Review of the 2008 accounts

[Bluedell 5,624]

I accept your point about the upfront payment from JJB that I had forgotten about, but not the amount as there was a large chunk of that used to close the shops, pay off staff and leases etc, so not all of it was profit, and then divided by the 10 years it amounts to not an awful lot, IMO.

I had accounted for that. That's why you get �£1.45m per year from �£18m over 10 years.

 

There is no point in comparing the season before JJB to after it as it was clear we were downsizing for a couple of years to set up this deal as palatable,

In 2003 accounts Nick Peel said we were 2nd in the UK with a turnover of �£19.2m. What sort of net profit did we make on that? 15%-18%? Would that be normal for a retail business? Perhaps less as we don't have great economies of scale? And that was a good year. The prior year was �£11.8m Still appears to be far less than we are currently making.

 

when the only real reason for it was the large up front payment to reduce debt as DM had promised to be "debt-free within 12 months" (another lie!)

There is nothing wrong with him doing the deal to reduce the debt. IIRC the "12 months" comment was made after the the JJB deal. I also believe it was carefully worded and he said something along the lines of "hope to be debt free" or similar, so he couldn't be accused of lying about it.

[Tannochsidebear 2,406]

I was there when he said it and it there was no doubt he said we would be debt-free. The only disclaimer he put on it, was when he said it was dependant on allt he things he was working on coming to fruition and he said he was certain that they would happen. There was no later retraction or amendment. As usual he says things in the hope we will all forget them when they dont come off.

 

It was a ridiculous statement to make and we was not even under any pressure to make it, he just could not help himself such is the contempt he holds us in.

 

I will accept your point (well constructed and argued ) that financially the JJB deal looks better than we could have done ourselves, however I would say the difference is negligable given the loss of profile and availability of products. In 2007-08 we could have made a lot more, but we would not have made anything like it in 2006-07, or 2008-09 unless JJB are bust by then.

[Bluedell 5,624]

I was there when he said it and it there was no doubt he said we would be debt-free. The only disclaimer he put on it, was when he said it was dependant on allt he things he was working on coming to fruition and he said he was certain that they would happen. There was no later retraction or amendment. As usual he says things in the hope we will all forget them when they dont come off.

I guess he must have said it on more than one occasion, as I'm fairly sure he didn't go into it in that level of detail when I heard it. I'd agree with your last sentence.