stonesboy

5 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Aye.

 

It's hard enough to make people happy when you carefully wrap a boxed item and they complain about the number of layers of bubblewrap you've used, but an unboxed item means either purchasing boxes (a cost) or spending time cutting up cardboard to fashion one.  If most of your items are loose like that it would be hell.

 

Like I said, the video is of interest, the chap does not appear to be a gouger and whilst his mark up is nearly 50% on many items I get the impression some stuff has gone at a loss and his 50% mark up is not megabucks but like £20-£30 selling price which given the effort he likely expends is probably not a lot of profit.

 

Mind, the tax people will be interested given the new rules Ebay has to follow, so his actual return may soon be even less for the effort put in.

He said in a previous video that he files his tax return to include his sales on EBay.

I know this is not model railway but interesting to see that Hornby obviously have sufficient capital available to expand the business.

On 19/01/2024 at 10:42, The Stationmaster said:

Of course we don't know the results by brand.   On past information I reckon their railway sales are probably no more than 10-12% of total sales although the percentage is likely to be higher in the immediate pre-Christmas period where trainsets still seem to figure as purchase for some age groups.  Plus in the pre-Christmas period they obviously reduced prices on some low end model railway items which might have had an  impact.

But we should not overlook the fact that we don't know how the different brands are performing and which of them are increasing online sales (in the past the differences between brands in online sales was very noticeable).

 

Clearly the overall results are encouraging with bottom line benefits from the reduction in the size of the inventory - which alas is still huge - and the small improvement in nett debt.   The improvement in margin is also encouraging but also indicates that online purchases are becoming more important at the cost of sales via retailers.  But, perhaps, most encouraging, is the increase from 'new customers' - no doubt online and whatever they might be buying.  

 

Clearly some people are happy with the results as the share price is currently up 2.5p on yesterday.  So some encouraging numbers but don't forget that in terms of sales the period covered is being compared with poor results in the same quarter last year.

 

The most interesting number in their is that their 5% growth compares well with an overal wider market area 1.5% decline in sales.  Apart from Hornby comparing with a previous year's poor performance does it also mean we are seeing a sign, once again, of creative hobbies doing better than many other things in times of dismal economic news?

 

 

Last information provided showed that Hornby trains made approx 50% of total sales. Although that was in 2017.

For those interested, the 2024 Catalogue is available in WH Smith’s as I purchased a copy this morning from the store in Ealing. 

10 minutes ago, micklner said:

Has anyone replace Kohler ?

 

Hornby seem to be going into a wilderness of their own creation. Loadsa of waffle , false promises, ludricous prices for in the some items, poor quality old tat.

 

Why do they continue at Margate, in every programme the place is 3/4 empty, how much money are they wasting on staying there. Dreaming of yesteryear when they were top of a small pile.

Didn’t they move back to Margate because it was cheaper than the new offices they moved to several years ago.

Interesting they went for Warlord as I understand that they are 25mm or 12 mm scale figures so won’t fit in with the Hornby OO scale.

I have no idea how many were produced but with one shop quoted as having 100 of each, if they produced 1000 of each that certainly wouldn’t leave many for the rest of the tier 1 shops let alone all the other railway shops.

Ordered from Kernow (last Thursday) the Drax wagons and received an email this morning saying they will be delivered today. Can’t wait

Sorry if it’s been mentioned before but an article in the Times today about Airfix making large scale models again in the UK.

They are producing a 1:24 scale Supermarine Spitfire in a factory in East Sussex.

What’s next I wonder?

Nice piece in the Sunday Times today about Ian Allan and the closure of the bookshop in Waterloo.

Hi

Try searching for X8011 on eBay.

All you then need is to attach the wire and away you go.

I hope that is what your looking for. 

The latest set of figures for Hornby have been released.

still negative but going in the right direction.

For the year ended 31 March 2019, reported pre-tax losses dropped to £5.2m from £10.1m a year earlier, despite revenue falling to £32.8m from £35.7m. Overheads fell 15% to £18m boosting margins to 41% from 39% a year earlier.

Aldi did have a basic starter trainset from Hornby a few months ago as one of their offers.

For those that are interested.

Released: 9 April 2019

Hornby PLC

9 April 2019

Hornby PLC

("Hornby" or the "Group")

Hornby PLC

Trading Update - Year Ended 31 March 2019

Hornby Plc, the international hobby products Group, provides an update to shareholders on the progress of the Group's new turnaround strategy which was outlined in the 2018 Annual Report and Accounts.

Revenue for the year is lower than last year primarily due to a shortage of stock arriving on time and in full in the first half of the year. We have previously discussed the difficulties caused by technical specifications and purchase orders being sent to the factories late in 2017. For more details, please refer to the Executive chairman's statement of the annual report for the year ended 31 March 2018.

Despite the tailing off of these legacy issues, our underlying margins have improved and the reduction in overheads has continued. The focus on doing more with less through continued cost-cutting and efficiency improvements has resulted in a significantly lower underlying Group loss compared to last year. The loss is in line with the board's expectations despite the reduced product availability and lower sales in the first half of the year.

This is a real achievement under the circumstances and we are grateful to our passionate and hardworking staff who are working tirelessly to get the Group back to profitability.

As previously explained, we are rebuilding trust with our customers and suppliers. This takes time, but the initial signs are encouraging as we move into the first full year where all the new products and marketing strategies have been designed by the new management team.

More information on the progress of the turnaround strategy will be included in the full year results announcement, which will be released in June.

Went on the Chiltern Line today from South Ruislip to London Paddington.

Must have been between 30 to 40 passengers on board which is much more the the one man and his dog that normally travels on this route.

Really enjoyed the trip but what was great to see was the age range from teenager to OAP’s. Also a small group of photographers were waiting at Paddington.

I heard somebody say they had travelled down from Peterborough!

Wonder what it will be like tomorrow. Probably packed which is why I traveled today.

Not sure if a bargain or not but the Hornby “Urban Rambler” set is being sold in Lidl for £49.99 from the 15th for a week. Also some Airfix and Scalextric.

Article about how he is intent on reviving the famous toy makers fortunes.

Nothing much new is said but an interesting read anyhow.