Wedgewood

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The fact of the matter is, times are changing. I would say very few people under the age of 50 would buy any Wedgewood or Royal Doulton pottery. I think the current recession has just hastened the demise of many companies who would have failed in the next few years anyway.

Woolies and Zavvi could not compete with the supermarkets and online retailers in their respective markets, hence why they have gone bust. And IMHO Wedgewood are trying to sell to an ever diminishing market.
 
zavvi staff have been told they might not be closing
 
A luxury niche market that's supposed to a potential saviour for UK plc.

Ashers, they made posh ceramics and glass. Wedgewood was famed for bone china, to compete with Chinese imports a few hundred years ago. I've grown to like using (large) bone china cups over the past couple of years and the world would be grotty if we had only a choice of e.g. stoneware, enamel or plastic to drink tea from.
 
And Waterford Crystal is used to make some of the most stunning trophies in the sporting world as well as the most beautiful Champagne glasses you are ever likely to come across.

It would be a real shame if this name were to disappear as Wegdewood has been around for almost 300 years.I agree with photon,not everyone wants to drink from plastic or earthenware...

Apparently,there is already some interest from America.Fingers crossed.
 
I just got some Waterford Crystal wine glasses for christmas from work, how ironic !
 
surely by now the companies that are still around should be ok? they must have sorted out a business plan to stop them going under
 
Many of these companies are heavily debt ridden by buying up competitors, building new factories and refitting old ones. None of this is done with cash - its all borrowed money. Fine if they could service the debt through sales.

However there are two financial problems at the moment - banks aren't lending and people aren't spending. If they can't refinance themselves they go into administration. Administrators look to see what is best - if the company is viable they will close sections to make it more viable, or they'll break up the company and sell whatever they can.

I don't think a name like Wedgwood will disappear anytime soon. If there are investors who can prop it up, they'll get their reward when the economy picks up.
 
i bet adminstration is a great job to be in at the moment
 
andrewc said:
Many of these companies are heavily debt ridden by buying up competitors, building new factories and refitting old ones. None of this is done with cash - its all borrowed money. Fine if they could service the debt through sales.

However there are two financial problems at the moment - banks aren't lending and people aren't spending. If they can't refinance themselves they go into administration. Administrators look to see what is best - if the company is viable they will close sections to make it more viable, or they'll break up the company and sell whatever they can.

I don't think a name like Wedgwood will disappear anytime soon. If there are investors who can prop it up, they'll get their reward when the economy picks up.
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Your point about buying other companies or otherwise expanding on borrowed money is well made. I worked as secretary to the Finance Director at Wedgwoods many years ago. The company was highly successful, floated on the Stock Exchange and was awash with money. They took over many other ailing or stagnant pottery firms but was wealthy enough to retain the paternalistic philosophy of Josiah, the founder, and it was a fantastic place to work. I loved it and learnt so much - I shall always be grateful for the opportunities the company gave me.

I'm very, very sad to hear about its possible demise and feel for the several hundred people who are facing unemployment. It's the sort of industry where all the wage-earners in a family often work for the same company, and genertions follow each other into the same factory. :(

The site of the factory is on the edge of Barlaston village, in the countryside and when it moved from Etruria in the 1930s the company built housing for its workers, rather like Bourneville and Port Sunlight, but more modest in design and size. The site alone must be worth a lot of money, although I think the housing passed into local authority ownership at some point.

Are there any other members here who worked at Wedgwoods?

Jean
 
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