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Hornby Group (airfix's owners) half-yearly results


Phil Gollin

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Reads pretty well to me, revenue reduction mostly covered by reduced costs, senior management bill halved, capping off the support finance packages, money already allocated for tooling, finally the best news may be that they have finally got on top of the manufacturing issues. That will be pure gold in the coming near future as confidence in Airfix and Hornby quality has taken a real hit over the recent past. Getting everything back on one site was a no-brainer but should never have been allowed to occur in the first place. 

 

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27 minutes ago, Radpoe Spitfire said:

By Vertue of the announcement of a 24th Scale Hellcat at Telford reinforces a confidence in the company.

Only by a small minority of people interested in 1/24 scale and then again, only by modellers interested in Hellcats and prepared to part with a very large amount of money...…………….I think they need to do better to catch the interested mainstream modellers

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Stopping their discounting has hit their sales hard, partly because much of the discounted products are still for sale somewhere. While their gross margins have improved, their costs haven't fallen in proportion to their fall in turnover. If they don't grow sales enough to cover these overheads they'll never turn a profit. Looks to me like they need around a 50% increase in sales and pretty quickly.

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6 hours ago, rayprit said:

Only by a small minority of people interested in 1/24 scale and then again, only by modellers interested in Hellcats and prepared to part with a very large amount of money...…………….I think they need to do better to catch the interested mainstream modellers

I agree with what you say, but considering that the UK is still in austerity, the release of a new 1/24 SCALE kit shows that Airfix seem to have faith in a brighter future. I just hope that is the case, and we are seeing an upturn in fortunes. The effect of what happened to the Airfix US market in the early 1980's is something I don't wish to see again.

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On 11/30/2018 at 5:34 PM, Radpoe Spitfire said:

I agree with what you say, but considering that the UK is still in austerity, the release of a new 1/24 SCALE kit shows that Airfix seem to have faith in a brighter future. I just hope that is the case, and we are seeing an upturn in fortunes. The effect of what happened to the Airfix US market in the early 1980's is something I don't wish to see again.

To me the hellcat release reads that Airfix is looking beyond its UK core market to become its new market. The nostalgia-driven modelers aren't buying enough to keep the lights on anymore. In fact, that crowd is complaining the loudest about prices increasing. Maybe Airfix realizes they need to appeal to the global modeling market (older, more advanced skills, wealthier) in order to bring in a larger portion of the market share. 

 

Selling 10,000+ hellcats worldwide will be easy

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Just a quick observation from across the pond here. My local Hobby Lobby (a chain crafts/sewing/home decor store) has more Airfix kits on the shelves than I have ever seen in one place in the flesh. Apparently the Airfix folks are indeed pushing into the US market. Hobby Lobby offers a 40% discount which means my P51 and P40 were both bought for well under $20. That puts Airfix kits in the hands of the masses. 

 

Both of the kits are well molded, and have first class packaging and instructions. Just from watching the stock these kits are in fact moving. Cheers to Airfix for building a foundation!

 

(I need also to point out that prior to these kits hitting our shelves Airfix kits were not widely available in our admittedly meager collection of hobby shops. The several 1/48 and 1/72 kits plus the 1/76 battle diorama sets that are no doubt compelling to those used to Revell US stock only.) 

Edited by Sandlapper
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The Hellcat has been released specifically with the US market in mind. That's partly why the display model at Telford was revealed in US Navy markings rather than FAA markings. First impressions count for a lot and seeing a new model announced in USN markings has a greater appeal to the guys in America. Airfix wants to mzake inroads to the US market and remain a global brand. They can only do that by appealing to a global market. As I understand it, the Hellcat will have FAA markings but the 'headline' markings will be USN.

 

Regards,

John

Edited by John Tapsell
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42 minutes ago, John Tapsell said:

As I understand it, the Hellcat will have FAA markings but the 'headline' markings will be USN.

Which is as it should be given the pre eminent user of the F6F-5 was the USN.

 

 

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I thought their starter set with the battery operated train a real crowd pleaser for under £30 quid it's a great addition to the range and hope a few

folk move on to their electric set's as a result can't wait till the Grandson hit's three and I can get him one,Airfix may reign thing's in a little this year but

even I could be tempted by the Hellcat realistically you could spend a year making it and it work's out around £10 a month now think how much that weekly

part Spitfire lookalike cost to complete and it make's sense.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/10/2018 at 6:07 PM, stevej60 said:

I thought their starter set with the battery operated train a real crowd pleaser for under £30 quid it's a great addition to the range and hope a few

folk move on to their electric set's as a result can't wait till the Grandson hit's three and I can get him one,Airfix may reign thing's in a little this year but

even I could be tempted by the Hellcat realistically you could spend a year making it and it work's out around £10 a month now think how much that weekly

part Spitfire lookalike cost to complete and it make's sense.

Absolutely, if you convert that into how many large coffee's are bought per week (Im a teacher so its about 4 a week to sustain my self on the coal face) That is £12:60 per week. Actually a real bargain when it comes to modelling at as you say about ten pounds per week. Thing is, I am of the opinion that this kit is geared at the global market, if HK Models can sell a 1/32 Lancaster B1/B111 for over £300:00 then the Airfix kit is a real bargain in my opinion.

 

So, I am now off to save up my coffee fund for next year to buy a Hell Cat. Best crack on with that Lanc once the final parts arrive!

 

B

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  • 1 month later...

Just been in the Hornby/Airfix shop at the Swindon outlet place. 4 for 3 on everything, with all or certainly most of the recent releases in stock. Plus big discounts on some big stuff - victor, b17G, Shack, 1/48 Meteor and a few others 

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Very interesting show. It is good to see what goes on behind the scenes at Hornby, the second part will be interesting as it is going to show a bust-up which James May makes in the commentary. The current owners are very critical of the previous management, it's a shame they do not get a chance to answer the criticism, or do they ? Also it is repeated on Sunday BBC4.

 

Robert

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I have just watched the James May first episode. I am still smiling over one bit of voice-over (during the scene in which Airfix reveal their new 1/24th scale Hellcat). A large crowd waits expectantly, including several younger modellers. May's voice-over states: "We have blurred out several teenagers in this shot, in the hope that one day females may actually talk to them". I laughed out loud at that one!  

 

It will be interesting to see the "fight" in Episode 2 (although I have a feeling that it will be something pretty minor, in the final analysis).

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 years later...

Mike Astley he of Sports Direct and other retailers like Frasers, has purchased 15 Million Hornby Shares that has drove the share price up to 40p from  a low of 15p a few weeks ago.

 

Hornby's Capitalization as gone from just over £20 Million to £60 Million, so new owners on the horizon may be.

 

Don't start dancing in the streets thinking of all this investment, this lot are asset strippers and are brutal business folks.

 

 

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Don't think for one minute those people are there to save Hornby, their there to make a quick profit and out.

Their speculators, they've just increased the share price by buying, now wait for the quick sell and taking their profit with them and watching Hornby share price come tumbling down.

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