Xtra-Vision

manna452121

Looks like some problems:http://www.insolvencyjournal.ie/news_more_details/11-05-05/Interim_Examiner_appointed_to_Xtra-Vision.aspx

maxer68

No problems there except they want greedy landlords to drop rents to manageable levels and are using a legal procedure to do so.

It's happened with many companies and nearly all end up stronger because of it.

Hal Emmerich

Irish Times

Operating profit of more than €1m for Xtra-vision

XTRA-VISION MADE an operating profit of more than €1 million in the first four months following its purchase by the Dublin firm Birchall Investments.



But the performance of the home entertainment company fell short of the level at which Birchall would have had to pay the former owners, Blockbuster, an additional payment of €12 million.


Accounts for Birchall Investments, which owns 100 per cent of Xtra-vision, show that it made an operating profit of €1.1 million on turnover of €52.9 million in the period from August 18th, 2009, until January 3rd, 2010.


The pretax profit for the period was smaller at €155,000, as Birchall paid interest charges of €227,000 and a bank arrangement fee of €718,000.
Birchall Investments, a vehicle comprising of Dublin investment company Pageant Holdings and a fund run by NCB Stockbrokers, bought the home entertainment rental chain from US group Blockbuster in August 2009.


The accounts reveal that Xtra-vision was acquired by Birchall for €20 million. A price tag of €32 million was cited at the time of the sale, but €12 million of this consideration was contingent on the firm’s financial performance in the final quarter of 2009. However, business at the chain did not reach the level at which the higher payment would have been triggered.
“Based on the period end results, no further amount is payable,” the accounts state.


The directors noted the “difficult” economic background and climate of declining retail sales in Ireland during 2009.
Its performance in the period compares to a pretax profit of €6.2 million in the full year to January 2009.


Xtra-vision faces intensifying competition from the online download market, postal DVD services and lower sales prices for physical DVDs. In recent years, its computer game sales are likely to have been affected by the decision of high street games retailers to stock second-hand titles.
Xtra-vision employs more than 1,400 people in Ireland, with payroll costs totalling €7.9 million for the four-month period.


The directors of Birchall are Peter O’Grady Walshe, Nick Furlong, Michael Murphy and Leo Hamill.


The acquisition of Xtra-vision was part-funded by a €7 million bank loan. As certain liabilities were assumed by the new owner, the net consideration payable was reduced to €15.8 million. The company has since repaid €6 million of its debt.
Xtra-vision, which operates 184 retail stores in Ireland, is understood to be in talks to take over some stores operated by its financially troubled rival Chartbusters.

Xtravision to cut workers pay.

They raised prices instore during a recession aswell. I couldn't believe that. They nearly deserve to fail for doing that, wouldn't like to see it happen though all the same.

antoinolachtnai

It is a shrinking business in a shrinking economy with fixed costs and an increasing interest bill on its debt.

wmpdd3

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

It is a shrinking business in a shrinking economy with fixed costs and an increasing interest bill on its debt.

True, but DVD and gaming sale sections are increasing in supermarkets, why can't they diversify?

Pablo Sanchez

wmpdd3 wrote: »

True, but DVD and gaming sale sections are increasing in supermarkets, why can't they diversify?

The likes of Tesco would probably have bigger buying power then the likes of Xtravision so they can probably undercut whatever Xtravision have to offer.

wmpdd3

Same supplier.

Vain

Tbh I have never seen xtravision so busy as it is at the moment. The popcorn movie deal seems to be doing good.

Tangly

When you have 100% turnover of part timers,shops that are untidy because of low staffing,bad working conditions,managers expected to be available 24 hours a day,a task orientated mentality,clueless district managers what do you expect?
I managed in xtravision for a year.When i had my interview the district manager at the time said the job was all about "fire fighting".I thought it was a joke,it wasn't.Coming from Woolworths in england i was gobsmacked at the utter disorganisation,rude head office staff,chaos,stress,cock ups and working conditions.I was told this is normal.:eek:
They will fail in a shrinking market because they cannot diversify,they never could.They spend money on advertising products that you cannot buy instore and cannot rent because by 6pm friday night they're all out.
I was pretty disgusted they left part time girls on their own in the evening to run the store,how safe is that?.Health and Safety was a joke as was the union.
If they go down the pan i feel sorry for some of the good people who still put up with the shoddy way they are treated.I can truely say it was the most miserable year of my working life.:(
Before i come across as bitter and twisted i'd like to say i'm very happy now.Needless to say i don't shop in xtravision anymore:)!

hdowney

wmpdd3 wrote: »

True, but DVD and gaming sale sections are increasing in supermarkets, why can't they diversify?

my local xtra vision has diversified. i cannot for the life of me buy my box sets in there anymore (and i always used to). they seem to be selling off all their stock of for sale dvds for cheap to get rid of them. there is now a whole section of disney merchandise (kinda like a disney store concession or something) in store where the game rentals were. they seem to be renting less game rentals unless you play xbox. xbox is the only games console i do NOT have

maxer68

Tangly wrote: »

When you have 100% turnover of part timers,shops that are untidy because of low staffing,bad working conditions,managers expected to be available 24 hours a day,a task orientated mentality,clueless district managers what do you expect?
I managed in xtravision for a year.When i had my interview the district manager at the time said the job was all about "fire fighting".I thought it was a joke,it wasn't.Coming from Woolworths in england i was gobsmacked at the utter disorganisation,rude head office staff,chaos,stress,cock ups and working conditions.I was told this is normal.:eek:
They will fail in a shrinking market because they cannot diversify,they never could.They spend money on advertising products that you cannot buy instore and cannot rent because by 6pm friday night they're all out.
I was pretty disgusted they left part time girls on their own in the evening to run the store,how safe is that?.Health and Safety was a joke as was the union.
If they go down the pan i feel sorry for some of the good people who still put up with the shoddy way they are treated.I can truely say it was the most miserable year of my working life.:(
Before i come across as bitter and twisted i'd like to say i'm very happy now.Needless to say i don't shop in xtravision anymore:)!

Sounds like a very disgruntled ex employee!

As for "part time girls left on their own in evening" - does it matter if they're full time or part time. The security systems in Xtravision are excellent & there's rarely a large amout of cash due to their mainly underground safe deposit system.

As for your comment that you "came from Woolworths" - weren't they castigated for the absmal way they ran their business into the ground and when they went wallop, they left million and millions owed to many businesses?

Xtravision have changed their model over the years and the current model would be making profits except for some very high rents. The interim examiner (independent) sasy so as does the high court and the owners are prepared to put €6m into the business and expand it further.

Oh, yeah, I used to work for them, but they only had 15 stores back then and betamax was still avaialble:D. Damn, showing my age.

coylemj

maxer68 wrote: »

As for your comment that you "came from Woolworths" - weren't they castigated for the absmal way they ran their business into the ground and when they went wallop, they left million and millions owed to many businesses?

He wasn't running Woolworths so can hardly be blamed for how they ran their business, you're just throwing mud to discredit the messenger.

maxer68 wrote: »

Oh, yeah, I used to work for them, but they only had 15 stores back then and betamax was still avaialble:D. Damn, showing my age.

Yes and in those days they depreciated VHS tapes over 36 months meaning that after a blockbuster movie had been rented out 100 times in six months and it fell off the top ten rental charts, it was still on the books valued at 83% of it's original value. That's why the original Xtravision went bust, taking the money of thousands of small shareholders down the toilet.

But of course you weren't running Xtravision so we won't hold you to account for those fraudulent dodgy accounting practices.

Tangly

Sounds like a very disgruntled ex employee!

Not at all.I found their business practices amusing to say the least.

As for "part time girls left on their own in evening" - does it matter if they're full time or part time. The security systems in Xtravision are excellent & there's rarely a large amout of cash due to their mainly underground safe deposit system.

My local store has no camera,i know this because i worked there and i still know people who work there.I also know it to be the case that other stores have ancient vhs recorders and one single camera.To think that having security systems is going to prevent people being spat on,verbally abused and having stock throw at them is naive to say the least.Safety of people before money should be the issue always.Having no less than 2 people on a shift should be the companies priority.It isn't.

As for your comment that you "came from Woolworths" - weren't they castigated for the absmal way they ran their business into the ground and when they went wallop, they left million and millions owed to many businesses?
Errr no they weren't castigated by anyone.People got large redundancies and the business was wound down gradually under administration.
As for leaving millions owed,name me one business that goes belly up that doesn't owe anybody?The bigger the business the bigger the debt,that's a no brainer.

Xtravision have changed their model over the years and the current model would be making profits except for some very high rents. The interim examiner (independent) sasy so as does the high court and the owners are prepared to put €6m into the business and expand it further.

I'm starting to think you still work for xtravision?They are struggling to make money in leisure product.I was told by a member of higher management the company were recession proof which made me laugh at the level of arrogance.That 6 million that's going to put in the business is to keep them afloat,that's the reality.We're heading into another great summer which again will kill them but obviously you wouldn't think so.

Oh, yeah, I used to work for them, but they only had 15 stores back then and betamax was still avaialble:D. Damn, showing my age.

What you're failing to see is the writings on the wall in big letters,if they don't go under this year it'll be next.Obviously credit insurers have lost faith in their ability to generate cash to pay the bills,there are redundancies on the way,fact.As soon as Blockbusters flogged them they lost a huge amount of buying power which must have impacted on the profit margins harshly.When you blame the weather for not making money somethings wrong.

hookie al

Tangly wrote: »

When you have 100% turnover of part timers,shops that are untidy because of low staffing,bad working conditions,managers expected to be available 24 hours a day,a task orientated mentality,clueless district managers what do you expect?
I managed in xtravision for a year.When i had my interview the district manager at the time said the job was all about "fire fighting".I thought it was a joke,it wasn't.Coming from Woolworths in england i was gobsmacked at the utter disorganisation,rude head office staff,chaos,stress,cock ups and working conditions.I was told this is normal.:eek:
They will fail in a shrinking market because they cannot diversify,they never could.They spend money on advertising products that you cannot buy instore and cannot rent because by 6pm friday night they're all out.
I was pretty disgusted they left part time girls on their own in the evening to run the store,how safe is that?.Health and Safety was a joke as was the union.
If they go down the pan i feel sorry for some of the good people who still put up with the shoddy way they are treated.I can truely say it was the most miserable year of my working life.:(
Before i come across as bitter and twisted i'd like to say i'm very happy now.Needless to say i don't shop in xtravision anymore:)!

xtravision is a joke of a company to work for .... most stores were way overstocked very poor stock management from headoffice , it was ok for store managers to write off high value items that went "missing" the audit department was a joke i had an employed that "borrowed" games from stock had them for 3 months and said he was going to pay for them but forgot ... he got a slap on wrist theft is theft no matter how you dress it up , xv rebranded all their store mid last year trying to make them all look uniform which in a way was not a bad thing to do , but at at time when they cut staff wages , cut working hrs in shops its not right !! xv said customer comes first , staff to interact more with customer then turn around and cut staffing hrs in each store ,so staff barely have time to say hello and goodbye to customers , bad decisions to wipe customer debts of and let reoffenders rent and run up massive debts again and again , no xv store has less than 20k fines on their books at any given time 20k x 180 stores 3.6m !!! .. there is a lot of deadwood in xv , put saying that there is a lot of bright intelligent staff that are not listened to , its time to stop running it like a little corner video shop , talk to your customers more importantly listen to them , we are seeing a decline in music/dvds stores all the time xv always sit on fence saying they want to compete with the likes of gamestop or hmv but never give 100% to compete against them then turn around and blame managers or staff for their failings .. the board of directors have failed xv , they are living in golden eras .. even yesterday they sent a letter to stores saying turnover is down 40% since 2007 !! surely you can only base your turnover on a year for year basis ??? ... days are numbered im afraid unless drastic action taken ,

coylemj

What amused me the most about Xtravision was that you had to register seperately in each shop. I had a card with my name and a number on it from a store near where I worked but if I went into a different store they needed to register me again - no centralised customer database!

robo

coylemj wrote: »

What amused me the most about Xtravision was that you had to register seperately in each shop. I had a card with my name and a number on it from a store near where I worked but if I went into a different store they needed to register me again - no centralised customer database!

I think that this is now changed - I could be wrong, but I have used a card issued in one part of Dublin in another store.

maxer68

coylemj wrote: »

He wasn't running Woolworths so can hardly be blamed for how they ran their business, you're just throwing mud to discredit the messenger.

Read what tangly said "Coming from Woolworths in england i was gobsmacked at the utter disorganisation,rude head office staff,chaos,stress,cock ups and working conditions."

In a way he/she is saying that Woolworths were brilliant when the total opposite was the truth.

As for your comment about depreciation - my time there was even before that time. It was a small private company and you could drive around all the stores in one day. - and if you were blonde and good looking, you'd get a company jeep:D:D:D.

coylemj

maxer68 wrote: »

Read what tangly said "Coming from Woolworths in england i was gobsmacked at the utter disorganisation,rude head office staff,chaos,stress,cock ups and working conditions."

In a way he/she is saying that Woolworths were brilliant when the total opposite was the truth.

He didn't comment in any way on how well or badly Woolworths was run. My reading of his comments was that he had experience of working for a large retail chain and therefore felt qualified to comment on the shambolic way that Xtravision was run.

maxer68 wrote: »

...and if you were blonde and good looking, you'd get a company jeep:D:D:D.

Yes the original owner was known for his 'casting couch' recruitment procedures, I remember watching out for the jeeps because you knew there'd be a cracker of a blonde behind the wheel.

maxer68

coylemj wrote: »

Yes the original owner was known for his 'casting couch' recruitment procedures, I remember watching out for the jeeps because you knew there'd be a cracker of a blonde behind the wheel.

I could never comment on that :D nor on nights in the Pink Elephant or Strings:D.

Damn...those days were good!

ElNino

Blockbuster in the US went into Chapter 11 and was recently taken over by Dish Networks - a satellite TV company.

As broadband speeds improve, streaming of rental movies is going to become more popular and I would venture a guess that in five years time you wou won't be able to rent a physical DVD or Bluray anywhere. Hard to see a long term future for Xtra-vision unless they get into the streaming business and shut most of their shops.

Amalgam

ElNino, there's also the matter of the price of purchase, nowadays, almost being as low as the price of rental. If a buyer waits a bit, this is the case after a relatively short lenght of time.

Tangly

coylemj wrote: »

He didn't comment in any way on how well or badly Woolworths was run. My reading of his comments was that he had experience of working for a large retail chain and therefore felt qualified to comment on the shambolic way that Xtravision was run.



Yes the original owner was known for his 'casting couch' recruitment procedures, I remember watching out for the jeeps because you knew there'd be a cracker of a blonde behind the wheel.

Thankyou mate,i came from an organised business to a shambles.At no time in my retail career have i ever worked for a brilliant company,plenty of brilliant people yes.Woolworths was run very well for decades,markets change and businesses fall by the wayside large and small.This isn't a new concept.
The xtravision i worked for treated their staff like cannon fodder and was a company of assumption and excuses with very poor leadership.

Blondes in jeeps?Draw your own conclusions on that one.lol.

ps3lover

i dont want xtra vision to close down. for years ive been using them to get cheap ps3 games and blu rays. it's dead easy to rent this stuff on other peoples accounts and never return it. 90% of the time you don't get asked for ID and if they do you just cause a fuss until they give you the games. I have saved a fortune on buying games and blu rays this way so i really hope they don't close down because I don't want to go back to paying full price for them.

Hal Emmerich

ps3lover wrote: »

i dont want xtra vision to close down. for years ive been using them to get cheap ps3 games and blu rays. it's dead easy to rent this stuff on other peoples accounts and never return it.

Whos accounts?

ps3lover wrote: »

90% of the time you don't get asked for ID and if they do you just cause a fuss until they give you the games.

Can't see this working anymore since they got everyone to update accounts.

noodler

ps3lover wrote: »

i dont want xtra vision to close down. for years ive been using them to get cheap ps3 games and blu rays. it's dead easy to rent this stuff on other peoples accounts and never return it. 90% of the time you don't get asked for ID and if they do you just cause a fuss until they give you the games. I have saved a fortune on buying games and blu rays this way so i really hope they don't close down because I don't want to go back to paying full price for them.

Could you keep your criminal activities to yourself please?

dudara

Well done on your fraudulent activities.

Thread closed as it's starting to go downhill

dudara