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https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/oth.../ar-AA1lRNPxQuote:
Stanley Gibbons looks set to fall into administration as part of a plan to secure the future of the 167-year-old rare stamp dealer.
The firm, which one of the most prominent names in the stamp and coin collecting world, will appoint administrators at PricewaterhouseCooper as soon as today.
It comes just over a year after it was delisted in London and is likely to alarm the 66 staff as well as customers and suppliers so close to Christmas.
But the Mail understands it will be immediately bought back by its owners Phoenix Asset Management in a 'pre-pack' administration.
Phoenix, the biggest shareholder, took Stanley Gibbons off the stock market last year.
It was set up by chief investment officer Gary Channon and backed by insurance tycoon Sir Peter Wood.
Other major investments include model train maker and Airfix owner Hornby.
Stanley Gibbons, the world's longest established rare stamp merchant, said it and its coin dealing business, AH Baldwin & Sons, 'have each filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator'.
A spokesman for the firm said: 'We would like to reassure customers and wider stakeholders that we are continuing to operate and are exploring all options to seek a continuation of the business.'
Shares in Stanley Gibbons, whose eponymous founder was born in 1840, the year the Penny Black was issued, were traded on the stock market for 20 years before it was taken private by Phoenix in 2022.
It lost £2.9million last year, having made a loss of £2.6million in the previous year.
Phoenix was set up by Channon in 1998 and recently linked up with Wood, who was behind Direct Line and Esure, to invest in British brands. In May, it bought funeral directors Dignity A dark day for the hobby. SG's financial health has been dire for several years but now its in the ICU and the prognosis is not good.
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APS #173088
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Pillar Of The Community
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Seems that they might have a path through this, at least for the short term? |
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Pillar Of The Community
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772 Posts |
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Gibbons has unfortunately been mismanaged for decades, and the last couple decades as a publicly traded company (the only major catalogue publisher in that status I believe) I fear exacerbated things as the directors had to please venture capitalists looking for short term profit gains from a business whose core product line and product base is not designed for quick profitable turnovers.
Scott, Michel and Yvert are all to the best of my knowledge not near financial collapse, so it is all the more tragic that SG is in this condition, since the other three show there really should not be a reason for SG to be in this condition.
Can SG be revived? Resurrection is always possible but in my opinion not so long as the brand remains in the hand of non-hobby oriented owners. I am convinced the publishing brand could be made profitable given proper investment and direction by owners who understand the hobby. Whether there is a white knight in the hobby with the resources and the time to make that kind of long term investment is another question entirely. But given the entire market value of SG is probably well south of US$10 million, who knows what will happen if there is an asset sale. |
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| Edited by DJCMHOH - 12/22/2023 09:55 am |
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Netherlands
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When I first bought stamps at their Strand shop, you could buy almost any set from their Collect British Stamps and many more from their GB Concise Catalogue. This was in the pre-internet era. Now, they cannot really be bothered with most items. They list touch with the ordinary stamp collector and focused on those with a lot of money to spend.
They close in 1:20 hours and will not open until January 2nd. Let's see what happens. They are auctioning the second part of the Phillips collection mid January. |
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| Edited by NSK - 12/22/2023 10:40 am |
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When I first visited in the '60s, the shop was crammed with customers of all ages, lots of staff, bulging counter books. A far cry from the almost church-like silence on my occasional visits over the last few years. A tie-up with Yvert or Michel might work. |
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Valued Member
United States
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Sounds like a way for the owners to avoid repaying some subset of creditors as opposed to anything likely to fix the business. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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Quote:
A tie-up with Yvert or Michel might work. I can only imagine the sh*tstorm of whinging that would arise from collectors in the UK if Gibbons were sold to Michel, Yvert or Scott. In this post-Brexit era the idea of Britain's philatelic flagship coming under foreign ownership would definitely raise a lot of controversy, even if in the end financially and for long-term revival of the SG brand it might make the most sense for Gibbons to come under the umbrella of another key philatelic publisher, provided that publisher kept the SG section autonomous as its own separate brand. |
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APS #173088
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Pillar Of The Community
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Actually, I don't think that collectors would complain - preservation of the material would be the key. And it's too small beer for the nut-jobs - they're off chasing refugees and the "woke". |
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Be interesting to see how the "ownership" pieces sold for the 1 cent Magenta are handled, if in fact any were purchased. |
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They would have to split up the business. Stanley Gibbons is the only one that sells stamps. The SG Catalogues reflect prices at which SG sells stamps.
The Stanley Gibbons brand may hold value for GB and Commonwealth collectors. But then, Michel or Yvert might have to split up their existing regional catalogues. The question is whether any of these would want to invest in expanding their market share in those markets. It, probably, will hurt the market share of their existing regional catalogues. |
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British Commonwealth is much more popular in North America than in Continental Europe from what I have observed, so Scott would probably the most "synergistic" of the three to think about taking over Gibbons.
More likely though a white knight in the UK will pick up the pieces and try to put Gibbons' house back in order. Hopefully it will be a knight with a background in philately and the patience and willingness to invest for the long term. There is no reason Gibbons should not be as stable as Scott, Michel or Yvert are today provided it was given proper management.
All I know is I am glad I purchased all of the volumes of the Gibbons regional catalogues (Not the 6-volume Stamps of the World) so that I have a complete set bar independent Africa, last published in the 1980s. I also just ordered a used copy of the most recent edition of the Gibbons Queen Victoria specialized Great Britain catalogue, since it now looks like the Part 2 of the new edition of Victoria (part I came out a couple years ago) could very well be in doubt. |
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| Edited by DJCMHOH - 12/22/2023 2:52 pm |
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Out of the three, I, certainly, can see how Scott could benefit most from integrating SG's catalogues. Is that, however, more of very little?
If that Specialised Vol 1, Part 2 is not going to be published, it is likely no Specialised will be published in the future. What then is there of interest for Scott if you are left with just an editorial office for the SG Commonwealth catalogue and, maybe, a GB Concise? |
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| Edited by NSK - 12/22/2023 3:09 pm |
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One thing that Scott does not have is good semi-specialized coverage of post-1940 worldwide, something that Gibbons regional catalogues do as well as, and in some cases even better, than Michel. So there would be some benefit there of perhaps furthering development of those catalogues as well, since they really are the only English-language catalogues that give at least semi a specialized coverage on post-1940 World/Commonwealth post-1952 issues.
Scott for global material beyond the cutoff dates for the Classic Specialized is often quite basic compared to what Michel and the Gibbons regional catalogues cover.
Gibbons regional catalogues for non-commonwealth areas overall are really very good volumes that go well beyond Scott in most cases. |
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| Edited by DJCMHOH - 12/22/2023 4:18 pm |
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It is not the catalog part of SG that got them into financial trouble.
Also, they already had a plan to come out of administration before they went into it. "the Mail understands it will be immediately bought back by its owners Phoenix Asset Management in a 'pre-pack' administration". So they are looking at trying to run it themselves rather than to find a buyer. Bur as long as the same fools are in charge, there is little reason to believe hey will be successful.
Now that does not mean they wouldn't listen to a buy out offer, but let's look at what happened when Scott bought out Krause. Scott just shut down the Krause catalog. It would be a major loss if we lose the SG catalogs. |
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Quote:
In this post-Brexit era the idea of Britain's philatelic flagship coming under foreign ownership would definitely raise a lot of controversy Meh. Who's going to care? A small group of philatelists and Anglophiles. Everyone got over Rolls Royce being bought by BMW, Bentley being sold to VW, and Holland & Holland being owned by Beretta. You vastly overestimate the number of people who even recognize the name "Stanley Gibbons." |
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I, just, received the following email Quote:Dear Customers, As a new year starts so does a new chapter for Baldwin's and Stanley Gibbons as both brands are acquired by Strand Collectibles Group. Baldwin's, already a global name in numismatics, will now broaden our horizons to encompass all collectibles auctions, including coins, medals, stamps, trading cards, comic books, video games, sports memorabilia and more in the coming years curated by our in house experts including the Baldwin's Coins & Stanley Gibbons specialists you will know so well. The schedule for the coming months, led by Iain Murphy, Managing Director of Baldwin's Auctions already boasts some exceptional philatelic, numismatic and pop culture auctions, setting a pace we expect to see increase further still throughout the year. To support new and existing auction categories we have recently unveiled our brand new platform www.baldwins.co, (note: the new domain is .co not .co.uk or .com) designed and built by our team based on your feedback to bring the joy of collecting to the auction experience. Neil Paisley, MD Baldwin's Coins, and the team will continue to buy and sell rare British, ancient and world coins. They will be at the New York International Numismatic Convention next week and the York Stamp & Coin Fair later in the month. Stanley Gibbons will continue to serve the philatelists of today with the products and services which epitomise our expertise and meticulous attention to detail such as Catalogues and Price Lists. This year we publish the 127th Edition of the Commonwealth & British Empire (1840-1970) catalogue, still receiving contributions from Dr Philip Kinns after over 50 years of distinguished service. Victoria Lajer, MD Stanley Gibbons, and her team will also launch a new digital catalogue collecting experience in 2024. Designed to help you throughout your collecting journey, starting with identifying and finding items all the way to keeping track and improving your collections. Features we're confident will endear the product to a new generation of philatelists. I am conscious that we bear huge responsibility as the stewards of these storied organisations. Honouring the past while creating a rich and sustainable legacy is our goal here – not least because that is how we may offer the very best care and attention to detail for collectors acquiring, or parting with, treasured possessions. By harnessing the heritage and the unique expertise from both brands, I'm confident your experience will feel both reassuringly familiar and significantly enhanced. Tom Pickford CEO, Strand Collectibles Group |
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Posted 12/22/2023 09:27 am
