The archives - Keay Group Investments
How it all started and what we are doing today
IT STARTED SOMETHING LIKE THIS.................
Way back in 1992 in the middle of the UK recession, the owner wanted to start a model railway. Having looked in the local area to where he lived,
he found that there were no shops that could meet his demand for his proposed layout build. Well, that meant that he could change his employment direction and open a small model railway shop. Having made this
decision he needed to find a location. This came up in the form of a small lock-up unit in Cookham.
(8 The Arcade) The keys were quickly signed for and work started on fitting out the new shop. The shop in itself was small as was the amount of capital
available for this new business venture. At about this time, the owner went to the London Toy Fair, where he met various possible suppliers to the shop. The first stock to arrive was from Replica Railways and before the shop even opened
the very first purchase was made by a couple who bought a 00 wagon by the name of F& E Poole (so we think). The shop was declared open in late march 1992.
In any new business, and this was no different, the first 6-9 months were very hard
and sales were slow. As best as possible all the sales were returned into stock. The first Christmas was a success, the turning point of whether to continue or not. In order to get more customers the owner turned to advertising his shop
and Peco Publications were approached and the first ads appeared in the Railway Modeller. A brain wave - the owner thought - In order to get people interested locally he needed to find a common interest. This prevailed itself in the form
of REAL Steam Engines and as such he laid on more than 12 trips to the Severn Valley Railway teaching people how to drive a real Steam Engine, what fun this was, friends and customers were formed. Today, one of those customers is now our
chief digital expert. Well sales began to grow and now continental railways were being introduced to the shop, one of the first in late
1993 was Fleischmann and their UK representative Mr John Hills was really helpful (and has been ever since). Sales were growing as was
the stock - so now the owner needed a larger shop.
Well as luck would have it Lloyds Bank had vacated
its premises in Cookham High Street, leaving it empty and ready to take. Being some 8 times larger than the original shop there was great scope
to create a really better stocked shop. Again from the Steam trips a friend of the owner, Mr Peter Hinbest, a master carpenter in his time, fitted out the new shop with great care and we moved into the new shop in 1994 selling at one point to customers from both shops.
Peter became part of the woodwork and started to build layouts for our customers and assist with some railway exhibitions we started to attend.
Nuremburg Toy Fair, well the very first time the owner went to this Toy Fair (1993) he just could not believe his own eyes, the model railway products that were available was endless and so the increase in continental products started. More advertising was undertaken with the
Continental Modeller and various new Trading Names introduced for different
parts of the growing business which include: Fleischmann Direct , Pullman
Products , Continental Direct , Der Modellbahner.
Some time in 1998 the owner met and married a Polish Girl and the start of the Polish business was, and un-known to him, just about to start. The trips to Nuremburg Toy Fair continued each year and the owner has become well known by many of the suppliers
making friends with their staff over the years. Its on one of these visits to the Toy Fair in Germany that events sprang into life the now set up company of Pullman Products - Polska Sp z o. o. (a Polish limited company) and as a result in February 2002 the hard work of finding a suitable shop in Wroclaw
had started. Huge problems in this venture had to be overcome, not least the problem of language. After finding a shop (March 2002) and on the day of signing the lease in May '02 it all fell through and the whole venture had to start again. A few people thought that this would be the end of it - but not to be a
defeatist the owner continued with his venture. Well the city is some 925 miles away from Cookham, so it was not going to be easy, and his Father in law found a new shop, this was quickly signed for and work started on fitting it out. Well after months of purchases and shipments of stock to Poland
the shop was opened, with a big party on the 30th November 2002 and is now managed by the owners Father in law thus keeping the whole business group 'In the Family', we are very pleased to report that all is going to plan in Poland. With Poland in mind and turning again to the
Nuremburg Toy Fair 2003,
we found great interest from the German suppliers in our new shop and this was because, and now confirmed, that Poland is to join the EC on
1st May 2004. This made our new shop even more important than we gave credit too, as we are located in the first major city Wroclaw and only being some 60 miles east of the German border.
Pullman Products - Polska Sp. z o.o. became the new Exclusive Agent, Distributor and Wholesaler for the complete ranges offered by Bachmann Europe PLC. They were appointed this in July 2003 and the agreement became effective from 1st August '03.
Already they have been able to locate some 60 model railway shops in Poland to sell Bachmann products too and the first shipment left the UK for Poland on 25th September '03 - the next 18 months will be very interesting to see just how much business
they will be able to create in Poland.
Big thank you to the British Embassy in Warsaw, as advised by Dorota Milek (Trade and Investment Adviser) As from 1st May 2004 there is to be free movement of Goods between Poland and other E.U. Member States.
Poland will also adopt EU foreign trade policy towards third countries. Great News for our continued growth in Poland.
Lodz Polish Exhibition November 2004 - held on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st was our 2nd visit to this
Exhibition. 3 of our Polish staff travelled some 300 kms from
Wroclaw to Lodz, which on this trip took 9 hours and in the midst of a huge snow
storm and very bad road conditions. The Stand that we had was fully
set up on the Friday 19th and the lads got to their hotel at mid night.
The Saturday started very well and many more people attended the exhibition than
was expected due to the bad weather conditions. Sunday proved to be
a very good day and attendance was much more up than that of the May Exhibition.
We represented the Companies of Fleischmann GmbH, Herpa GmbH and Bachman Europe
PLC with many of their products were available for people to view and purchase
from. A number of potential Polish retailers were at the show who also
express an interest in the 3 ranges that we represent in Poland, these would be
followed up in the next few weeks.
For some months our UK Business 'MDRDIRECT' had been using Initial City Link Limited as one of their courier services to deliver to their mail order customers within the UK. We regret to inform our customers that as of 14th January 2004 this service has been suspended by us.
This action is due to the recent shipment losses and the very poor level of feedback to our accounts office in regard to a number of 'on going' non-delivery claims
We felt that Initial City Link limited level of service has not met with our own high standards in representing our interests
in delivering shipments to our UK Mail Order Customers. We, at MDR Group, stress to all our mail order customers that all orders placed for delivery to the UK will, as of 14th January 2004, receive our highest care &
attention as was given prior to MDRDIRECT engaging the services of Initial City Link Limited. As at 10th October 2004 - now 10 months we have phoned - written and complained to Initial City Link and Tiger Haulage about 1 outstanding claim from 6th January 2004.
All Documents inclusive of copy supplier and retail invoices have been supplied, ICLL MD's Personal Secretary has been contacted several times with promises that are never kept.
The value of missing/Stolen Goods is approx £300.00 retail. So we now say to any person or company wishing to send parcels - Think Twice before using City Link
- Going by our experience it could not only cost you your valued customer but also a commercial loss as in our case approx £300.00 of missing Goods.
The internet was launched some years ago and web sites built and changed and e-mails with viruses had plagued hell on the MDR Computers, but over the last year (2002) or so we have, with the help of computer companies, made our systems as
up to date as we can and we shall be doing more
as time goes by with this technology, although the latest technology is the all new Herpa eXtra Partner Computer Terminal installed and launched on 30th May 2003. This you can use to order many items directly from Herpa
- which other companies will be added ? well we'll just have to wait and see.
Updated 9th October 2004 Well no new brands have been added to the Herpa Terminal, but we hear that perhaps during 2005 two businesses may start to use this unique way of selling their products. Also, we are happy to report that with the installation of several
McAfee software programmes, we are now protected from viruses, worms and other
harmful computer bugs.
Brian Long. A true friend.
A person who would help anyone. A person with a heart of gold. A
person who was best Man at a wedding, A person who helped and worked with
the owner, a person who supported the owner when things got hard.
Yes Brian was all of these to me and much more. He went to Poland and
Germany and made loads of friends. He was a great friend of the staff of
Fleischmann. He made friends with our customers teaching and training
about Digital. Brian started with me way back in 1992, right at the
beginning he saw this business grow and enjoyed the success I have had. It
would be true to say that without Brian's strength and staunch support I would
not be here today.
Brian, you will be missed - you will always have a special place in my
heart as one of the most best friends I have ever had the pleasure to have met and so lucky to have had.
God Bless you, my dear friend Bri.
Words by Ian for his friend Brian. 02.12.2004
The End year results for the Keay Group have again shown an increase in Sales. This has resulted in the huge investment in the recent
online shops during the year. With the 4th online shop planned for full launch during March 2006 and aimed at the European Market
with all articles priced in Euros we hope to attract new business from Germany, Austria, Holland and France.
With a big bounce, we start the new year 2006 on a strong footing. The coming year looks good and promising for the Keay Group. Just signed and joining us is
Pritchard Patent Product Company Limited (other-wise known as PECO) and added to the Portfolio of Agencies and Distributorships our Polish company, Pullman
Products - Polska Sp z o.o. represents. We launch PECO to all Polish retailers
offering the complete range of Model Railway Track and Accessories which is well known in the UK and Germany. We will also be to announcing further
additions to our Polish Trade business in the coming months.
A new member of Staff has joined the KEAY Group, Miss Alicja Stasiak will be based in Germany. Our Der Modellbahner online site progresses well and when
completed we will have our new online site in full German Text and processing transactions in the currency of Euro.
Fleischmann Direct will be supported by Fleischmann UK, Fleischmann GmbH and Fleischmann Poland. A
Great Day out for seeing us and the ranges offered by Fleischmann GmbH. Further details will be
announced in the UK Model Press and various web sites.
Hornby Hobbies Limited purchased, not
to long ago, the companies of Lima, Arnold, Rivarossi and Jouef of which
During the 2006 Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Hornby Hobbies presented their
complete international programme and thus generating new interest into the Model
Railway Hobby. Various Polish companies, along with our own Pullman Products -
Polska Sp. z o.o.; presented themselves to the management of Hornby in regard to
undertaking the position and role of their Trading Partner (importer and
distributor) for Poland. One of Keay Group's subsidiary
companies purchased a nominal amount of Hornby Hobbies Limited company shares,
thus making the Keay Group a share holder and giving us an interest in the
Hornby Hobbies Limited company. We are now very pleased to announce that
Pullman Products after various lengthy discussions has now been appointed the
sole official Trading Partner
This new
addition to the wholesale ranges now looked after by Pullman Products - Polska
Sp. z o.o. makes the Keay Group one of the most important
importer/distributor and agents for Models and Hobbies in Poland.
Again KG Polish arm finished off 2006 very similar to 2005. Good sales
were achieved and further additions to the wholesale ranges have been added.
Mr Kazik Suchecki left the employ of PPP and was duly replaced by the promotion
of Mr M Winnik as Managing Director of PPP. A number of further changes
that were undertaken have established a basis for further growth within Poland.
Future plans of PPP during 2007 are to relocate the retail sales shop to a
larger more self contained retail sales area to which further announcements will
be made in the coming months, to strengthen the Internet sales programme and to
further increase retail sales with other hobby interests. The New
Polish Company Accountants, Atena from Wroclaw have proved to be a good addition
to the various company ongoing enhancements, having resolved a small number of
previous accounting errors. As such we look forward to a long relationship
with Atena. Hornby International shipments have arrived from Italy and
various retailers have added these to their ranges. Fleischmann Sales have
proved to be a strong leader for 2006 for many of the retailers in Poland with
sizable increases recorded. Herpa have also increased their market share
with several of the retailers building new business sales for the Wings and
Trucks products. Bachmann, complete with its portfolio of supporting
ranges has continued its strong presence with the availability of products being
greatly improved. In all PPP starts 2007 with perhaps its strongest
position to date and with the 2007 Nuremberg Toy Fair due to launch on 1st
February, we look forward to viewing the vast array of new products that we will
become available during the coming months and year ahead. KG's UK arm also
proved to be successful again with 2006 closing with record sales.
No further growth plans are indicated for for the UK during 2007.
If you experienced a problem in past 5 - 8 weeks viewing our company using
the domain address of mdrdirect.com please read on.. We have for several years been using the service of Netnames.com to purchase
and maintain several of our domain names. However, although Netnames.com
stated that they had advised us (by email) of the renewal date of the domain
mdrdirect.com which was due for renewal within the past 5 - 8 weeks it is with
regret, that perhaps due to our own anti spam software, we may have failed to
have received these two very important emails. As a direct result the
domain mdrdirect.com has been put on another USA web site and is at the 23rd May
2007 currently for sale. We stress to all our customers that we are no
longer in ownership of the domain mdrdirect.com and we have taken immediate
action to resolve other related issues to the domain mdrdirect.com. We have
redirected all internet traffic to our domain mdrdirect.co.uk (hosted and
managed by Zen Limited) and Paypal payments of our online sites have now been
amended to the address
paypal@keaygroup.com with immediate effect. All payments
to us prior to 25th May 2007 made via any of our PDQ Terminals which will
have shown the domain www.mdrdirect.com on your Bank, Credit or
Charge Card statement will on or after 25th May 2007 for new transactions show
the domain www.mdrdirect.co.uk For customers who have the
.com shown on
their statements please delete the .com and replace with .co.uk (This is an
interim change whilst ongoing investigations take place.) MDR DIRECT Ebay transactions have also been amended
with immediate effect and as such all further Ebay transaction where payment is
made via Paypal should now be delivered to the address
paypal@keaygroup.com . With immediate effect All further
transactions via Ebay are not effected Customers are request not to send
emails to mdrdirect.com addresses as we are unable to secure the recovery at
this time of the domain mdrdirect.com. We have written to Netnames.com to
express our dissatisfaction over the loss of the domain mdrdirect.com. and we
have advised Netnames.com that we, over the last several years, have invested
£1000's in advertising the various businesses within Keay Group using the domain
mdrdirect.com. We would like to state that domains held with three other
Internet Service Providers namely Zen Internet Limited, 1and1 Limited and Agena
are automatically renewed and invoiced to us for payment.
Peter died of cancer and is greatly missed not only by us, but many friends he had made through
the shop.
With the first shipment now in Poland, the staff found that we had a problem in our invoicing package, in as much that due to Polish law on the format of invoices we can not use the invoicing package
that we had re-programmed and hashed to do the job. Yet another problem, we had a 3 metre in length fax sent to London about the Polish Laws on VAT invoices (its only 25cm long for the UK - and that's for 3 different ways of making an invoice) So we have had to give up on our
South African Invoicing Package and instructions given
to purchase as soon as possible a Polish Invoice Package. We are pleased to state that, the first batch of invoices were produced by a 3rd party company for us - so at least we were able to send out our invoices and orders. Little do we know that when we start out on such an
adventure in creating a new business in Poland that we would find it so very hard to understand the 1000's rules and regulations that
Polish Law puts upon the Businesses of Poland. We hope that at the start of this week (13/10/2003) our new Invoicing Package will
have been installed and then the long task of adding all the items with their prices to it will begin. (ARE THERE any other businesses wishing to start up in Poland - we wish you luck) Of course we hope things will become much easier from 1st May '04 when Poland joins the EC Group
of Countries, but no one, no business, no Chamber of Commerce not even the Polish Embassy in the UK or the
British Embassy in Warsaw seems to be able to enlighten us on what will happen from 1st May '04 - we have an idea but nothing concrete. If you know any details - perhaps you could drop us an e-mail and let us know
your thoughts.
Well - you guessed it. Yet another stoppage at the Polish Customs. Can it really be so hard to trade in Poland - we are starting to wonder
what we have to do. If not one thing its another. Get this - when Goods are sent from the UK they are packed and sent directly by the supplier (got it so far) and when, or should we say if, they get to us in Wroclaw we put a little sticker on each box to state who the importer is, what the product is
and what age group the product must be sold to (you still got it ?) well what happens if the customs say that they will not release your shipment because the little stickers
are not on each item - HELP tell us how we can do this - we need the shipment released so that we can put the stickers on each product and if the Customs will not release the shipment we can not put the stickers on ! ! ! ! ! ? ? what came first, the chicken or the egg? HELP! ! ! ! ! Oh, did we forget to say
that we also paid the duty and Vat on this shipment that they invoiced us even though they would not clear the shipment ! ! ! ! ! ? ?
Good news today, the shipment was moved to another Customs clearance department, and was cleared on the same day, and even delivered to us on the same day as well - So it can be done !!
Our staff have now attached all the labels correctly on each product, and the articles are now being prepared to be shipped out to the various Model shops who placed their orders, all in Good time for Christmas.
The owner has now been contacted in the UK today by the British Embassy in Warsaw, a long discussion took place, not only about the problems with this
shipment, but also previous shipments not only from the UK but from Germany and Austria and what could be done to improve future shipments. It is
hoped that a representation on our behalf shall be made to the Polish Authorities in Warsaw with a proposal to perhaps assist the way the little stickers can officially be applied to the products after clearance from Polish Customs. We
don't know how long this will take, if indeed anything will come of it,
but the owner is preparing, if required, to fly to Warsaw for a special meeting - we'll keep you posted on any news that we may receive on the out come.
We come to end of the period which has made dealing with Polish importing our hardest challenge to date. We now have a new VAT number for Pullman in Poland and this will now make business much easier for all concerned.
However, we just thought to let you know that we still have one shipment stuck in customs - just about 8 weeks now - perhaps it may clear on 1st May 2004 - we will let you know.
Well a big party was had by 10 new Countries entering into the EC at midnight 30th April 2004. With fireworks and singing the celebrations continued into the early hours of the morning. We welcome Poland and Pullman Products - Polska Sp z o.o. and Hobby Studio into the EC on this special day. What it means for us is freedom of movement of goods
and therefore we are now free to build up our representation within Poland. Its a special Day also for Pullman Products - Polska as the 1st May 2004 also starts their partnership with the German Company of Fleischmann GmbH and as such from the today Pullman Products - Polska now represents Fleischmann as their Agent for Poland. the partnership will be launched officially at the 2nd National Polish Exhibition
to be held in the Great Polish City of Lodz on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th May 2004. The Managing Director of Fleischmann Herr Gerhard Scholz and the Managing Director of Pullman Products - Polska Mr Ian Keay will both be present along with staff from from both
companies to show all the New items and Products from Fleischmann. Also being shown are many items from Bachmann Liliput and Polish retailers
from all over Poland are invited to attend our trade stands to view and place their orders. With freedom of movement of goods all Polish retailers can now enjoy a much better level of supply of goods to offer to their own customers.
The Polish exhibition in Lodz - held on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th was a good success. The Two Directors of Pullman travelled by Car from the UK and a total of 2400 miles was undertaken in 6 days.
Pullman is now also the Official Agent for Herpa GMBH and during the exhibition Retailers were introduced to the Teams on the Herpa, Fleischmann and Bachmann Stands that Pullman had organised.
Although it is early days for Poland - interest was shown in many of the products that could be ordered directly from Herpa and Fleischmann. Fleischmann also showed a new range of PKP items which
are exclusive to all Polish Retailers. In order to help promote all the new ranges Mr Mateusz Winnik was promoted to the new position of Trade Manager for Poland and has settled into the new job very well.
The various teams that travelled from Germany and the UK were all very pleased at passing through the Border Controls between Germany and Poland which now only takes 1-3 minutes instead of what used to take anything up to
6-10 hours. So good news on that front. Also, we are able to report that the movement of stock and equipment - such as the display layouts also moved through the borders with out any problems. The end result being that
with Poland now in the EC we can now see some huge changes taking place. The long term prospect of Model Railways in Poland is that of a growing Oak Tree - the acorn has now been planted and Pullman will
now nurture its growth - the fruit being Bachmann, Liliput, Branchline, Graham Farish,
Aristocraft, Woodland Scenics, Bachmann American, Fleischmann HO, Piccolo, Digital and Magic Train, Herpa Trucks & Cars and Herpa Wings - all of which Pullman Products - Polska is Agent, Distributor and/or Wholesaler for:
The Polish section of the Group performed well, increasing the sales of Herpa, Bachmann and Fleischmann products with new retailers being added
to the list of authorised dealers.
2005 A Good year for us in a difficult market.
Polish and UK Staff will be attending the Nuremberg Toy Fair and details of new releases will be available upon their return.
Also planned for Saturday 4th November is our business Fleischmann Direct attending the Model Railway Exhibition in High Wycombe, UK.
No further comment will be made at this time whilst ongoing investigations are undertaken to learn and prevent a similar error happening in the future and as such we apologise to our customers for any confusion or concern so cause and trust that you will continue to use the many services from our UK online shops and UK retail shops.
Updated 5th June. The domain mdrdirect.com is now owned by the American business Buydomains.com this business has tried to commercially blackmail us into purchasing back the domain mdrdirect.com for the sum of $4888.00 dollars - we will not be blackmail. Further we also report that the domain www.fleischmanndirect.info has also been lost by us (again thanks to Netnames poor way of sending email notifications) and is now registered with a company in Kuala Lumpur. Further the domain www.fleischmanndirect.biz (and again thanks to Netnames email notification system) which was also lost by us, has in fact been successfully recovered by us and has been re-registered in our name and now overseen by 1and1 Limited.
We therefore ask all customers who wish to access any of our sites to ensure it is one listed within www.keaynet.co.uk or access our sites direct via the group main page at www.keaygroup.com .
In view of the above issues about Intellectual rights we have decided to release details here about our recovery and re-registration of 4 domains which were used by a competitor UK business to attract internet users to their web site by using variations of our Company name Fleischmann Direct Limited and Fleischmann Direct.
To day we have launched a new global fax number in which all faxes are delivered via email to our head office. The new fax number, which will phase out the current numbers for the 3 locations we have, is active with immediate effect. As most faxes are received into our Polish office we have chosen a PL number for our Global use. Therefore all faxes sent from outside of Poland please use the number 0048 71 724 3636 for faxes from within Poland please use 071 724 3636. This new service is green and environmentally friendly, we will not need to use fax machines, saving electricity, no need to use inks and paper which also helps to save our trees.
This week saw the end of 6 months of searching for the new ideal premises which concluded with the successful negotiations in Wroclaw, Poland for our new base in Poland. The new premises secures the future of Pullman Products - Polska Sp z o.o. over the next coming years. The new premises will provide new office space, packing and despatch area, warehouse area and 100% more retail sales area. The new shop will replace our existing shop which will be closed down over the next coming months. Our New Polish Address is: ul. Nowodworska 47 lok. 1a 54-433 Wroclaw, Poland.
The end year report (31.12.2007) for Pullman Products - Polska showed a increase in sales of 35% which was a great result. This achievement is due to a number of reasons which included the move to larger retail premises and increased business from the wholesale arm of the company.
After much negotiating with Hornby Hobbies Limited in Great Britain we very proud to announce that with effect from 1st February 2008 we became the Polish Sole Importer / Distributor of Scalextric Racing Cars, Track and Accessories. Stock has already been ordered and is on its way to Poland. Also, we undertook a special agreement with Wiking Scale Model Vehicles to become their distributor agent for their range of Vehicle for Poland. Already several retailers are now stocking these models supplied by Pullman Products - Polska.
The outlook for 2008 remains strong in Poland with a good supply of models to satisfy the market place.
The end year results for our business in the UK took a different road. The end year (29.02.2008) results showed a slight decrease in sales. This is down to poor Christmas sales, and several European Manufactures either being bought or changing the way they supply retailers. Further, with the UK market place becoming more uncertain and with a credit crunch scenario taking place, increased core price of oil and the volatile exchange rates, we are not able to predict any growth in the UK business at this time. The UK business does not distribute any products and acts only as a retail business with several internet shops.
Over the past 3 years we have been testing our computer links and running the operational side of Poland from our office in the UK. Due to the run away success of Pullman Products - Polska we have decided to transfer our Group operations to our offices in Wroclaw Poland. We envisage that this will take approximately 9 to 12 months to complete. This will allow us to strengthen our activities in Poland whilst maintaining our presence in the UK. Some operational changes have already taken place and are functioning as expected.
Since October 2007 we have also increased the Share Capital of Pullman Products - Polska which involved various legal requirements and official translators. The only problem is that we keep filling the documents into the court in Wroclaw only to keep finding some new technical law has changed which means our documentation is declined. To date we have submitted the documents 5 times and each submission costs 650 zloty ( a good way for the court to make money !! ) As always it will take time but we will achieve the changes and gain the official Court stamp which verifies our increase in capital.
For several years we have been using a number of domain names to attract customers to our various online ordering international web sites. We have now decided that some domains are no longer required and will not be renewed for a full current listing of our domain ownerships please visit keaynet.co.uk
We also report that phase 1 of our Groups operations relocation to Poland has now been completed.
The modellers world is a huge but also a small world. Many of our friends, customers and suppliers will have been aware recently (or over the last 2 years) of the many European Model Railway, Model Kit and Model Vehicle Manufacturers either having their business fail or bought out to prevent a futile collapse of that business. Often is the case and after such rescue, it is necessary to make very hard commercial decisions which perhaps involve the loss of staff through being made redundant as new Management try to put into place their own strategic plans to integrate, streamline operations and thus potentially save costs. With Roco and Fleischmann becoming one company under the umbrella of Modelleisenbahn Holding GmbH it has been only at matter of time before various current Agents and or Distributors representing various countries for Fleischmann are for want of a better word "sacked" or "Given Notice" of termination of their contracts. Regrettable, a very good German friend and colleague of Mr I G Keay had the unpleasant job to inform Mr I G Keay that his Polish Company Pullman Products - Polska Sp z o.o. had been one those to be chosen by the "NEW" management to be given notice of termination as the Fleischmann Agent representative for Poland. A formal registered letter, received 1st July 2008 (delivered to our previous address last used over 3 years ago 30.06.08) informed us the contract will end on 31st December 2008. Mr I G Keay Said "We are grateful to the several members of the original staff and family Fleischmann for their trust in our company to represent their interests in Poland and to have been given the opportunity to work along side a truly remarkable German Company. I am sure that we will meet many of these friends at various International Toy Fairs and as, and when, new employment opportunities arise within our industry. For our Group it's still "Full Steam Ahead" as we say in England "When one door closes another opens" and as such we wish the new management team, now in place at Fleischmann, a happy and bright future" At this point in time we have no information to advise in regard to Fleischmann operations in Poland after 31st December 2008. Pullman Products - Polska Sp z o.o. will now focus all efforts with the Strong Portfolio of Products it currently represents in Poland and seek to replace the Fleischmann loss with new and more exciting products.
Reported by The European Commission 10th September 2008 that 3 countries being the UK, Germany and Spain will fall into recession in 2008. This leaves 3 and 1 1/2 months for the UK to go into recession. During the later part of 2007 and all through this year to date we have been monitoring the status of sales both here in the UK and Poland the two countries we undertake business in. We believe that the so called 2008 recession is not like any other recession that has previously been experienced. Whilst the old formula of calculating a recession is being used we actually consider this formula to be out of date and transparent. Whilst global trading is now taking place via internet sales and companies trading from many different countries it is easy to to fall into the not so comfort zone when trading goes wrong. Recently the financial institutions have found that their global activities have created what is being called today the Credit Crunch. This so called credit crunch is solely a financial created crisis! Traditional business activities are still continuing to trade and many of the super large businesses such as Super Markets have taken immediate action to soften the blow to the consumer. Direct problems created by the after shock from this financially created crisis effects any business which relies heavily on the finance of these financial institutions. Cases we are immediately hearing about is the Building Trade. Often reliant on huge loans to finance purchases such as land and the building of the projects. These building companies are then reliant on the same financial institutions making funds available to people like you and I to be able to purchase these new properties or other developments in the form of a mortgage. Today the criteria of obtaining a mortgage is very different to that of 6 months ago and thus many people who would otherwise have been purchasing a property now find it impossible to obtain a mortgage. The financial institutions create their sales and profit by selling their product. Their product is money their profit is called interest; and unless the financial institutions start selling their product, which is money in the form of loans, to create their profit, their interest, they will of course find that their own cash flows will dry up very quickly. The situation will become worse and some financial institutions will fail; we are seeing this being report in various countries already as Governments bail out the financial institutions. As quickly as this current Credit Crunch Crisis, now known as the 3 C's, came, it can also go just as quickly.
For an example, we know from our own trading results in Poland that there is no recession in Poland. Sales are buoyant and much business is being created and undertaken. However, we know that as the financial institutions have their business activities also in Poland the same new criteria for lending funds to the public and businesses is also being applied in Poland. Net result is not to hard to work out - that the 3 C's is caused by and being created by the financial Institutions and will spread to many other countries.
Sound sense for businesses like ours, and many millions of other businesses within Europe is to look at their fixed costs and see what reductions can be made. To borrow less or if possible no funds from any financial institution and become much more self reliant on their own financing. To ensure stocks of their products are moved more quickly and to purchase the correct stock as per customer requirement which is often referred to as 'just in time' ordering.
Until the financial institutions get their own businesses back in order and on track we all have to be cautious in what we buy as individuals or as businesses for our business. Which can result in slipping into a full blown recession which is what we believe the European Commission believes will happen. We do not share their view and opinion, but only time will tell.
We report good news in our business, whilst we acknowledge we have made commercial cuts in our companies running costs, we have increases both in the UK and Poland on our sales and profitability for the period ending August 2008 against same period last year. We hope to continue this trend.
2008 was a strange year, which started so very well and continually changed for the worse as time progressed forward to its end. We watched the terrible global melt down of financial institutions and listened to the incredible unheard of figures of money being poured into the institutions to stabilise them as best as possible. The UK has suffered the worst bout of exchange rate melt downs that we can even remember about with February 2009 giving us basically 1 euro for 1 pound (not more than a year or so ago we achieved a rate of 1.40 euro for 1 pound). We've seen huge companies fighting for survival and some even closing for good (should be bad - but its the way the English words are said).
So we start of 2009 with the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg which was held in the 1st of February. How this gave us more bad news - it was alleged that on day one the official receiver was present on the Marklin stand and some other well known companies may be in trouble. The Fleischmann and Roco group forming Modelleisenbahn Munich and presenting their products for all to see was interesting to say the least. All in all the census of opinion was that all hobby retailers had another tough year ahead of them, with stock planning becoming a major headache as now the future of some suppliers was in question. Back in the UK we also have the added problem of major increases in prices for many branded products invoiced in euros thus pushing many prices up by anything as much as 50%. Clearly this would and will have a major impact on this years forecast of purchases and sales. The UK in the run up to the end of 2008 saw many high street retailers slashing their prices in order to encourage shoppers to purchase their goods, this has continued into 2009 and is sure to continue for many months to come.
So about us ? Well to start with we were founded in 1992 during one the UK's previous big recessions so we are much stronger to combat this current recession. We have also made many cuts in unnecessary costs and out goings. We have changed a number of ways we undertake our business activities. We, like many other high street shops have had lots of products on sale/clearance at greatly reduced prices. We have also, by default, lost a few staff which needless to say has presented us with many problems during the early part of February and will do so for next few weeks ahead of us. Our goal is to ride the current economic climate using all the skill, stock and our own financial recourses as best as possible. Our target in the UK is to arrive at the end in a strong and challenging position within the hobby retail industry. We now have a clear business plan to achieve our UK goals and we have the ability to conclude this.
The 2008 results of our Polish company have been excellent with a remarkable increase in yearly sales on that of 2007. The 2009 forecast is that the Polish economy will slow down and we have already seen some evidence of this. However with the experience gained from the UK and should the case arrive, we are well placed to guide our Polish business forward through 2009 and on into 2010.
Like many people who in the UK and other global counties we have not entirely escaped financial losses, as already pointed out earlier with the exchange rates falling so rapidly and staying so slow for what seems to be an indefinite period of time, our company and our company owners have lost huge sums of money. But we are moving forward and believe that the worst is perhaps is over.
The UK shop has been the founding point of our business and we wish this business to continue forward therefore we have appointed a new member of staff who will be our Manager and will assist us in taking this part of our company forward.
December brings the close of 2009 - a year to remember and a successful close to 2009 it will have been. All plans laid down and implemented have proved to have contributed to our continued success which also lead to the replacement of our old online sites with two all new data based sites which were launched 6 weeks ahead of the 01.01.10 planed launch date. Our new sites proved to be a big success with our customers who chose to place their orders with either our UK or Polish arms of the company.
More news to follow early 2010....
No Further information to hand