Bad news and now Good news (ESTES)
 

I'm hoping this isn't bad news for ESTES. :confused:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/lo...yoffs-next.html

Oh. My.

Need some blue skies right about now.

This news sounds really bad.

Not good and possibly realllllllly bad.

John Boren said it will be weeks before they know the impact.

Man, I was hoping ESTES would rerelease the 1/100 Saturn 1B. Now that might not happen before things get complicated. Keeping my fingers cross ESTES keeps going.

Ah.....I had been holding back even asking the folks in Penrose figuring exactly that. Much depends on what the court does, I expect.

Comrades:

Betcha Estes/Centuri gets spun off and sold separately to generate funds for the core Hobbico operation. I'd guess they want to protect the distributorship for big ticket items like drones.

Since Estes is more or less a free-standing entity, (or it appears to be) it should be quick and easy.

here's Hobbico's own web post on the matter, https://www.hobbico.com/company-news.php

Though having been a hobby retailer, last time about a decade back, I no longer keep up with happenings there. Guess it is going to be a case of "Stay tuned for further developments"

This and the comments are worth the time to read,
http://www.uavexpertnews.com/2017/0...iants-flounder/

The press release is pretty clear that they want to keep the company running:

"Under the process afforded to us under Chapter 11, we hope to reach an agreement with our creditors that will allow us to implement a restructuring plan that fully addresses our financial challenges while simultaneously identifying a prospective buyer that shares our vision of providing the best possible outcome for our employees and the future of Hobbico."

The Estes brand, model rocketry, and by extension the enthusiasts who love the hobby will be fine, but there will be a period of uncertainty through the Chapter 11 process.

The Estes brand is unique from almost any other aspect of the Hobbico product line. Brand name recognition and an established distribution network combined with a unique technical ability to supply rocket motors to an established marketplace make them different than almost any of the other Hobbico businesses. This will ensure their survival and the livelihood of their employees.

Estes is almost the only portion of the Hobbico operation that doesn't face stiff foreign competition. They have already jumped through all the expensive regulatory hoops that any competitor would need to surmount. There is an established and predictable demand for their products within the marketplace. Model rocketry is not a fad, it is an established educational hobby with a track record stretching over half a century.

For these reasons Estes can emerge from this temporary business uncertainty bigger and stronger than ever.

+1. Bankruptcy doesn't always mean going out of business.

Sales Figures
 

You know, I wonder, if adjusted for inflation, does Estes do more or less in overall sales volume than, say, 40yrs ago?

Estes pretty much *IS* a monopoly within the business......Quest was never more than background noise......so it would seem to stand that they'd find their way out of Hobbico's 'mess' rather well.

Maybe John Boren will make a pseudo-hostile takeover and produce only the cool stuff HE wants!! :eek: :eek:

Colonel Klink voice: "You vill build these skill level 6 kits and you *vill* like it!!"

>Maybe John Boren will make a pseudo-hostile takeover and produce only the cool stuff HE wants!! :eek: :eek:

I like that idea!

GO JOHN! :) :) :)

Verna
www.vernarockets.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHJHOK6
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O14ET8K

I also like the idea of John Boren taking over !
Maybe then we could get B14s and C5s back.

Just don't let Ba**y Tu***ck get close to Estes. :eek:

Lets do a John Go Fund Me Fund. I don't know how many millions it's going to take to buy Estes so start sending your money in.

:chuckle:

John Boren

Where do I go to give? :cool:

RE sales then and now:

I suspect that Estes's distribution network is WAY larger than it was even at the height of the space race.

They've gotten into Target, Walmart, and large regional chains like Fred Meyer.

Fingers crossed!

:cool: :cool: :cool:

I am not welcoming the potential change in the status quo. Best case is some entity buys Estes and wants to keep it running as is. Worst case someone buys Estes and squeezes it hard to milk every penny it can out of the business.

Given the bankruptcy, what makes you think Hobbico wasn't doing that already?

>Given the bankruptcy, what makes you think Hobbico wasn't doing that already?

Coming from a banker this certainly implies that this was the case.

I'm not saying that Hobbico was not already doing that, but consider that Estes is still delivering high quality products. New owners might have a different philosophy. I'm sure we all can come up with examples of what sometimes happens after a company is sold where product quality goes down as the new owners seek to, as I put it, squeeze every last penny out of an operation. Speculation. Nothing to do about it other than wait and see.

I think Hobbico did a nice job of managing Estes. Estes is a MUCH better company today than it was before Hobbico took it over.

My heart goes out to all the nice folks who work at Hobbico, including Rick Piester (son of Centuri founders Lee and Betty Piester). I hope the reorganization goes well and that they all land on their feet. I am very grateful to Hobbico for all they did to rescue Estes from its Barry days.

As for the future of Estes, I am confident that its best days are still ahead of it.

Steve

It would be nice to see someone from the Piester family take it over.

One school of thought says that a well-run company SHOULD squeeze to get every possible penny out of a business.

"Well run" and "maximized profits" are not mutually exclusive terms. The best run companies in the world are those that deliver outstanding products and services while maximizing shareholder value. I sincerely hope that Estes, regardless of whatever form it takes going forward, can do both.

James

A combo of Rick Piester and John Boren at the helm of Estes if spun-off would be GREAT.

Hey James,

Another rule of thumb is that you should reinvest in the business. Less the genius of Mr. John Boren and our other friends there I didn't notice much of that happening.
It would be interesting to know what their R&D budget did after Hobbico took over.

I hope all works out for Estes and Hobbico. Just in case it does not, I did place an order yesterday for some RC kits from Tower Hobbies, and they shipped today. There is a lot of stuff on Towers website that show out of stock probably because vendors are not getting paid.

Growing up and still living in a rural area with no hobby shops, my hobby life has long revolved around the Estes and Centuri catalogs and later the Tower Hobbies catalog when I got into R/C. I hope both Estes (Centuri) and Tower survive.

Well, the message I got loud and clear in business school was that our job was to "maximize shareholder value", and I certainly tried to do what I could to achieve that for the companies who employed me.

Technically Hasbro or Mattel, both public companies have the ability to take over in a non-cash acquisition. The year 2018 is the year of the merger so their timing for filing is exquisite. The lenders will take a haircut in BK for sure.

Hey guys, want to buy back Estes as a co-op? To put this in perspective, if one were to buy the company for $5m, that's only 335 BTC.

Jerry

Historical note. Estes is typically used as a cash cow for the owner's other businesses.

A company that needs NOL's could buy it as a private deal. NOL's are Hobbico's biggest asset.

Yeah, sure. Everybody send Jerry Irvine your $ to buy Estes.




Been there, seen that, never got the RMR T-shirt.....nor did anyone else.



.

Who cares

Revell has posted to FB that they are alive and well and the Hobbico Chapter 11 will not stop their production or new product release cycle. Therefore I would expect a similar result for Estes since as a division it is even more solvent.

No you didn't. You got your money back. I didn't. That particular t-shirt company went out of business taking my money in the process. All this was posted to rmr of course but you feel the need to slime me anyway. So much for ethics, George.

Based entirely on what John Boren posts here I would say they are full speed ahead on new product introductions and innovation given new manufacturing processes, all pushed through their Chinese pipe.