The 9.3% fall in value followed a profits
warning after the seasonal sales fell "...below
management expectations", coming in the midst of the 'turnaround'
plans, it was considered unfortunate, but not de-railing (geddit!), however by
the beginning of April they were again talking to investors seeking more money!
This on the back of half-yearly results showing a 22% drop in revenue (down
from £21.9m to £17m-quid).
The beginning of June saw the announcement
of a £18-million package to 'Rebuild the brands' (that is Airfix, Corgi, Scalextric and Hornby Railways). Management said they were "...unlikely to need all the pot" -
only time will tell if 2019's catalogues are any better than the disappointing
2018 efforts seen here at Small Scale World in Toy Fair Reports passim.
The money coming in two lumps - £6m from PNC Business Credit and £12m from Phoenix - HH's largest shareholder; and follows the pull-out of Barclays Bank.
None of which prevented a further drop in
share price in June following publishing of the previous full-year's results
which were £9.5-million down in the previous 12-month period, leading to
pre-tax losses of £10.1-million.
Management are blaming 'previous management'
for the woes, but it's far more complicated than that, with manufacturing and
supply-chain problems going back over a decade, a lack of vision (ask any
war-gamer or modeller about WWI commemorative stuff - four years wasted!), the
whole restructuring thing, the boardroom battle last year, the death of the Toysaurus, the Christmas sales-fall
&etc.
They are in a hole and only time will tell
if they climb out of it, or disappear down it!
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Two other train
stories which may as well go here!
RIP = Rest In
Plastic
Peter Hurst's sons
Paul and Simon were reported in March to have placed their late-father's ashes
in a 'Private Owner' coal wagon (Blaenavon) so they can occasionally run him
round his own model-railway, when not in use the wagon's home-depot is Ashurst
Station . . . Hurst's ashes; see!
Riverside Museum -
Glasgow
In May the Mature Times (I am, so I do! . . . Nah;
it's free from the library and has a crossword!) carried news of the re-vamping
of the collection at the Riverside Museum
of Travel and Transport in Glasgow, already famous for its collection of
model ships, it has laid-on a collection of model railways and locomotives to
commemorate 50-years since steam stopped running across Scotland.
Full sized [real]
stuff is on display as well as many static and 'real-steam' or garden-scale
models.
Web. -
www.glasgowlife.org/museums/venues/riverside-museum
Tel. - 01412 872 720
The Museum is free
entry and open from 10am-5pm daily except Fridays and Sundays when it opens at
11am.
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Which reminds me - I
haven't kept the cutting as it didn't involve toys, models, games or
collectables per se, but - I also read recently (last week or two) that the Science Museum in London is going to
surrender Stevenson's Rocket to York's Railway
Museum (I thought I'd seen it there about 40-years ago; they must have a
similar-aged loco' or a replica?), however, before it arrives in York it will
be doing a 'tour' of stints in other venues around the North of England - worth
checking the dates/venues.
