Hornby Share Discussion Threads

[bookbroker] 26/9/2012 07:49

Looking at the photo from the Sun article, it's Frank Martin himself who should be star in the Hornby horror story - frightening, evil eyes, the job is clearly too much for him, he has 10 years and more at the helm of this co., it's a shame that he can not bring himself to resign over this debacle, it's time for the non-exec. directors to ante up and kick him out, unfortunately I work for a bloke who does not realise when to pack it in, they invariably end up taking the co. down with them in the process, a sad fact that everyone has a shelf life, there comes a time when a business starts to digress, that's when new ideas and inspiration are called for.

[loverat] 26/9/2012 07:23

I remember Airfix when I was a kid. Used to love building those model Spitfires with those bits of grey plastic and glue.

[orange1] 26/9/2012 07:21

Instead of making 2 mill on their Olympics products they lost 1 million, according to the ..... Sun!

[lennonsalive] 25/9/2012 22:56

I think all the Olympic stuff was overhyped anyhow, just look at how unappealing the mascots were.

I think HRN need to be more radical with there range, Star Wars Scalectrix is about 25 years too late really. They should be looking to sign major new films.

[royaloak] 25/9/2012 13:54

It's been a few years since I was invested here, bought my first Hornby shares around 1999, my best ever investment, have only looked in occasionally the last few years. What an awful case of diworseification, why did they ever buy Airfix for starters?

[hectorp] 25/9/2012 12:50

It is hard to establish if this has fallen too much or not enough.. I'd like to be back in having closed 2 years ago but Management, this Olympics thing and what seems to be a reticence of baby boomers to buy scalextrics etc? very hard to know where support should be until I do some fundimental analysis and that won't be today.

[bookbroker] 25/9/2012 12:20

Frankly, and excuse the pun it's time Martin left this co., he has systematically set about trying to diversify away from the core values of this co. i.e. Hornby trains and Scalectrix, and involved the business in the commemorables and collectables market which are tacky and trivial, the magazine they produce pretty much sums this up. The original products this co. produced still have a huge fan base, yet they seem incapable of exploiting this support. It's sad that such a name is being brought to its knees by weak management which still seem to believe in their lack of judgement and vision. TIME FOR A SHAKEUP!

[holts] 25/9/2012 12:10

Agreed Willie , another profits warning seems very likely and it will be because in our main branded range we no longer had someone who knew what to buy , but they will not say that of course .

[gymfit] 25/9/2012 11:56

someone seems to be accumulating and shares are slowly rising

[holts] 25/9/2012 11:34

You would be correct gymfit if the Hornby product was quality , but its not its rubbish , that's why I used it as an example and there are quite a number of others , sure they also have produced high quality , but others produce similar quality now for less , they believe in their own bullsh*t.

"The team at Hornby has the expertise and a successful track record in managing
a portfolio of famous hobby sector brands that have flourished under our
stewardship" as he parted with 7 million pounds for corgi , which was going bust at the time , so a million or so would have done the job , that is not hindsight I moaned at the time it was a ridiculous price.

[gymfit] 25/9/2012 10:56

holts


when you were young your mom obviously gave you a bottle of fairly liquid with lippy on it instead of a barby doll. Yeah why buy a Hermes coat when you can get one from prim ark

[troc1958] 25/9/2012 10:16

"Lennonsalive : 23 Aug'12 - 00:25 - 10 of 35
Still, lots of unsold Corgi cars in Sainsburys, now reduced to £2.50."

I unfortunately did not heed this warning. You were right. Better to believe what you "see" not what you are told by the company. You saw problems with the olympic sales and sold your shares. Well done. I believed the company and have been burned!

[holts] 25/9/2012 10:08

why would they go back to 80p ? they are short of product that is required for sales because of inadequate ordering , poor price negotiation with suppliers has resulted in product at ludicrous price points and their core customer is thinking I can't afford this anymore and goes looking for alternative solutions.

I give one example

price 23.25 plus switch price 9.35 total = £32.60

against
price including switch £9.95

now which is the customer going to buy ?

[gymfit] 25/9/2012 09:31

You will look back and wonder why you didnt buy. I expect a climb back towards 80p in the next few weeks, a spike and then a bid approach....fingers crossed...

[lennonsalive] 25/9/2012 09:30

The problem is here the management are a sham, they cant seem to get it right.

[daz] 25/9/2012 09:22

The price to sales ratio is starting to look very attractive at 0.35 (market cap 22.4m - revenue last year of 64.4m), while the ratio will increase this year as revenues are likely to be lower, if they can turn the business round and return to profitability, the shares would do well. Looks like there might be another warning and further write-offs to come though.

[chesty1] 25/9/2012 08:47

Picked some up @57p for a fingers crossed trade

[gymfit] 25/9/2012 08:38

Because someone is buying a stake
HSBC Global Custody Nom(UK) Ltd - 4,057,437 10.68
P


I want to know who!!

[bookbroker] 25/9/2012 08:36

Above article Gymfit is by the way taken a copy in 2002, thought about taking a snippet say from 2012 instead, what is the point in relating to something 10 years old?

[gymfit] 25/9/2012 08:34

who is behind this recent buy of 10%

HSBC Global Custody Nom(UK) Ltd - 4,057,437 10.68
P

[knigel] 25/9/2012 08:32

Whats a fair price iyo? 40p?

[gymfit] 25/9/2012 08:31

Hornby shares, like its models, are tightly held by collectors. The largest holder is former Credit Lyonnais banking analyst Martin Hughes with 29%, followed by Direct Line insurance millionaire founder Peter Wood with 13%.



do these people still hold