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New Toshiba KIRA Offering, Is It The Best Ultrabook Yet?

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A pragmatic interpretation of what constitutes quality especially in an Ultrabook is a subject that is open to multiple benchmarks. Is it design, components, after sales service, components, speed and performance or the quality of a display screen versus what were past industry benchmarks?During the past decade very few mass notebook

manufacturers have been able to differentiate their notebook offerings. Many had

bog standard chipsets, motherboards and the only point of difference was the

casing that the common components were housed in, the one exception being Apple

and their MacBook range.

Recently Toshiba took a massive punt with the launch of a

new premium brand called KIRA and one of the first products delivered

under this new premium brand is an i7 Ultrabook (PSU7FA-00T00K). It comes with

a display screen that delivers the best display I have ever seen in a

notebook or Ultrabook, whilst the minimalist design includes a power on button with

almost no LED lights other than a Wi Fi indicator on the front of this PC.


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Smooth rounded edges and brushed aluminium is all part of

the quality look that cocoons this device.

If there was ever a PC company that can make premium quality

PC components it is Toshiba.

A Japanese company which delivered the first ever notebook, Toshiba has the engineers and the technical skill to deliver breakthrough

technology and it shows with this new offering.

Miniaturisation and making things work in small form factors

is one thing Toshiba does well.

Their Android tablets were the first wafer-thin devices to

deliver not only a great look and feel but functionality such as built-in HDMI

and USB attach capability. Even Samsung struggled to deliver the capability that

Toshiba was able to achieve in their tablets.

Now the company has delivered a premium Ultrabook range that

sets a new benchmark in the space.


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Weighing in at 1.28kg, this Ultrabook is just 20mm thick or

23mm if you count the rubber mounts on the bottom.  

In the hand the first thing you notice with their new i7 touchscreen

Ultrabook is that it has a superior look and feel and when you open the lid

what bursts into life is a display screen that packs 2560 x 1440 pixels into 13.3-inches.

Running a video is a sheer delight as the vivid colours

scream from the display and the sharpness is as good as any HD TV.

For some this screen could present a problem. Firstly, it

delivers a superior resolution which when it comes to using the device for

standard PC functionality such as emails, writing a report or working on an

Excel spreadsheet, is far superior to what is needed.


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Icons appear small on the screen and text is reduced, especially if you have the display screen set to maximum resolution. All you

have to do to overcome this problem is go into your display setting and set

your screen at a lower resolution.

For movies and video you can easily reset the resolution.

One great idea would be for Toshiba to build in a button that allows users to

toggle between work mode and movie mode. Toshiba has installed a program called

Desktop Assist that allows you to enlarge text by up to 200 per cent when you

use the custom settings. This did not work for me as I am a big Chrome user and

the text appeared way too large.

Videos delivered at lower resolution appear normal but they lack the real sharpness that

the 2560 x 1440 pixel display screen is capable of delivering.

A key advantage of the higher resolution is that you can

pack more in when operating in side by side mode with two pages easily

displayed to the KIRA screen.

As someone who spends hours on a keyboard I found the

Toshiba keyboard extremely easy to use, the spacing between keys is right and

the key size is excellent. Another big advantage is that the keyboard is

backlit so working on an aircraft at night or at home in low light is easy.


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Under the bonnet is a Core i7 CPU which screams along and Toshiba

have to be complemented for getting this processor to work in such a small

package. It is also available with an Intel Core i5 processor.

The Core i7-3537U in the version that SmartHouse reviewed

ran at 2GHz, and was one of the fastest we have ever experienced in an

Ultrabook.

The casing is made out of pressed magnesium alloy that has a

honeycomb structure, this design add strength while keeping the weight down.

The hinge is extremely strong and the instant open design allows one to easily

boot this Ultrabook in seconds. The rigidity of the honeycomb design and the

strength of the hinge which I believe is a key component in any notebook or

Ultrabook design has allowed Toshiba designers to deliver a truly superior

structure while not compromising on the design or the weight of this Ultrabook.

A power button and an HDMI and two USB ports are located on

the left side of the casing. On the right side is a full-sized SD card slot and a

third USB port.

There is no Ethernet port, with users having to rely on the

built-in 802.11ndual-band Wi-Fi. There is also Bluetooth version 4.0 built-in, along with a 2.0 megapixel webcam. An Ethernet dongle is optional.

Storage comes in the form of a 256GB SSD drive and 8GB of

RAM.

Where this device was a real knock out was in Ultrabooks

performance. I took the device on a three-day trip to Melbourne and after a full

day of use delivering PowerPoint presentations, doing emails and Skype calls it

still had juice left in the battery.

We also ran the screen flat out running a movie and two

additional videos and the Ultrabook delivered 4 hours and 50 minutes of battery life

before it was screaming for a power top up.

A small drawback is the fan which can be noisy when it is

spinning at full belt, something that Toshiba needs to work on.

The touchpad is large (105x59mm) and I found it easy to use, however I would have preferred it to run flush across the brushed aluminium as

opposed to having a stainless steel ridge; a change in colour would have done the job.

The touchpad supports Windows 8 swipe-in gestures.

 


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Another big standout on this Ultrabook is the inclusion

of  Harman/Kardon speakers which when you

think about it have to be powerful because of the size. They don’t only deliver

excellent sound despite the low frequency but are also discreetly housed under the

Ultrabook, with the speakers pointing out to the sides.

Conclusion

At $2199,  this is an

expensive beast. But is it worth it? My view is yes for the simple reason that an

Ultrabook of this ilk is going to get used and the last thing you want if you

use an Ultrabook every working day is one that cannot last the test of time and

the constant thrashing that a lot of Ultrabooks get.

What you get is quality construction, a blindingly stunning

display screen and a device that looks and feels classy. If you rely on a

notebook as I do to deliver day in and day out, it’s going to be very had to go past

this beast, especially as Toshiba has thrown in a superb support package.  

It includes an on-site two-year warranty for capital cities, with regional owners getting a pick-up

service. The package also covers accidental damage and a dedicated

phone line for support. It also ships with the Pro version of Windows 8.

On the downside Toshiba needs to work on the cooling fan and

the problems associated with the sheer resolution of the display screen, though neither of these small issues detract from the fact that this is the best

Ultrabook we have ever seen.

 

 

Width: 316mm

Depth: 207mm

SOFTWARE

Operating system Windows 8 Pro

Included software Adobe Premiere Elements 11 Adobe Photoshop

Elements 11

STORAGE

Hard drive interfaceSATA

Hard drive type Solid-state drive

Internal storage256GB

Solid-state drive? Yes

Supported memory mediaSD

WARRANTY

Warranty information on-site, accidental damage

Warranty length (months): 24

WEBCAM

Webcam resolution (megapixels): 0.9

WIRED CONNECTIONS

Number of USB 3.0 ports:3.0

Wired Terminal/PortsCombination headphone/microphone,

HDMI, USB 3.0

WIRELESS CONNECTIONS

Bluetooth: Yes

Wi-Fi (wireless networking): Yes

Wireless technology supported Bluetooth, Wireless 802.11a,

Wireless 802.11b, Wireless 802.11g, and Wireless 802.11n

LG Reports A Strong Result Profits And Revenue Up

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LG Electronics ,who claim that they are the #1 consumer electronics brand in Australia, have reported higher quarterly sales and profits due to strong mobile phone and flat-panel TV sales. In their latest report sales have jumped 22.1 percent to $12.534 billion and operating profit was $843 million, which results in a 6.7 percent profit margin for its fiscal second quarter, ended June 30.

One of the strong performers was the LG  mobile communications company which posted  record sales of $3.788 billion, up 34.3 percent from the second quarter 2007. From handset business, sales reached $3.695 billion, up 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit margin improved to 13.9 percent, 14.4 percent in handset division due to growth in high-end models and improvements in operational efficiency, the company said.

However analysts are forcasting that the Companies mobile phone operations have peaked and will be impacted by the new Apple 3G iphone.


Shipment of handsets also recorded the highest in unit sales as well, a total of 27.7 million mainly from North America (33 percent) and emerging markets including Middle East Asia, CIS and Central & South America, thanks to strong sales of “Secret,” “Viewty,” “Venus” and other premium phones.


Sales in the digital appliance company increased 4.9 percent to $3.721 billion year-on-year, and operating margin was 7.2 percent despite challenging business environment such as higher raw material prices, economic slowdown and U.S. market contraction from sub-prime effect.


Sales in the digital display company jumped 37.2 percent to $3.683 billion, powered by a rise in sales of flat TVs, with an 86 percent increase in LCD TVs and 31 percent in plasma TVs from a year earlier. The PDP module sales grew 22 percent. Following profitability turnaround in the previous quarter, operating profit in the second quarter successfully remained profitable at $37.4 million, the company said.


Sales from the digital media company was 2.1 percent lower on year, to $1.201 billion, due to low seasonality, but operating profit and margin increased to $12.8 million, or 1 percent, by a strong effort for cost innovation, LG noted.

EXCLUSIVE:Fighting Breaks Out Between Management At Dick Smith As Sales Slump

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Fighting has broken out between management at Dick Smith after store staff accused the Companies online team of “cannibalising store sales.

Senior management from the struggling retailer were told during an internal conference call that store traffic at the struggling retailer was down, store management responded by blaming the impact of the Companies online operation. 

Dick Smith CEO Nick Aboud told managers that “customer traffic is no excuse for stores not performing in sales”.

ChannelNews understands that as of 25th of October internal sales budgets were down over $100 Million, while internal profit targets were down $26M.

Aboud who has been personally driving the online sales operation, told managers that their claims were “smoke and mirrors” he “blamed the teams in stores for letting the company down” a comment that did not go down well with senior store managers who are struggling to grow their business. 

According to sources Dick Smith wants online to make up 15% of their overall sales operation going forward. This claim management will take the pressure off the Companies looming cash flow crisis with distributors set to be used to fulfil orders for Dick Smith’s online operation.

Both buyers and merchandising executives at Dick Smith, have told ChannelNews that there are real concerns over the Companies house brand strategies with senior executives claiming that a lack of “experience” in the Companies Hong Kong based house brand sourcing office, had led to major problems for buyers who they claim were not consulted about stock being shipped into stores.

The General Manager of the Hong Kong Office for International Sourcing at Dick Smith Electronics is Tony Abdel-Ahad.

 Abdel-Ahad, joined Dick Smith from Abu Dhabi based Mezzo Middle East two years ago which was prior to the Company being floated. 

Mezzo is a Middle East furniture Company, prior to that he worked as a regional director for Asteco a Dubai based Middle East real estate Company.
He appears to have no prior electronics buying or consumer electronics or appliance expertise. 

Insiders claim that he is related to a senior Dick Smith Director.

As of yesterday shares in the Company had slumped to $0.775 after trading earlier in the year at $2.29.

Last week shares in Dick Smith who is believed to be facing cash flow problems running into the peak buying period fell over 35% several institutional investors dumped their shareholding in the Company.  

Earlier this week we revealed that two more senior merchandising managers have quite the embattled retailer. This follows the of loss Rod Orrock the Director of Buying and Marketing at Dick Smith who quit 14 months after leaving a senior role at Harvey Norman to take a role at the mass CE retailer.

Orrock said that he left due to “ill health”.

Harvey Norman + The Good Guys Have 25% Of The Appliance Market

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Harvey Norman and The Good Guys account for one in four of all appliances sold according to a new Roy Morgan research study.

From toasters to vacuums to microwaves to shavers, Australians spend over $260 million buying almost 1.7 million small electrical items in an average four weeks, new retail data reveals. 

Two bricks-and-mortar retail stores dominate the category in terms of the sheer number of items sold: in the 12 months to June 2015, we bought 233,500 small electrical goods from The Good Guys during an average four-week period, and another 208,000 from Harvey Norman. Together, these retailers account for over 1 in 4 of all new small electrical items sold (26%). 

The competition is equally fierce among the discount and department stores. Big W sells157,500 small electrical items in an average four weeks, just eclipsing the 145,500 items taken home from Kmart, while 93,500 items are bought from Target or Target Country and 73,500 from Myer.


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Specialising in one type of small electrical item-vacuum cleaners-is enough to net Godfrey’s 50,500 sales in an average four weeks, while the only supermarket among the Top 10 retailers is ALDI with 40,500. Bing Lee and JB Hi-Fi round out the Top 10 with Australians buying 37,500 and 37,000 small electrical items respectively from those stores in an average four weeks.

Number of Small Electrical Items bought in average four weeks at Store

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), July 2014 – June 2015, n=14,987 Australians 14+

Over 1 in 10 small electronic items are now purchased online (179,000 during an average four weeks). Of these, we buy 134,500 items through online-only stores such as Appliances Online and Deals Direct. The remainder are purchased via the online sites of bricks-and-mortar retailers.

In an average four weeks, Australians buy 57,000 small electrical items through online auction site Ebay-by far the largest individual online retailer in the category.

Over 400,000 more small electrical items are bought during a four-week period from other bricks-and-mortar stores, with individual sales volumes below the top 10 above-equivalent to around 25% of the overall market. These include Betta Electrical (27,000) and Dick Smith Electronic, as well as Bunnings (33,000) and other hardware stores, plus other supermarkets, other discount and department stores, and smaller niche retailers.

Andrew Price, General Manager – Consumer Products, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“Australians buy almost 1.7 million small electrical items during an average four weeks, spending an average $154 per item. 

“While the average small electrical item bought from a discount store such as Big W, Kmart or Target costs $72, it’s over $200 at market leaders Harvey Norman and The Good Guys. So while these two sell 26% of all individual small electrical items, these sales represent 37% of the market by dollar value, or over $96 million in an average four weeks between them.

“Overall, Australians spent around $27 million on small electrical items online in an average four weeks, whether through Ebay, an online-only retailer or the internet site of a bricks-and-mortar store. This represents only around 10% of our total spend in the category. Unlike items such as clothing and books, it can cost too much for consumers to ship small electrical goods from overseas-and in many cases they can’t even be plugged in here. This has made the category safe from international sites such as Amazon.”

Is Dick Smith Set To Be Another Clive Peeters? As Share Value Plunges 85%

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Consumer Electronics suppliers to Dick Smith whose shares plunged to $0.32 cents today, are seriously concerned that the mass retailers are set to become another Clive Peeters or WOW Sight and Sound, two consumer electronics retailers who went bankrupt leaving vendors out of pocket.

Just after the ASX opened today shares in Dick Smith plunged more than 50 per cent to 32?. They started the year at$2.29.

Last month Dick Smith CEO Nick Aboud forecast a 2016 net profit between $37 million and $43 million, compared with earlier guidance between $45 million and $48 million and last year’s net profit of $43.4 million.

The shares plunged from $1.30 to $0.75.

Today they took another dive with several distributors now telling ChannelNews that they are reluctant to supply the mass retailer unless they have “cash up front” or a “bank guarantee”.

ChannelNews has been told today by insiders, that the retailer is struggling to meet internal sales and profit targets and that even the numbers forecast by Aboud back in October will not be met.

Senior store management said that Dick Smith stores are not attracting floor traffic “anywhere near” what JB Hi Fi, The Good Guys and Harvey Norman are getting running into the peak buying period.   

The catalyst that triggered today’s decline was a statement to the ASX indicating that the consumer electronics retailer slashed the value of inventories by at least $60 million and the stock is now down 85 per cent since the start of the year and has a market capitalisation of just $74.5 million.

Dick Smith launched an inventory review after a 4 to 5 per cent slump in same-store sales in October prompted managing director Nick Abboud to step up discounting and marketing and warn that profits could fall as much as 15 per cent this year as gross margins came under pressure.

Mr Abboud said on Monday that November trading was also below expectations, stock holdings remained too high and the company was “unable to re-affirm the profit guidance previously provided”.

Mr Abboud said the inventory review was still underway, but Dick Smith’s board had decided to book a non-cash impairment charge of $60 million before tax and further impairment may be required, depending on Christmas trading.

Earlier this month ChannelNews exclusively tipped that the Company had inventory problems and that revenues were falling. 

“We remain cautious on the outlook for the Christmas trading period. We will continue to drive sales, maintaining flexibility on gross margin to reduce inventory and improve our net debt position.” Aboud said today. 

The statement issued to the ASX today read:

The inventory review is being conducted with the assistance of external consultants and is aimed at determining the appropriate size of various categories, improving the depth and breadth of inventories, and identifying the level of marketing support to achieve inventory cover targets.

Dick Smith management claim that they want to boost its “share of voice” and has flagged deeper discounts on brands such as Apple and Fitbit.

A Harvey Norman executive told ChannelNews, who will pay for this. “Dick Smith can discount all they like but if manufacturers and distributors stop supplying them they will have no stock to discount. There is also the issue of whether they will be in a position to pay vendors after they have discounted stock running into Christmas and the New Year”.

They Added “Discounting by Dick Smith could have an impact on other retailers but I doubt it because very few people are actually walking into their stores”.

Another major retailer said “If they do move to rampant discounting they are more likely to appeal to online shoppers and this is still only a small part of the total consumer electronics mix.

“They are heading to become another Clive Peeters or WOW Sight + Sound both these Companies went broke after heavy discounting. WOW Sight + Sound who while being Queensland based did exactly what Dick Smith are doing by discounting heavily running into Christmas and then declaring after Christmas that there was not enough money around to pay their bill so they went broke”.   

Games Market Set To Crash

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The games software market is set to decline by as much as 20% a leading analyst has forcast.

SG Cowen & Co. analyst Lowell Singer in the USA has forecasted a 20% decline in video game software sales during the 2004-2006 console transition, and a 4% decline in 2006 alone.
Electronic Arts, Activision, and THQ have all guided to software sales that are flat to down 5% for 2006, whereas previously, the consensus expectations were for “at least a modest” sales gain year-over-year, the analyst wrote in a report.

The analyst cited a “slower-than-expected growth in the installed base of next-generation hardware,” as a reason for the softness in software sales. For instance, Sony (nyse: SNE – news – people ) won’t be releasing the new PlayStation 3 console until late 2006 at the earliest.

Lowell also cited certain secular risks over the longer-term that could be exacerbating the slowing of sales including a console transition that is “far worse” than the last transition in 1999 to 2001. The analyst also cited an increase in online video game play and criticism of a lack of creativity in the gaming industry, with “no Halo or Grand Theft Auto-type blowout titles launched in 2005.” The analyst said he still recommends Activision shares. “We believe that Activision’s focus on building high-quality franchises, sustaining above-average operating margins and ROIC, and aggressively participating in the expanding handheld market have positioned the company for industry-leading growth and market share gains throughout the next-generation console cycle.”

His view on Electronic Arts is neutral based on valuation, despite the fact that he sees the company as “the best-run company among the third-party publishers.”The analyst’s view on Take-Two Interactive Software is also neutral. Noting that there are investment positives on the stock, he also listed key concerns in game quality, the company’s “extreme reliance” on Grand Theft Auto as a driver for earnings, low ROIC and the company’s historically poor internal controls.
Singer also said he views THQ as neutral saying that its growth depends heavily on the average game quality of its new titles for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. “Although we believe that the video game stocks could be volatile over the next few months due to the ongoing console transition, we continue to have a positive long-term view on the group,” the research analyst said.

PDA’s Crash As Phones Take Over

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The worldwide market for handheld PDAs dropped for the fourth consecutive year in 2005, falling by 16.7 percent to 7.5 million units, down from 9.1 million in 2004, according to the research firm IDC.

For the fourth quarter, compared to the fourth quarter in 2004, sales dropped 18.2 percent to 2.2 million units; however, sales for the quarter surged above the previous quarter by 37.6 percent.

Although the PDA market has been derailed by the rise in shipments of converged mobile devices such as smartphones, IDC research analyst Ramon Llamas said vendors still remain committed to the PDA market. “New devices continue to come out from the market leaders, aimed at different user types and offered at different price points. With the addition of GPS solutions, multimedia capability and Wi-Fi connectivity, handhelds offer additional value beyond just PIM for the user.”

According to IDC, Palm maintained its position as the worldwide leader for the quarter with a market share of 45.6 percent. Its quarterly shipments declined 13.2 percent over the quarter a year earlier and increased 109.7 percent over the third quarter. HP’s market share was 20.8 percent, decreasing 33.1 percent year-over-year, marking the steepest year-over-year decline among the top vendors, said IDC.

Dell climbed up one slot to the No. 3 position in market share to 8 percent. Acer was the only vendor to see a year-over-year increase in quarterly shipments, with strong gains of 110.4 percent and a market share of 5.7 percent, said IDC.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Handheld Device Shipments and Market Share, Q4 2005 (Preliminary)

Rank

Vendor

Q4 2005 Shipments

Q4 2005 Market Share

Q4 2004 Shipments

Q4 2004 Market Share

1

Palm

1,019,464

45.6%

1,174,371

43.0%

2

HP

465,000

20.8%

695,427

25.4%

3

Dell

178,500

8.0%

196,572

7.2%

4

Acer

126,602

5.7%

60,197

2.2%

5

Medion

96,942

4.3%

115,000

4.2%

Others

349,067

15.6%

491,849

18.0%

Total

2,235,575

100.0%

2,733,386

100.0%

Source: IDC Handheld QView, Feb. 2, 2006


Sony Ericsson’s Dumb Phones

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There may have been plenty of rumours about a dumbed down version of the P990 smartphone, but instead Sony Ericsson has chose to launch a trio of new phones aimed at basic consumers.

The new handsets are the company’s answer to the Vodafone Simply phone which the network launched in collaboration with Sagem earlier in the year. Largely bereft of features – there’s no camera, MP3 player or email – they are designed so that even the most tech-unsavvy users can find their way around them. The phones are expected in Australia early next year.


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Sony Ericsson’s big idea, for two of the phones, the J220 and J230, is to include an option that allows the user to customise the interface to make it even simpler to use. They can either opt for the traditional multi icon interface or go for a single icon menu. This enables them to access their core features – and on these phones there aren’t a great deal to chose from anyhow – with one click.

The chocolate bar style handsets also include a 128×128 pixel, 65k colour display, embedded games and a calendar and the J230 has an FM radio, but that’s all. The pair have a battery standby life of 280 hours. Even more basic is the Z300, a small clamshell with fewer features than its siblings. It doesn’t even sport the speaker phone that’s found on the other two new phones and there’s no single icon user interface option. It does however feature a 128×128 pixel, 65k colour display, embedded games and a calendar.

 

Fairfax Profits Tank 23%

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Australian media group Fairfax Media Ltd has reported a first half loss of $365 million, a 23% decline on the same period last year.

The company has also wriiten down the value of publications like the Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Age as consumers desert the publications for niche websites and online news sources.  

Chief Executive Officer Brian McCarthy,has said that advertising revenue from newspapers has declined significantly as both vendors and consumers move away from reading Fairfax media properties.

Fairfax has taken a $447.5 million loss on the value of its newspaper mastheads and licenses.

Sales at the publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review and Melbourne’s the Age newspaper rose 0.5 percent to A$1.44 billion with online growing by up to 12%.

Bloomberg reports “Cost containment and further cost-cutting initiatives will be key to the result,” Finola Burke and Belinda Tilbrook, analysts at Credit Suisse AG, wrote in a report dated Feb. 20. Sales “will come under pressure from a deteriorating advertising market,” they wrote.

Classified advertising is expected to remain weak for the rest of the fiscal year, Fairfax said today.

“We are focused on continuous operational improvement,” McCarthy said in the statement. “For now, we have battened down the hatches and we will ride this storm out.”

EXCLUSIVE:Chinese House Brand Supplier Put In Bid For Dick Smith

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A new Chinese bidder has emerged for Dick Smith.

The new bidder is Chinese Company Shenzhen MTC who supplied Dick Smith with over $150M dollars’ worth of house brand TV’s last year. 

Still in negotiations for the retailer is Indian conglomerate Tata who also owns consumer electronics manufacturing plants in India, including a TV manufacturing plant who is currently looking to buy into Vizo one of the biggest suppliers of TV’s in the USA. 

Shenzhen MTC was established in April, 2005. 

A public Company registered on the at Shenzhen Stock Market, the Company manufactures consumer electronics at three factories in Fuyong, Shajing and Songgang in Shenzhen. 

The Company only made contact with Dick Smith receiver Ferrier Hodgson last week.

According to sources the man who bought Shenzhen MTC into the bidding process is Tony Abvel Ahead a relative of former Dick Smith CEO Nick Aboud who is still listed on LinkedIn as the General Manager of International sourcing for Dick Smith.

Abvel Ahead who was responsible for sourcing and shipping millions of dollars’ worth of Dick Smith house brand stock, that is still sitting in warehouses in Australia including 3 years supply of batteries has been involved in the negotiations with Shenzhen MLC.

Former managers at Dick Smith have told ChannelNews that the close relationship between Aboud and Abvel Ahead was often questioned at the Company due to the “excessive” level of house brand orders being placed on the Dick Smith Hong Kong subsidiary run by Abvel Ahead.

ChannelNews has been told that management from Shenzhen MTC are looking to recruit Australian retail management including some former Dick Smith management to run the retail operation.