Yes superb people to deal with knowledgable and not your usual London tradery type if that makes sense.
Ask for Toby most helpful
Regards
Tim
Anyone have and personal experience buying or selling with them?
Thanks in advance
Yes superb people to deal with knowledgable and not your usual London tradery type if that makes sense.
Ask for Toby most helpful
Regards
Tim
Agree with that, I sold my Tudor Harrods to them a while back and their service was first class.
Dealt with Ed there, absolute first class service.
This was interesting. Looks like Bloombar took advantage of COVID loans on the basis that they wouldn't be paying them back. Also looks like they have cash flow problems, and Mr Bloom expects AP to restrict sales whilst he gets himself back on his feet.
Unbelievable.
To be fair I didn’t read the piece as implying he took out a Covid loan not intending to pay it back, just that this was the source of some of the hot money coming into the luxury watch market.
His idea that AP should cut production to stimulate after-market sales values that don’t benefit them does seem rather ridiculous, though.
Last edited by Berty234; 27th November 2023 at 08:19.
Where does it say they have cash flow issues?
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I came acros this article recently too.
I did not read it as Bloombar took advantage of a COVID loan which they would not pay back. I read it as, buyers were flush with cash as they (or their personal business) took loans or made money on crypto, hence the demand for watches was very high and hence prices went up.
Not disputing they may have had CF problems though, which small business doesn't at some point!?
Regarding COVID loans, this certainly suggests they might well have taken advantage:
”Many of us surfed this wave of rapidly rising values in the luxury goods market. But they were bought with low-interest loans, fuelled by sky-rocketing crypto values and post-Covid, government-backed loans that no one really expected to repay.”
The issue regarding cash flow might have been addressed in more depth in one of his videos that I watched immediately prior to reading this article. Apologies if I’ve cross–referenced, although there are certainly implications regarding cash flow issues in this article as well.
I dont read it that way either , surely he is commenting that the trade was a safe haven for a while where free money was available to purchase luxury watches that were in demand because of low production and it caused price increases that dealers enjoyed while sitting on stock. This was never going to last though and the end result is that the profit they made or thought they were going to make evaporated and left some in the Red .
Maybe I’m being naive, but how can you not pay back a Covid loan? I have a business and while we didn’t end up borrowing anything from anyone during that time it wouldn’t have occurred to me that I might take a loan out and not repay it. Would you have to fold the business and declare yourself bankrupt? On another note, I’ve dealt with Bloombar in the past and while my particular buying experience was ok, I thought most of their watches were overpriced in comparison to other grey dealers. Maybe that’s why they’re having difficulty.
It infuriates me to think that some people were wilfully taking advantage of the system when there were genuinely desperate people out there doing everything they could to save their businesses and the livelihoods of their employees. I don’t know what percentage of government backed loans and furlough payments have been subsequently identified as fraudulent but of course we’re all now - in part at least - paying for the giant debt they helped run up through gigantic increases in corporation tax.