1andrew1

16 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I suspect suspending orders is worth less than the publicity such a story generates, plus it makes it easier on staff over christmas. I am find this year everyone is winding down a week earlier than normal.. I reckon next week is going to be very quiet.

As we know, Hornby need all the sales they can get, they wouldn't do it they didn't have to.  I can't see any publicity benefits here I'm afraid.

1 hour ago, TomScrut said:

 

TBH the only bit that doesn't work for me is the front end. I can't put my finger on it though, I think it's the lines around the windscreen and I think some yellow would have helped too.

Yes, I've got the same feeling. Maybe I'm conditioned to seeing blue, grey and yellow together.

5 hours ago, Clearwater said:

 

Hornby is an FMCG business.  B2C.  Has to have lots of sales on quite thin margins.  Fickle purchasers that follow fashions.  Need to call the trends right etc etc.  Get it wrong and you're long stock and facing a write off / discounting to shift stock.  Albeit the sector itself as Mike (@thestationmaster) argues has some anti-cyclical features.

 

I'd agree that items like the W1.A2s, APT etc should be higher profit (both in £ terms and margin terms).   Rocket should become an alternate year range regular and drive decent ongoing profits.   I think the Coronation set is a smart idea to drive both sales of 7 coach sets and, to some, accompanying locos.  If it's profitable, I'd do a Silver Jubilee set and rerelease Silver A4s but now I'm running the risk of wish listing.   I'd also run the argument on the 66s, kfas and Mk2es etc that if they've already amortised tool costs, then those short earn a higher margin if you maintain pricing.

 

As we've discussed before, and is commented on this thread, what we don't know is the split between airfix, scaletrix, die cast etc.  I'd love to read their management accounts and product accounts to understand where they really make their money!  

I think Airfix is meant to be the most profitable as it can be sold in the largest number of countries and is able to maintain a good price. Scalextric has suffered the most from computer gaming competition but that too is sold worldwide.  The railway ranges are higher value but profitability is lower as they don't get the economies of scale of the other ranges, as models tend to appeal to fewer countries. 

10 hours ago, Michael Crofts said:

Does Hornby's fixed investment spend go on tooling only, or are they building up their own in-house manufacturing capability in their own premises?

All manufacturing is outsourced and is mostly overseas, the exception being some of the Humbrol range which is made by English manufacturers for Hornby.. The Airfix QuickBuild kits used to be made in the UK but like the rest of the Airfix range, are made in India.

4 hours ago, TREX said:

I really didn't think my first post [and I'm not about to disappear] on here would be about accounts and companies house records but I dealt with both for many years so lets try and put this one to bed. I'll try and be brief. Annual returns were replaced on 30/06/16 by an annual confirmation statement so Bachmann's first one was not due until 05/06/17. The first one shows all shareholders at that date 2,049,999 owned by Kader Holdings  & 1 by Kondux International [probably a Kader company]. The only share transfer was a single share from Graham Hubbard to Kader on 31/03/16. That return also, for the first time, had to disclose the person with significant control......Kenneth Ting, so he didn't become the person with significant control on that date, it was the first date it had to be disclosed. Rather strangely Kader Industries was also included on that form as a relevant legal entity [ a corporate version if you like of the person with significant control ]. I suspect this was in error [new forms, new rules....it happens] and again I suspect the filing on 04/11/19 reflecting the cessation of Kader Holdings as a person with significant control on 05/06/17 was just correcting that original error. Subsequent confirmation statements in 2018, 2019 and 2020 show no change so Kader still owns 2,049,999 shares and Mr Ting none.

If you doubt any of this just look at all subsequent Bachmann Europe plc accounts which show Mr Ting as owning no shares [directors report] and the company as a subsidiary of Kader Holdings [note 22 in 2018 accounts]. Similarly the Kader accounts [2019 latest] show Bachmann Europe plc as a 100% subsidiary.

 

Sorry for boring most of you, hopefully next time I post it will be railway related!

Thank you for confirming that Bachmann is a subsidiary of Kader. I had posted the link to the 2019 Kader accounts in my post evidencing this, but as a newbie poster, some members were understandably sceptical.