Good news for Tony, for owners of vintage Omega watches maybe not so much...
Morning all
Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but interesting article in The Times this morning about H&T Pawnbrokers, who have just taken over STS with a view for them to act as in house servicing
I'd assume they would still take on non H&T work, but who knows
Good news for Tony, for owners of vintage Omega watches maybe not so much...
My thoughts entirely. I wish the staff, Tony and his family (at least one of whom also works there) well but I fear for the future of independent authorised servicing at STS. I've always rated them highly, let's hope H&T don't either make it a closed shop or worse ramp up pricing horribly.
A good move for H&T (and hopefully for the founders and employees of STS) but worrying for the rest of us.
Oh well, these things happen.
I see that the founder of STS has been contracted to stay on as a consultant for a changeover period. Purely as an aside, the founders of a company I used work for sold their company and were similarly contracted to stay on as consultants. But they took the money and ran to the USA and were never heard from again! I'm sure Tony Coe won't be doing this but the memory came flooding back, having been an employee of a smallish company being taken over.
Maybe gets me into G&G territory- but similar experiences with a “merger/takeover “. Original staff retained to train taker over staff for transition period, then booted out (got a nice sweetener for staying but only kept bid they stayed the duration).
Good luck to STS owners, perhaps not good news for us.
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
Maybe it will be better, more investment in a good service company.
Does thus include Swisstec as well?
One can only hope that the exemplary service (that at least I've received over the years) will continue.
Tony is a hugely knowledgeable chap and, although he will still be in the background for a while, I suspect things won't be the same.
Surprised at the valuation for a watch repair company, very surprised. Maybe I`m missing a trick somewhere but it sounds a lot, I don`t know whether they own a valuable piece of property that might make a difference.
Whichever way you dress it up the repair trade relies on people, I question where the supply of trained skilled enthusiastic watchmakers is going to come from in the next decade or 2. Taking it up in your early 50s as a second career/profitable hobby is fine but where's the incentive to take it up as a youngster and make a living at it?
I may be wrong (I often am) but I`m prepared to bet that in 15 years time there will be no commercial watch repair companies operating on British soil. I'm 64, I need to live to 79 to collect my winnings but provided I`m still alive I`ll pay up if I lose! Any takers?
I think they are just doing well. I've become aware that there is a lot of business for a company like this, especially from trade customers.
A price of £4.3M is perhaps a little high given their balance sheet valuation but it's not excessive in my opinion. I'd love to be able to see their turnover and Profit & Loss statement but the abbreviated account don't show it. See their most recent accounts here: https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/d...f04aca6049395a
Until recently I would have agreed with you but it seems to me that the demand is there. As for training, it can come from employers just like STS. Companies like them are ideally placed to (a) hire in experienced former watch company watchmakers and then (b) train new watchmakers.
As long as the demand is there (and that's primarily demand from trade I think) then the future is not as bad as it might have seemed.
Last edited by markrlondon; 6th July 2022 at 20:35.
I don’t have the experience of STS that others have but I’m not sure I understand the doom and gloom.
Not all change is bad. Unless the company is the best anyone could possibly imagine, this is just as likely to lead to improvements as detriments. I’m not claiming it will go either way but I’d reserve judgement
The voice of experience. Many people have experience of companies being bought out and not improving, of never being the same again.
It all depends on what H&T plans for STS. In house repairer only, or expansion and investment for both in house services and external customers? Only time will tell.
Looking at the limited financials available, I reckon the price paid suggests a desire for investment and growth which (if handled well) will be good for us, the external customers.
I’ve been involved in a number of significant mergers and acquisitions.
About 40% have been disastrous, where the acquired company has all but disappeared with key staff leaving in droves.
About 40% have thrived and the rest neutral.
The biggest issue has been cultural mismatch when the companies are in different countries.
In this case I think there is reason to be optimistic.