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EXCLUSIVE:Gerry Harvey Gives Disgraced Kleenmaid Director A Job

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Andrew Young a former director of bankrupt appliance business Kleenmaid and Gerry Harvey have become the flowepot men after Gerry gave the disgraced Young a job running a NSW, agricultural business that was placed into administration earlier this year.

Andrew Young, who is facing 20 criminal charges in Queensland following the $100M collapse of the Queensland based Kleenmaid business is now running a new business called Family Fresh Foods.

has also been linked with another NSW based appliance business called Fulgor Milano in Willoughby NSW.

The business sells Italian appliances. 

According to sources close to Andrew Young the disgraced director has travelled to Europe and China recently, “looking at how to best grow vegetables hydroponically”.

The business Agrifresh NSW Pty Limited was placed into administration in February 2015.

Shortly afterwards Gerry Harvey acquired the assets of the business which was renamed Family Fresh Foods, he then got Andrew Young to take over the running of the business” despite him having very little knowledge about agriculture” said one source. 

According to the source, Young who is facing 7-10 years in jail if convicted on the fraud charges, has already started to “throw his weight” around in the new business much to the dislike of the staff at the Peats Ridge business.
 
A person close to Young said “Why Gerry Harvey would give this guy a job running a business is beyond logic. Young has been big noting himself with staff. When Gerry Harvey was confronted by the appointment he said that he had known Andrew Young for several years and that he was pretty smart”. 

The source who does not want to be named said “This is a person who is facing a lengthy jail term if convicted. He is currently living above an appliance shop he is involved in running in NSW, one has to seriously question where all the money has come from that the family of Andrew Young has been able to invest in new businesses”.

They added “Brad Young his brother who is also facing criminal charges is involved in the running of two shoe shops, one in Chatswood NSW, and the other in Long Beach California, they would have had to have access to spare cash or investors who don’t care about their backgrounds to fund these businesses”. 

 This week three former directors of the Queensland based Kleenmaid Group were set to stand trial on  20 criminal charges, including a $13 million fraud against Westpac following the collapse of Kleenmaid.

At the time Kleenmaid operated 22 stores (including 15 franchise stores), and employed over 200 staff, more than 10,000 people were left with debts as a result of the collapse.

6000 Kleenmaid customers lost over $28.5 million alone, among them were hundreds who had purchased faulty products and when they went to claim on their warranty found that the warranty claims were worthless.

Police charged the directors Bradley Young, Andrew Young and Gary Armstrong with 18 charges of insolvent trading.

Neither Andrew Young or Gerry Harvey have commented for this story. 

Consumers Give New Microsoft Store A Miss But They Are Flocking To Apple

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Ten days ago it was a massive rent a crowd that was flocking into the new Microsoft store in Sydney, lured by free goodies and concert tickets.

Now the rent a crowd has gone and Microsoft staff are left to talk to themselves as real consumers desert the store in droves.

A visit to the store today by ChannelNews revealed that there were more people looking for help with their Windows smartphones and notebooks than what was there was customers looking to buy a new product.
 
Two people that ChannelNews spoke to said that the only reason that they were there was because they were having problems with a Windows 10 migration. 

The below image was taken at 10 55am today Wednesday 25th of November 2015.


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No customers, but lots of staff talking to themselves at the Microsoft store.


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Meanwhile at the nearby Apple store consumers were flocking around display cabinets to get a look at the latest Apple products. 

Ironically the Apple Watch counter was deserted. 


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Meanwhile the Apple store which is one street away from the Microsoft store was packed with consumers buying Apple products.

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It’s interesting that Apple staff have changed their T Shirts from their traditional blue to red to match Microsoft staff.


Microsoft staff have told ChannelNews that traffic is “slow” and that very few customers end up buying a product at the Microsoft store. 

Ten days ago Microsoft spin doctors Ogilvy PR was trying to convince the Australian media that there was a need for a Microsoft store.

 They even pulled in hundreds of people lured by the offer of free gifts, tickets to concerts. They saids the store would be as popular as the Apple store, they said there was a need for the store.

They even said that Microsoft products along with the new Windows 10 generated “genuine” consumer appeal.  

It’s believed that Microsoft went out of their way to appeal to Asian markets with the bulk of those who turned up for their free Microsoft experience being Australian and Asian nationals.

Microsoft management are not saying how many people have been through their new store.

Another store that attracted more people than Microsoft was attracting was the nearby Samsung store, where people queued to talk to a Samsung sales assistant. 


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Samsung Store George Street

EXCLUSIVE: David Jones Tipped To Be Running Ruler Over Harris Farm Markets

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The Woolworths SA owned retailer David Jones is believed to be in discussions to buy the Harris Farm Markets chain of food stores.

According to sources both retailers have held discussions with a deal tipped to be in the making. 

David Jones management believe that Australian consumers are becoming increasingly willing to pay a premium for “quality” food similar to what Harris Farm are currently selling.


ChannelNews understands that the model that David Jones are looking to replicate in Australia is the UK Waitrose model, with the Company also looking to sell small food appliances used for cooking at their new premium food locations which will sell also sell combination of precooked foods, meats gourmet foods, and organic fresh food. 

“People these days want real food and there’s a big movement towards real food, from farm to table,” said Jones the Grocer chief executive Mark Watson. “As people get more educated about food there’s definitely room [for more].”


Mr Watson said Jones the Grocer, which opened its first store in Sydney’s Woollahra in 1996, was not surprised to hear that South African food and clothing retailer Woolworths Holdings had appointed one of its executives to revamp David Jones’ ageing food halls and investigate opening a chain of upmarket food stores.

Former David Jones chief executive Peter Wilkinson agreed, saying Australian consumers had a strong appetite for high-quality premium food where the provenance was indisputable and customers were able to track the entire supply chain.

“There’s no doubt there’s been a material emergence of people that care deeply about what they’re eating – I think Australia is ready for it,” Mr Wilkinson said.

Mr Wilkinson, who was chief executive of David Jones for seven years, ultimately lost his job after a failed foray into gourmet food that cost the department store chain $120 million between 2000 and 2003.

Why Harvey Norman Should Be Concerned About Good Guys JB Hi Fi Deal

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The move by JB Hi Fi to run a ruler over Good Guys makes sense and the timing is right.

JB Hi Fi needs to deliver growth and their move into selling appliance has been frustrated by a combination of stumbling blocks which the acquisition of The Good Guys would fix.

Appliances and white goods is where the profit margins are and the two big players in the Australian market are Harvey Norman and The Good Guys.

Out of these two The Good Guys is the biggest appliance seller of the two.

JB Hi Fi on the other hand has been looking to expand into the appliance market which is worth around $1.6 Billion dollars a year and highly profitable for retailers, but they have two major problems that the acquisition of The Good Guys would fix, store size and relationships with suppliers.

Several big brands have only given JB Hi Fi selected appliance products to sell but the price has been higher that what Harvey Norman and The Good Guys are able to buy white goods for, despite this they have they have had a lot of success selling appliances because they have what is acknowledged in the industry as “the best retail management team in the business”.

However, JB Hi Fi needs faster acceleration of their appliance strategy which while on track is limited by supply and store sizes.

If a deal did go ahead big appliance brands that have been giving Harvey Norman and the Good Guys better terms than JB Hi Fi face working with a group that will have massive buying power across both consumer electronics and appliances.

As soon as JB Hi Fi announced a move into appliances, two years ago, Harvey Norman moved to expand their appliance offering by expanding house brand appliances while at the same time cutting better deals with suppliers. 
The JB Hi Fi board, aware of this have now triggered a play that could have a major impact on Harvey Norman.

What they doing is sticking their finger to the wind to litmus test the markets attitude.

Last year JB Hi Fi had revenues of $3.3B, Harvey Norman 4.95B. By combing The Good Guys business JB Hi Fi would have revenues of over $5B which makes them a real threat to both Harvey Norman, Winnings, Bing Lee and the buying group NARTA.

ChannelNews understands that JB Hi Fi has opened the bidding at around $550M while the Muir family who own The Good Guys and a lot of The Good Guys stores are looking for between $850M and $1 Billion, but this is early days and the deal has a lot of potential for both sides.

Do the Muir family have to sell? No but they should seriously consider a deal with JB Hi Fi, because their options are limited.

The Muir family are currently netting more than $80M a year out of The Good Guys stores that are turning over between $1.8B and $2B.

The stores are also highly profitable and the Muir family own valuable properties that will continue to deliver rent. The stores are also well run by savvy South African management.

The big issue is whether the family want to stay in the retail business and whether they will take a price between the JB Hi Fi opening offer and what they believe the business is worth.

The answer could lie in an earn out deal as the market has no appetite for a retail float following the disastrous Dick Smith and Myer floats.

Several venture capital groups, overseas retailers and even JB Hi Fi have ran a ruler over The Good Guys in the past, and all have walked away empty handed, the latest being the South African Company, Steinhoff International Holdings who was looking at an acquisition price of over $800M to buy the group.

If the deal goes ahead the appliance market will then consist of two key groups Harvey Norman and JB Hi Fi, this will put pressure on Bing Lee who many expected JB Hi Fi to go after and Winnings who are believed to be struggling to grow sales due to a combination of factors, poor store traffic and white label sales by Aldi and the likes of Masters who will shortly exit the market.

The deal could also present problems for the NARTA Buying group as JB Hi Fi are their biggest customers, the only saviour will be if JB Hi Fi continue buying via the group a move that will cost them margin.

JB Hi Fi use NARTA to buy appliances and if they exit NARTA it could cause major problems for the group.

ChannelNews understands the David Jones board recently considered a major move to expand their appliances and consumer electronic goods offering. The move is still being considered.

The other big appeal for JB Hi Fi is that appliance are primarily purchased from stores and not online while consumer electronics is seeing a migration by consumers to online.

Appliances also have better margins and this combined with JB Hi Fi’s operational and management capability makes this the deal to be done.

COMMENT: Why No One in Their Right Mind Should Consider Foxtel

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Serious questions have got to be asked of Foxtel and their owners, News Corporation and Telstra, two Companies that put themselves up as being among the “Best out there” when it comes to service and the delivery of content to a set top box.

After returning from a three week, trip overseas, I recently discovered that my Foxtel iQ3 which is my second box in 12 months was refusing to let me get access to any Foxtel programs including free to air TV stations.

I also discovered that nearly all my Foxtel recordings were blocked and nothing had been recorded for three weeks. The message “Entitlement Loss” was splashed across all my recorded programs.
Despite my bill being paid I was presented with a message saying that an “upgrade was required” before I could access any Foxtel Channel. After checking the software update in settings, I could see clearly that I had the latest software.

After rebooting the system which included removing the HDMI cable I was still unable to access my system.

In the past I, have often I have had to remove the HDMI cable simple to get a picture to the screen due to previous problems with the iQ3 box.

Ironically another iQ2 box which was in another room was operating normally without any access problems, this box is on the same account as my iQ3.

When called Foxtel support, my drama really started to unfold.

I was told that I did not own a Foxtel box, that my home phone number was not on the Foxtel system and that there was no Foxtel connection at my home. When I pointed out that I was a Foxtel customer via my Telstra account I was again told that I did not exist on the Foxtel network.

After giving my full name, address and home details five times to the Foxtel support representative, who kept referring to me as “Mr. David” I had the bright idea of going back to the box to access the SIM and serial number on my iQ3 box.

After handing over the codes I suddenly discovered that Bingo! I did exist.

Remember these are two big Australian organizations who are using uneducated call center staff in the Philippines who have still not worked out that consumers in Australia have Christian names and Surnames.

Despite this the support staff insisted on again rebooting the box, and when this failed I had to reboot it again without the HDMI cable in.

When I pointed out that the box was constantly slow, struggled to find recorded content and was a pitiful excuse for a set top box especially as Foxtel is one of the most expensive pay TV services in the world let alone Australia the operator finally concluded that I needed yet another new iQ3 box.

Currently there is over 250,000 of these boxes lying dead in a Homebush NSW warehouse this is despite News Corporation and their technology partner Telstra claiming that they have “The Best” streaming and content delivery system in Australia.
Not only have I lost all my recorded content I was also not offered any compensation for the inconvenience or loss of programs.

The frightening part is that Telstra, who are supposed to be the content and technical whiz kids in the Foxtel partnership were at CES 2017, spruiking their ability to deliver medical and health services and automated smarthouse technology.

They are also the same organization who have struggled to deliver a stable mobile network or constant broadband support.

Three days later I am still waiting for my third iQ3 box to arrive.

I wonder how long I will have to wait for this box to fall over?

PS: I also have a Fetch TV and it is sensational. Fast, easy to operate and in two years has never once failed or had a problem.

KEF Price Goughing Update

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Earlier this week we published a story re KEF price gouging, one of the products out of over 30 we checked was not as overpriced as we stated.

In Australia, the KEF LS 50 Wireless speaker is retailing for $3,799. In Canada where the VAT Tax is only 5% the same product is retailing for $2,999 or A$3,022.

Add 5% VAT tax to the already existing 5% VAT tax and the difference is still over $600 for a sub $4,000 pair of wireless speakers.

The KEF LS 50 wireless speakers still must be connected via an Ethernet cable to deliver a Stereo pair whereas the Bluesound High Res speakers the Heos or Sonos speakers can be easily paired via a simple software app downloaded to a tablet or Smartphone.


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KEF distributor Advance Audio pointed out the difference. They made no reference to several other KEF products that we exposed as being in cases, thousands of dollars more expensive in australia than overseas.