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LCD PC Monitors Big Growth

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LCD PC monitor shipments will hit 155 million units in 2006, with LCD monitor shipments reaching 125 million units for an 80% share of the market, according to a forecast from DisplayBank.

LCD monitor shipments are expected to increase 19% this year, while CRT shipments should drop 31%, about the same rate of decrease the segment saw in 2005, the market research firm noted.

Worldwide monitor shipments are projected to grow by a relatively modest 4% in 2006, and growth will stay at around 5% in the future, as growth in the desktop PC market slows due to a transition to notebook PCs. According a DigiTimes Research forecast, Taiwan will ship 97.5 million of the projected 155 million LCD monitors this year, up 29% from 2005.

Source: DisplayBank, compiled by DigiTimes.com, January 2006.

 

 

EMC Goes All Security

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EMC is set to initiate a major security uprade to its product range. The move comes as EMC initiates its largest product refresh ever.

The move also comes at a time when the company finds itself in marketplace battles with Symantec who have a reputation for security.

EMC’s convert to security religion will see major upgrades to both its SMB offering and large enterprise solutions.It follows in the footsteps of Symantec’s merger with Veritas and Network Appliance’s planned acquisition of data-encryption vendor Decru, reflecting the growing need for storage and security to converge. EMC president and CEO Joe Tucci announced the plan in a briefing presented to Wall Street and industry analysts.

“Information and security do go together; they are not separate,” he said. “Customers are not asking us–they are demanding it.”EMC has already added encryption capability to its Dantz Retrospect backup software, and intends to do the same with the rest of its software lines and storage systems. Company officials are emphatic that EMC is not seeking a major acquisition partner, but hasn’t ruled out smaller deals and partnerships.

Recent losses of backup tapes by key banks, credit-card processors and government agencies, among others, potentially exposing the personal information of millions of people, have brought the issue of storage security to the forefront. EMC had to up the ante on security, notes equity analyst Daniel Renouard, of R.W. Baird claimed. “How they execute will be really hard,” Renouard says. In addition to security, EMC is seeing strong demand for its VMWare unit’s server-virtualisation software. After posting 93 percent growth last quarter, EMC is now a $400 million company.

“That’s a tremendous opportunity,” Tucci told analysts.Another key area of emphasis will come from EMC’s network-management subsidiary, Smarts, which it acquired in February. Using that company’s network-monitoring technology and EMC’s Documentum workflow engine, EMC plans to bolster its own Control Center Management console early next year. The revamped Control Center will add network analysis and workflow from both Smarts and Documentum.

Tucci says Smarts’ tool collects data and events. It can tap into other data, build a model of how the various components are supposed to interact and take appropriate actions.

“It’s going to give us magic,” Tucci says. As a result of its expanded strategy, EMC is fine-tuning its tagline, from that of an information life-cycle management (ILM) provider to an infrastructure-management company. The storage giant says it’s not moving away from ILM–which accounts for 95 percent of its revenue–but rather that it is part of what EMC sees as a broader market encompassing not just the management of data, but the infrastructure that supports it.

Meanwhile, EMC has just refreshed the Symmetrix DMX line with its largest system to date, and has upgraded its flagship CLARiiON storage arrays as well.

Apple Reveals Small Black Round Beast

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When D Link moved to a round black router recently observers were sceptical about the design now Apple has jumped on the ideal with the revealing of a new round “canister” shaped Mac Book Pro that’s tipped to set a trend for new PC design.

1/8th  the size of the previous model, it has all new 12-core (E5) Intel Xeon processors, dual AMD-provided FirePro workstation graphics, new PCIe flash storage, new faster RAM, PCI Express gen 3 support and the ability to use up to three 4K-quality displays, and external outputs.


The circular beast that was revealed at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in the USA will go on sale later this year

 Kept secret until today the new PC will be assembled in the United States. The unit’s IO ports include four USB 3.0 ports, six Thunderbolt 2, and two Ethernet ports. There are also separate audio in and out ports and an HDMI (v1.4) port.



Electronista said that during the sneak preview, Apple VP Phil Schiller said that a future update of Final Cut Pro X will be available that fully supports the new graphics system, allowing editors to work on multiple (up to three) 4K displays if needed.

The entire top rim of the machine is a handle for easy transport, and relies on a single extruded aluminium “thermal core” that uses augmented convention cooling, but which also employs a single, larger fan that pulls air upwards — maintaining Apple’s penchant for nearly-silent operation.

The device is 9.9 inches tall and is 6.6 inches wide, and uses 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0. Both the outside and inside are made of machined aluminium.

How Alberts Pub In North Sydney Can Replace Shocking Service With Smart Systems

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COMMENT:There is nothing like bad service in Australia and Alberts in North Sydney which is owned by the same people as the Rag and Famish and the Terrace Hotel has got to take the top gong for delivering some of the worst service in Sydney.

I recently walked into this establishment on a busy Friday, there were four vacant tables all covered in plates left over food and empty glasses.
 
When I asked for someone to come and clear two of these tables, the attitude was “We are busy” we will get someone over when we are free.  

Then after ordering some food, the meal was served minus any utensils.

There was no “sorry” we have got no utensils or I will go and find you some utensils.

After five minutes I again walked up to the counter to ask for utensils only to be told “We are busy, we have none, you’ll have to wait”.

When I pointed out that it was plain dumb, let alone, poor service to actually serve a meal without utensils the waiter said “I don’t like your attitude “take it up with the manager”, which I did.

Seconds later a ranting raving chef from the kitchen came out claiming that “I was a whinger” who had complained earlier about the dirty tables.

“If you don’t like the service f*&k off we are busy”.

When I went back to the table the same waiter came over with the utensils he then complained that “He did not like my attitude”. 

I pointed out that the fundamentals of the most basic food establishment is that firstly the tables are clean and cleared and that when a meal is actually plated and served that there is actually utensils to eat the food with.

Alberts is owned by the Calligeros Group a family Company that owns several pubs around Australia.

What my experience exposed was not about pig ignorant management and staff who really don’t give a stuff about dirty tables or poor service but the lack of intelligence and systems inside an industry that is seriously under pressure. 

Blind Freddy would be able to tell you that Friday is always a busy day in North Sydney, and blind Freddy would also tell you that this is the day when your operation is going to be pushed to the limits. 

A banker once told me that when it comes to delivering service and systems in Australia that they have to build and be able to cater for only six days of the year, four days before Xmas and two days after the Boxing Day sales as this is when their ATM systems are the most stretched. 

Organisations like Alberts are not heeding this lesson despite the pubs and clubs industry struggling to deliver growth in Australia.

Australians’ love of eating out is growing with latest household expenditure data revealing big gains for the foodservice sector. The only problem is that consumers are not going to places like Alberts because of their attitude to service.


The Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Expenditure data shows that in percentage terms the sales for restaurants, cafes and caterers in March 2015 has increased by 12.3 per cent from March 2014 while the pub industry has struggled to grow.

At the same time the Pubs, Bars and Nightclubs industry has recorded moderate growth over the past five years.

 Growth has been constrained by strong competition, volatile consumer sentiment and a dependence on gambling as a revenue earner as opposed to putting in place systems that provide intelligence that allows them to deliver better service.

Today there are several systems that deliver intelligence for people who sell food. I travel a lot and the likes of Alberts has to take the Guernsey for delivering some of the worst service and above all attitude that I have ever come across in a restaurant environment. 

Even in Las Vegas during CES when there are over 175,000 CES attendees and over 2 million visitors passing through food establishments one gets service that is a vast improvement on what the likes of Alberts are dishing up for consumers.
 
The lack of service and good food facilities in pubs like Alberts has  caused the collapse of some highly leveraged pub operators, as many consumers have swapped a bar stool for the comfort of their couch at home instead of a night in the pub with friends. 

Even at Alberts on a Friday a Steak is $24 add a cider to that and there is not much change out of $30.

Pub industry revenue is expected to increase by an annualised 2.1% over the five years through 2014-15, to reach $16.5 billion which could mean that pubs who continue to deliver poor services as Alberts go out of business.
 
One only has to look at the difference in service levels between a well-run establishment like The Tree House in North Sydney and Alberts to realise why the Tree House is constantly packed and Alberts most evenings of the week struggles to attract patrons.
 
According to research group IBIS World the Pubs, Bars and Clubs industry is in the mature phase of its life cycle. The industry enjoyed a growth phase between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s, underpinned by the introduction of gaming machines in many venues. 

IBIS said that this trend is ending, with mounting community and political opposition to gaming machines expected to result in regulation that will stifle growth in this segment. 

Back in 2007 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that when the owner of Alberts Peter Calligeros picks up the paper in the morning it’s usually with a touch of dread, not knowing which particular story is going to be the latest unexpected pressure on his pub business
Calligeros cites external pressures outside his control as the biggest challenge facing his business, which also comprises the century-old Rag and Famish Hotel, and the Mount Street Terrace hotel both in North Sydney, and also includes the Bargo pub, near Wollongong and a recently added establishment in Brisbane. 

It appears by the attitude of his management at Alberts that they don’t share the same sentiment as their owner who was quoted as saying 

“I like to walk into all my pubs and have people sitting at the public bar say ‘G’day Pete, how are you going?’ I like that whether it’s out at Bargo or in North Sydney.

Maybe if he walked into Alberts more often he would realise that he desperately needs intelligence to give him a heads up that he needs to buy more knives and forks than the meals he serves or that when a meal is actually being delivered to a tablet that his wait staff actually take a knife and fork with them as opposed to dumping a meal on a table and expecting the customers to use their fingers to eat.

Then again the Rag and Famish is one of the oldest pubs in Sydney so maybe the model is still back in in the 1860’s when eating off a plate with ones fingers was an established practise. 

JB Hi Fi Sales Up As Group Moves To Expand Appliance Offerings

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JB Hi Fi sales are up 4.8% to $3.65 billion, gross profit is up 5.6% for the year ending June 30th. The mass retailer is also planning to expand their appliance offering with regular JB Hi Fi stores set to start selling appliances. These stores will not be branded JB Hi Fi HOME.

JB Hi Fi management said that overall gained momentum through FY15 with positive comparable sales of 7.4% in the second half of FY15.

Australia
Total sales grew by 5.0% to $3.46b, with comparable sales up 3.1%.

Hardware and services1 sales in FY15 were up 8.1%, with comparable sales up 6.2% driven by the Telco,
Fitness, Accessories, Computers, IT and Home Appliance categories; offset by softness in the TV market.

Software sales in FY15 were negative 8.2% and on a comparable basis were negative 9.7%.

New Zealand
Total sales were down 0.1% to NZ$211.1m, with comparable sales down 4.5%.

Profit at the mass retailer increased by 5.6% to $798.3m.

Consolidated gross margin was 21.9%, a 16 bps increase.

In Australia, gross margin increased by 15 bps on the pcp to 22.1%, driven by a combination of sales mix and improved buying terms.

In New Zealand, gross margin increased 13 bps to 18.2%.

Four new JB HI-FI HOME stores and one new JB HI-FI store was opened during the period, while 17 JB HI-FI stores were converted to JB HI-FI HOME.

CEO Richard Murray said that a total of six new stores are expected to open in FY16, five JB HI-FI HOME stores in Australia and one JB HI-FI store in New Zealand.

He also said that 16 existing JB HI-FI stores are expected to be converted to JB HI-FI HOME models. 

Murray said that the JB Hi Fi HOME stores which Dick Smith is moving to copy with their Connected Home stores requires approximetly 400 sqm of additional space (total store size 1,750 sqm).

He claimed that the move into selling appliances was paying off and that the group was targeting $3m in incremental sales increases in this category rising to $5m over the “medium term”. 

He said that their current target of 75 HOME stores should be reached during FY17.

Murray said “In addition to the HOME roll-out, we are also introducing small appliances into existing JB HI-FI stores”. 
These stores will have their existing layout reconfigured and will not be rebranded to JB HI-FI HOME. This store format is suited to stores that are located within shopping centres or where a HOME store is or will be located within that store’s catchment area”.

The Australian Stock Report has issued a “buy” recommendation on JB Hi-Fi. 

According to Chris Conway, head of research at Australian Stock Report, there are at least two main drivers for the electronics/electrical retailer’s out performance. “We can see continuing strong electrical sales driven primarily by hardware upgrades. 

Then there is the tailwind from the recent federal budget’s tax incentive for capital equipment purchases for small businesses,” Conway said. 


“If we see any clarity on new product leading into Christmas, in particular the company’s plans on selling ‘drones’, it could keep the market excited. This is a major potential item for sale, and like others in the history of the company (computers, tablets, game consoles, digital cameras, audio-visual), should not be under-estimated,” Conway said.

Bitter E3 Style Infighting Revealed After Voluntary Administration

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The CEO of Queensland based distributor E3 Style Vanessa Garrard claims that her Company, has not been placed into liquidation, she claims that E3 Style, which is suffering from cash flow problems, was deliberately placed into voluntary administration.

Garrard claims that the Company ‘became the largest licensed electronics distributor in Australia’ and that “her” Company will continue to trade, and that she has every intention of fulfilling all existing orders. She has not said whether she has the ongoing financial capacity to fund the placing of further orders with overseas manufacturers.

Documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission clearly states that a registered “Liquidator” Domenico Alessandro Calabretta has been appointed as an External Administrator to the Company.

E3 Style, called in the administrators on April 15, Domenic Calabretta from Mackay Goodwin was appointed voluntary administrator, he has not returned our calls.

A creditors’ meeting is scheduled for April 28 in Brisbane, past clients of E3 Style are Dick Smith who dropped using E3 Style instead choosing to run their own house brand sourcing operation, along with JB Hi Fi who also cut their relationship with E3 over problematic deliveries and contracts.

It’s believed that revenues have slumped from around $23M in 2012 to sub $15M this year.

The business claims that it holds the licenses for branded Star Wars, Batman, Scooby-Doo!, Hot Wheels and The Simpsons products. ChannelNews understands that the Company has lost some license rights this year.

Also placed into administration is KreativeDNA Pty Ltd which is a E3 Style related Company.

Garrard, claims that the decision to place the Company into administration was a direct result of claims against the Company including a statutory demand from a business linked with Crawford Giles the CEO of Powermove who are a highly successful consumer electronics distributor based in South Australia.

She is also describing the current Supreme Court action between The Crest Company asnd E3 Style as being based on “theft of information”.

Garrard claims everyone will be paid in full when the administration is completed however she has not explained what will happen if both the Court cases that E3 Style are involved with go against the Company.

Estimated costs spanning the original claims and the cost of running the action against The Crest Company which has already ran up legal bills of $2M for both sides in the case could total over $3M.

When asked about the decision to place the Company into administration she said “This is to control the situation,” Garrard says.

Garrard who is embroiled in a messy court case with her former employers, The Crest Company claims that the E3 v Tomkins & Crest Court case that is being played out in the Queensland Supreme Court has cost E3 almost $1million to date and E3 Style, will continue on with the court case as the “direct financial impact to E3 “was substantial”.

Garrard is claiming that E3 incurred losses as a result of actions taken by The Crest Company and a former Crest employee Michael Tomkins who quit E3 to take on a role at Crest.


Garrard also claims that she was never employed as a PA or worked in the Crest call centre.

Investigations by ChannelNews reveal that Garrard was not PA to a senior director at The Crest Company for 4 years she also worked in the outbound Crest sales team.

Information has also been supplied to ChannelNews, that Crest management who Garrard later had a major falling out with, provided a $1,000 advance against her wages when she first started at the Company that E3 Style are now taking action against.

We have also been told that Garrard while employed in a sales role at Crest she was responsible for the loss of a $500,000 contract to supply Sanity Music, the fallout over the Garrard negotiated contract led to Sanity terminating their relationship with Crest.

Garrard told ChannelNews in one email “I have had a hard upbringing – I built this business with $10,000 and I built up almost $120k in debt on credit cards”.

She also claimed in the same correspondence that both Crawford Giles the CEO of Powermove and Dirk Olbertz who E3 is also suing are executives who have been “spoon fed”.

In correspondence with ChannelNews Garrard also claims that E3 Style has “not been sued for “over $250,000.00” by “Powermove”.

Crawford Giles of Powermove is, through another entity, beneficially entitled to a significant shareholding in E3 Style.

She then in the next sentence said “The references to the litigation with Powermove and funding issues do not disclose that Powermove failed to honour payments for orders placed by it with E3 Style under their Distribution Agreement”.

Garrard went on to claim that “As a result E3 Style funded those orders separately so as to ensure its customers receive their orders”

She said that “Reference to struggling to fund orders are limited to orders Powermove failed to honour and E3 was then put in a position to fund those which is outside of E3 normal business model, E3 did however fund those orders”.

The actual amount that Crawford Giles is claiming from Garrard is believed to be $285,000.

Garrard said that she has never advised anyone that Harvey Norman is buying into the business of E3 Style.
She also claims that “the Commonwealth Bank continue to be a banking partner but do not fund the company’s operations”.

She has not said whether the Commonwealth Bank has suspended borrowings to E3 Style or whether the Commonwealth Bank is a creditor of E3 Style.

She also said that her business partners were bought out, and that neither “quit”.

“Director’s don’t “quit”, they sell their shares” she said.

Garrard has not return calls made to her.

Ogilvy PR Owners Report Massive Loss

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STW the owner of Ogilvy Public Relations, Howorth and Pulse the PR Company for brands such as Microsoft, Toshiba, E Bay, Netflix, Canon and Activision has reported a massive $52.6 million loss.

This compares to a profit in 2014 of $44.6M. STW who is one of Australia largest marketing and communication Companies is currently undergoing a major restructure. It is not known whether Ogilvy PR, Howorth or Pulse were contributors to the Companies losses. 

While net revenue was up by 1.6 per cent to $416m, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were down by 7.8 per cent to $76.8m.

“After a disappointing finish to 2014, the company undertook a strategic and structural review during the course of 2015 and made tough decisions to restructure the business,” STW chief executive Mike Connaghan said.

“We have implemented a number of initiatives designed to drive deeper engagement with each of our business, coupled with stronger financial and management oversight.”

It is the first result since STW announced it would merge with the Australian and New Zealand business of global advertising giant WPP.

Two Big Investment Groups Team Up To Bid For Big W

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Big W, Woolworths struggling department store, has been targeted by private equity giants TPG and The Blackstone Group who are believed to have teamed in an effort to take control of the mass retailer.

While no formal bid has been made Fairfax Media are tipping that an offer is being formalised. 

The Carlyle Group who has been tipped as a potential acquirer of Big W denied its involvement. 

The two most pressing issues for the Woolworths board who are believed to have been in talks with Roger Corbett the former Fairfax Chairman and Woolworths CEO are the performance of the retail giant’s hardware chain Masters (a joint venture with United States-based retailer Lowe’s) and its discount department store chain Big W. 

The latter has been beset by a number of problems including sliding market share and the bungled roll-out of a logistics platform. 

The poor performance of Big W was again highlighted by the quarterly sales results of Woolworths and Wesfarmers.

While Wesfarmers’ discount department stores delivered strong same-store sales – the Kmart chain delivered growth of 8.6 per cent, and Target 3.2 per cent – same store sales at Big W were down 8.1 per cent and total sales were down 7.9 per cent.

Woolworths’ share price has fallen more than 20 per cent since the start of the year as concerns have grown up its ability to compete with rival Coles (owned by conglomerate Wesfarmers) and its loss making ventures.

Motorola Shares Headphones With Microsoft

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BARCELONA (Reuters) – Motorola has said on Monday it had signed a deal to use Windows Media technology from Microsoft in a new range of music phones that would sell alongside its iTunes phone developed with Apple.

Motorola, the world’s second biggest mobile phone maker behind Nokia will launch between one and three Windows Media phones in the second half of 2006, said Chris White, the company’s senior director of global product marketing for music handsets. Motorola, which launched its first iTunes phones last year, will keep Windows Media phones as separate products, he said.

“The iTunes phones will remain a separate line of products,” White said at 3GSM, the world’s biggest mobile phone trade fair. At stake is the emerging market for legally distributed digital music, which Apple Computer Inc. has opened with its iTunes music player. Apple has sold 1 billion tracks since iTunes launched.

Microsoft is trying to break into the digital media market with Windows Media software, which is incompatible with Apple’s, to compress, transfer and protect media.
Motorola said the new Windows Media phones have been requested by many operators which want to open their own music stores. Microsoft is willing to sell technology that enables this to operators, while Apple has its iTunes music store to protect.

MUSIC ACCESS

Motorola aimed to take a bite from Apple’s digital music success when it announced more than a year ago it would start producing iTunes phones.

But the resulting product has proved a mediocre success due to limited storage capacity as the phone was not allowed to compete with Apple’s popular iPod players, which can store thousands of songs and which are essential to Apple’s recent financial success. The iTunes phone’s bulky design and the fact that operators cannot sell and transfer songs directly to the phone also hampered its take-up.

Support of mobile telecoms operators for a handset is crucial, because they choose a limited number of phones they will subsidize and offer to their subscribers — in most markets around the world only 10 to 20 percent of phones are sold in retail stores without operator subsidies. “We’re developing these (Windows Media) phones in parallel with operator requirements,” White said.

The Windows Media phones will be able to download music over the air, sold by operators, and also directly from a computer. “This is important for consumers to get broader and wider access to digital content,” White said. Amir Majidimehr, in charge of Microsoft’s digital media activities, said the advantage for consumers was that they could now buy online songs either from a PC or a mobile phone and transfer between devices without having to buy tracks twice.

Microsoft now has deals with both Nokia and Motorola. These two handset makers together produced more than half of the 810 million mobile phones that were sold last year. Nokia announced a deal to include Windows Media in some of its phones last year at 3GSM. Nokia has helped set up mobile phone software firm Symbian which competes with Windows Mobile, Microsoft’s technology for handsets.

In addition to Windows Media, the Nokia phones will also contain an open standard for the transfer and protection of songs and video. Motorola said its Windows Media phones may also support this standard from the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). “It’s possible that we may support OMA. This is not an exclusive deal,” White said.

The OMA standard has suffered, however, from endless haggling over licensing terms in negotiations with key patent holders that have been gridlocked for more than a year. The patents are owned by a small group of companies, including Sony , Philips , Intertrust, ContentGuard and Microsoft.


 

Dick Smith Receiver Sale Described As One Big “Con”.

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The Dick Smith receivers, Ferrier Hodgson are believed to be under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over their so called ‘Receivers Sale’.

According to sources complaints have been lodged with the

ACCC concerning the discounts being offered.

An Investigation by ChannelNews and SmartHouse reveals that

several branded goods such as LG and Samsung TV’s are significantly more

expensive at Dick Smith stores than at Harvey Norman, JB Hi Fi or Bing Lee

stores.

A Samsung 60″ TV model number UA60J6200 is being marked

up at Dick Smith stores in Chadstone, Victoria at $1,819.

The same TV is selling for $134 cheaper at Harvey Norman. To

further seduce consumers into buying this model the Dick Smith receivers are

offering ‘Receiver Sale’ saving of $230.


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Harvey Norman is not offering any sale discounts.

An LG 60″ Smart TV 60LF6300 is ranged in the Dick Smith

receiver sale at $1,899, the same TV is being sold for $1,679 a saving of $220.

Ironically Dick Smith claims that consumers are saving $600

by buying this TV from their stores.

In both the PC wearable and accessories categories goods are

more expensive at Dick Smith stores than at other consumer electronics stores.

A sales assistant at one major Victorian store said.

“Consumers are coming into the store believing that there are bargains

because we have been placed under administration, when they check on their

smartphones, what price the same goods are selling for in other stores they

leave. There really is no sale, it’s all one big con”.

A Chadstone staff member said “Things were cheaper when

Dick Smith was running the stores. As soon as the receivers moved in we were

told to jack up prices. I suppose the banks want to get their money as quick as

they can. It’s not looking good”.

Earlier this week Ferrier Hodgson moved to close 27 Dick

Smith concessions stores at David Jones stores throughout Australia.

At one concession store in Victoria a Manager said

“Dick Smith at David Jones has never worked. In some cases, prices were

higher in a concession store than at a regular Dick Smith stores. Woolworths

was going to dump Dick Smith anyway prior to the Company being placed into

administration.

The Electronics Powered by Dick Smith outlets within David

Jones employ two full-time employees, 78 part-time workers, and 101 casual

staffers.

In other moves Ferrier Hodgson has moved to advertising the

Dick Smith stores in Asia.

Back in November when we identified that Dick Smith stores

were struggling a potential buyer from Hong Kong approached ChannelNews to obtain

information about the stores.

They said at the time that doubted that there was any

“value” left in Dick Smith stores.

According to sources still working at the mass retailer all

of the management associated with Nick Aboud have “gone”.

“The receivers have already drawn up a plan to mass

close stores, during the past weeks they have bought operational costs under

control” they said.

Ferrier Hodgson retail partner James Stewart “We don’t

want to leave any stone unturned,” said Ferrier Hodgson retail partner

James Stewart, who took control of Dick Smith’s 393 stores at the behest of

lenders on January 5 after the company appointed McGrathNicol administrators.

“Most of the world’s consumer electronics retailers are

supplied through Asian markets.  We want

to make sure we give everyone an opportunity,” Mr Stewart said.

Ferrier Hodgson claim that they have has received at last 50

expressions of interest for Dick Smith’s assets but according to sources, most

were organisations who took copies of the offer document which contained

historical sales data, store locations a detailed 70-page information

memorandum to selected parties.

The deadline for non-binding expressions of interest closing

today Wednesday 27th of January.

The receivers claim that they have already commenced

discussions with a core group of serious buyers and will draw up a formal short

list after the offer deadline closes this week.

Mr Stewart told Fairfax Media that he welcomed the decision

by the administrator, McGrathNicol, to seek to postpone the second meeting of

Dick Smith’s creditors until August, saying it would give the receivers more

time to complete asset sales and liaise with landlords.