[woodcote]

By all accounts, the Scalextric part of the Hornby empire is doing very well. At the helm are two experienced and talented young managers, one of them a slot car racer/collector from when he was a kid. The small team work very hard to reach out to hobbyists in the UK - where Carrera simply don’t bother to tread, such is Scalextric’s dominance in the market.

The wider company has certainly turned a corner and appointed a young (my age) CEO earlier this year, who arguably has talents that are more wide-reaching than the ‘old guard’. He inherits a company that - despite the challenges of the pandemic - is either making a small profit or small loss each quarter. Sales across the board are up, but so are costs. Those rising costs aren’t unique to Hornby and pre-date COVID. The company have - over the past few years - shifted new production to Vietnam to keep costs down and solve supply issues.

One issue Hornby has - and the Scalextric team seem to have fixed successfully - is excess stock build-up, ie unsold product sitting in the warehouse. Hornby have recently re-recruited Martyn Weaver as Hornby trains brand manager. He turned this issue round for Scalextric - as well as re-launching the Micro Scalextric and TV & Movies lines that have been so successfully for Scalextric and pretty much fund the nice stuff that we drool over in the catalogue each year.

Another recent development is that the rather tired Visitors’ Centre in Margate has been completely transformed by the new CEO and The WonderWorks looks absolutely sensational in the teaser posts on social media. I’m hoping to visit next week. This transformation reflects what the company is trying to do - being bang up to date and celebrating nostalgia. This fusion is exciting and taps into a huge marketplace of all ages.

If you want to know the latest Hornby facts and expert commentary, simply Google Hornby and select the News tab. There’s plenty of stuff from the UK financial pages and websites. The Hornby website has all the annual reports, quarterly statements etc via the Investor Relations link at the bottom of each page.