Hornby profit warning

Nothing particularly susprising, I would have thought, given the general economic climate. I don't think Hornby is in any danger of anything more severe than a profit downturn.

Mark

I read the article earlier and thought the same thing. What was of note was that there had been a downturn in their trainset and Scalectrix sales. Both could be considered the seasonal present stuff and whilst thier profits have been hit it's not really any indication of their core market ... the day to day, "an engine here, a wagon or two there" had suffered a downturn.

From: "Mark Goodge" Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 8:24 PM Snip

The only worry is that Bachmann Europe have just announced that 2011 was their best year since the company was founded in 1989.

See

Riddles

The big difference is that Bachmann sells almost entirely to the hobbyist and collector markets, whereas Hornby has a big stake in the toy and casual purchase markets as well. And it's the latter sectors which suffered a downturn over the Christmas period, which is why Hornby's profits suffered. But that's also why Hornby aren't in any real danger, as their own sales in the hobbyist and collector sectors should be enough to see them through any temporary drop in toy sales.

So did I, but that's only because the blue boxes happened to contain what I wanted.

Mark

I don't disagree with any of that but Hornby have said that they are bringing out a range of cheap pocket money toy cars which doesn't seem to have growth but does have plenty of competition.

Exactly, Bachmann (and Heljan and Dapol to a lesser extent) were making more of what I wanted than Hornby were.

Riddles