Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Nice Retirement Present

https://www.couriermail.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=CMWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.couriermail.com.au%2Fbusiness%2Fcitybeat%2Fhutchies-boss-given-100-grand-sports-car-as-going-away-gift%2Fnews-story%2F156e494458138c86b4d5d0f6a03e8fb5&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-high-control-score&V21spcbehaviour=append

I can't read the article but the picture sure looks like a nice Morgan to me. I wish I got one for my retirement, I got a $50 Bunnings (Hardware shop) voucher that I used the first day.

Seems to require a subscription on this side of the pond.

Your link is to a member only news feed Chris irrespective of where we are. All we can see is thumbnail.

There is at least a summary with the thumbnail...



I assume he was a very successful boss to get a retirement gift like that. Chris's mention of Bunnings has reminded me that not all Australian companies have competent management

The most disastrous retail acquisition in the UK ever

I am not a member of that newspaper, I was hoping someone was to post the whole story but I don't expect anyone is.

Thanks Ian for posting the thumbnail, I should have done that myself to start with. It looks like a Morgan Roadster or Plus 4 to me based on the width or the front guards. I wonder if it was planned 3 years ago when it was possible to order a 2019 car or whether it was purchased second hand. Based on a price of $100k AUD in the title I expect a second hand Plus 4 but not that old. It certainly would have made me happy.

Personalised plates in Australia can be up to 7 digits long but cost a fair bit. The price in Queensland is $3500, ACT where I live is $3224.70 No idea what GOATRPR stands for, doesn't look like part of his name at all.

That article certainly looks like Bunnings is not doing well in the UK at all. They are an odd store, very big with a huge range of products but generally the cheaper end of hardware, some items make me think I am in the $2 discount store. The local store in only 10 minutes away with a huge carpark but on the weekend it is normally so crowded sometimes you can't get a carpark, luckily they are open to 9:00pm during the week so I often go down then when it is nearly empty. My wife inherited a stack of shares when her mother died, overall the share prices are doing OK but noting to get excited over.

Bunnings takeover of Homebase in the UK was a total failure. Wesfarmers bought it in January 2016. Wesfarmers' management was not a success, which had included an attempt to rebrand the business under its Bunnings Warehouse name, and in August 2018, the business was sold to restructuring firm Hilco for £1.

Yes, I should have flagged that the article was from 2018 when the full extent of the debacle was coming to light. Bunnings had made no attempt to understand the UK market and had merely ripped out the interior of a number of their newly purchased stores and filled them with cheap power tools and giant barbecues. My local Homebase was one of the first to succumb. It spent a year packed with Ozzie products and no customers. As GrumpyPa said, eventually Bunnings threw in the towel ... 1 billion Ozzie dollars the poorer. The Homebase signs went back up and my local store was again refitted to look much as it had before.

I love a good corporate incompetence story and this one is up there with the Hoover "Free Flights" fiasco (which resulted in the parent company exiting Europe for good) and Volkswagen taking over Rolls Royce Motors but neglecting to buy the name.