchase, which I would characterise as niche with a touch of class, has some parallels. And, after all, Hornby could do with a bit of class! 

 

In the privatised railway, I found middle managers from Granada, and a Route Manager from Tie-Rack. I recall asking one for a commercial spec for the ticket office at the new station at West Brompton. I might as well have asked for directions to the Moon. But the CEO at Hornby does not need to know how many spokes on a Star Class bogie wheel. He employs people covering that speciality, at least in theory...

 

Our hobby is no different from other industries in its recruiting opportunities, but we shall see. 

[Legend]

Well,I suppose the reality is there can be very few CEOs with a background in Model Railways, so what can we expect? Put the company on a good solid footing with the CFO, give the people that know, the opportunity to grow the company and he could be very good for the company. 

[spamcan61]

8 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Where would we like the CEO to come from? Do we see any prospect of a suitably-qualified person from within the hobby industry jumping ship to this post at Hornby? Perhaps Paperchase, which I would characterise as niche with a touch of class, has some parallels. And, after all, Hornby could do with a bit of class! 

 

In the privatised railway, I found middle managers from Granada, and a Route Manager from Tie-Rack. I recall asking one for a commercial spec for the ticket office at the new station at West Brompton. I might as well have asked for directions to the Moon. But the CEO at Hornby does not need to know how many spokes on a Star Class bogie wheel. He employs people covering that speciality, at least in theory...

 

Our hobby is no different from other industries in its recruiting opportunities, but we shall see. 

Personally it's not what industry the guy comes from that's worrying, it's the use of words like "administration"  "turnaround" and "refinance" as his most recent experience.

Edited November 17, 2022 by spamcan61

[franciswilliamwebb]

9 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Where would we like the CEO to come from?

 

Perhaps someone from Hooters, whose TT experience should be invaluable 😉

[Oldddudders]

3 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

Personally it's not what industry the guy comes from that's worrying, it's the use of words like "administration"  "turnaround" and "refinance" as his most recent experience.

And how many other companies have had to face one or more of those since Covid? 

[spamcan61]

27 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

And how many other companies have had to face one or more of those since Covid? 

Not many in the hobby sector I suspect.

[CUCKOO LINE]

Before Paperchase he was Brand Director Ladbrokes and Coral then  Marketing Director Rank Organisation 

[New Haven Neil]

Isn't that a background we have seen before - disastrously?

[wombatofludham]

I wonder if he might actually have some sympathy for their retail partners if he comes from a retail background, or whether he'll prioritise their online retail offer.  For me that'll be the deciding factor whether I decide to spend any money with Hornby in the future, not whether the deckchairs have been laid out nicely to watch the looming iceberg.

[Ollie K]

6 minutes ago, wombatofludham said:

I wonder if he might actually have some sympathy for their retail partners if he comes from a retail background, or whether he'll prioritise their online retail offer.  For me that'll be the deciding factor whether I decide to spend any money with Hornby in the future, not whether the deckchairs have been laid out nicely to watch the looming iceberg.

 

Given Paperchase's miraculous recovery was not the rosy story it seemed, I wouldn't count on it. Several reports out there about how the rescue deal saved jobs on the retail side of the business, but Paperchase wriggled out of paying creators and artists who'd provided work for its greetings cards before it went bust. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/07/paperchase-has-been-rescued-but-greetings-card-artists-are-losing-thousands

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/catherineerdly/2022/05/05/small-businesses-speak-out-over-ruinous-impact-of-paperchases-administration/

[BachelorBoy]

2 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

Nah, too much at stake / sunk cost there I reckon.

 

Sunk costs shouldn't affect his decisions.

 

Plenty of people have questioned the wisdom of launching TT120.

 

Hornby already seems to be messing it up a bit.

 

He might look at the figures afresh and decide to kill it as it's too risky - as, ironically, there's too much at stake. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wheatley]

1 hour ago, Legend said:

Well,I suppose the reality is there can be very few CEOs with a background in Model Railways, so what can we expect? 

Quite. The parallel with Paperchase is that it produces a product no-one actually needs but which people like to have, procured from a lot of outsourced third party suppliers. 

[spamcan61]

2 minutes ago, BachelorBoy said:

Plenty of people have questioned the wisdom of launching TT120.

 

Hornby already seems to be messing it up a bit.

 

For sure lack of availability of the sets until after Xmas, due to the cock-up with the balance weights on the A3/4 wheels, won't help at all; but I think the train has left the station, so to speak, in terms of product launch. Whether the system will grow in line with the current grand plans is another matter.

[jjb1970]

At CEO level it's useful but not essential to have experience and expertise of whatever it is a business makes. What is important is recognizing the talent a business needs and making sure it is in place, to identify a high-level strategy for the business and to show leadership. We have already had one model train company ran by someone who considered the prime qualification to run a business as being a model enthusiast which was a train wreck in slow motion.