Harman Sold!

[Roger Cole]

Well that at least SOUNDS much more encouraging. The question is to what extent it can be believed. Thanks for sharing that.

[Matt5791]

What else can the new owners intend to do with the business, other than drive it forward? I don't believe they can have any other objective other than to grow it.

People talk about "asset stripping" etc. but you need to look at the business itself. What assets are there to strip? The buyers have paid something like (guesstimate based on latest financials) £10-£15m for the company, and the VALUE is in:

- The brand
- The Intellectual property in the form of product formulas etc.
- Plant and machinery
- The profits
- The Goodwill

The Brand can only be used on traditional Black and White photo products made by Harman Technology Ltd. The Intellectual property is only valuable to anyone else making traditional photo products (Who, these days, has the money or the appetite to buy it!?). The Plant and Machinery is very niche and, again, of a difficult market value to ascertain, probably measured in £100's of thousands, not millions.

Therefore.......the only reason anyone would want to buy this company would be to drive it forward. That is where the return will be.

Just my take on it!

[timparkin]

Originally Posted by Matt5791

What else can the new owners intend to do with the business, other than drive it forward? I don't believe they can have any other objective other than to grow it.

People talk about "asset stripping" etc. but you need to look at the business itself. What assets are there to strip? The buyers have paid something like (guesstimate based on latest financials) £10-£15m for the company, and the VALUE is in:

- The brand
- The Intellectual property in the form of product formulas etc.
- Plant and machinery
- The profits
- The Goodwill

The Brand can only be used on traditional Black and White photo products made by Harman Technology Ltd. The Intellectual property is only valuable to anyone else making traditional photo products (Who, these days, has the money or the appetite to buy it!?). The Plant and Machinery is very niche and, again, of a difficult market value to ascertain, probably measured in £100's of thousands, not millions.

Therefore.......the only reason anyone would want to buy this company would be to drive it forward. That is where the return will be.

Just my take on it!

Completely agree - I've just posted this on APUG too..

I don't know why people haven't' taken a look at the other companies Pemberstone own. For instance

1) An Ethical Goods consulting company

2) Two companies that specialise in injection moulding, tooling and manufacturing facilities

3) A company who specialise in removing, transporting and reinstalling heavy plant machinery and process lines.

It just so happens that Andrew Barker, the CEO of Pemberstone is a major player in the Ethical Goods company. If you wanted a company that would take Ilford and run with it I can't imagine one looking better to be honest. It means they can move the company, know about how to acquire and use land and also consult in new tooling if needed.

It sounds like a fairly perfect match to me..

Tim

[big paul]

Land is always valuable and as you say they don't own any land its got to be purely the product s,that they will have to sell to us to make a profit. it would be nice if someone from Ilford came on here at a later date ...
all this just shows how important Ilford products are to us and are held in high esteem



www.essexcockney.com

[Mike O'Pray]

Given and this may not be a "guaranteed given" that Harman with their present facilities are running as tight a ship as possible then one assumes that the next real lowering of costs and increase in efficiency will come from the changes that Matt explained in an earlier post

If these changes depend on the housing developer getting the go-ahead to its plans which as I understand it, has yet to be approved then one would hope that Pemberstone's fall-back position is that its purchase still makes sense even if Harman's facilities cannot be moved and cost cannot be lowered.

Mind you, with the housing shortage in England it would seem likely that even with some modifications the developer's plans will be approved even if it means appealing to the Housing Minister.

Mike

[Matt5791]

[QUOTE=Mike O'Pray;104678

Mind you, with the housing shortage in England it would seem likely that even with some modifications the developer's plans will be approved even if it means appealing to the Housing Minister.

Mike[/QUOTE]

That is the stage it's at at the moment - it's going to the Secretary of State.

It was rejected by the council planning committee. But with the current Government policy, it would be extraordinary if this development wasn't given the go ahead on the appeal.

[Ansel]

I see this as excellent news. 10 years ago Ilford nearly died. Now it is doing so well that they have been able to attract some serious investment.