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Offline Mark_1602  
#101 Posted : 07 November 2015 11:51:10(UTC)
Mark_1602

Luxembourg   
Joined: 24/09/2014(UTC)
Posts: 704
Location: Luxembourg
Originally Posted by: H0 Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: M-Classics Go to Quoted Post
Florian Sieber: "[...] However, the Simba Dickie Group traditionally refrains from publishing EBITs."
Nice. But traditionally Märklin do publish EBITs.
Here's the published EBIT for 2013:
"Insgesamt wurde im Geschäftsjahr 2013 ein positives EBIT von 7,1 Mio. EUR erzielt (Kalenderjahr 2012 8,3 Mio. EUR)."
=> EBIT 2013 7.1 Mio. EUR, EBIT 2012 8.3 Mio. EUR.

The expenses for material were 68.5 Mio. EUR in 2012, but went down to 64.8 Mio. EUR in 2013. Buy cheaper, still sell at high prices.

"Stable result" sure sounds better than "down to 7.1 from 8.3 Mio. EUR".


Well, it wasn't very professional of him to say that in a magazine interview if the EBIT is still published somewhere. Did you read that in the Bundesanzeiger? What was the Märklin EBIT like in 2014? I suppose we shouldn't believe what Märklin CEOs or the media tell us about the company. Every newspaper or magazine article about Märklin that I have seen and which was written in the last two years repeats this claim about stable earnings.

Even at 7.1 million, Märklin is still much more profitable than other MRR manufacturers. in 2014 Roco/Fleischmann had an EBIT of only 0.9 million as compared to sales of about 50-51 million euros, down from 2 million in 2013. What's your opinion on those figures? How profitable is Piko? I've read that they have increased prices recently due to higher wages in China.

Two days ago, I discovered an interview with Mr Reindl, the Roco manager, in the current edition of the Modellbahn Illustrierte. He says that the recent price reductions of up to 15 per cent on some selected Roco and Fleischmann products will be compensated by higher productivity, a higher number of pieces produced, and a reduced number of projects. Do you believe those empty claims? I don't. If there are price reductions, demand for Roco or Fleischmann products must be weak, but Mr Reindl claims in the same interview that his company's position in the market is as strong as it used to be.

Best regards,
Mark
Best regards, Mark

I like Märklin items produced in the 1960s or early '70s, but also digital locos & current rolling stock.
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Offline H0  
#102 Posted : 07 November 2015 20:26:43(UTC)
H0


Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,254
Location: DE-NW
Originally Posted by: M-Classics Go to Quoted Post
Did you read that in the Bundesanzeiger? What was the Märklin EBIT like in 2014?
Yes. We have to wait about six months for the EBIT 2014/2015 - if they continue to publish the EBIT there.
EBIT January-April 2014 was -1.8 Mio. EUR (January-April 2013 -0.7 Mio EUR). This information was published in May 2015.
They write the bad result in 2014 was due to lower pre-order discounts in 2014 and they write they expect to see this compensated by more orders later in 2014.

With respect to Roco: I think it was about one year ago that they announced the end of production in China - I think this applies to rolling stock only.
Maybe they found that production in Europe is cheaper than expected, maybe they found that orders are better than expected - maybe orders were worse than expected and they lower the prices to increase demand.

I have to give managers the benefit of the doubt and have to assume they tell the truth. But I assume they do not always tell the full truth. Telling a partial truth that sounds good and letting the customers draw wrong conclusions - I think all companies can do that.
Regards
Tom
---
"In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS
UserPostedImage
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Offline Mark_1602  
#103 Posted : 08 November 2015 15:54:23(UTC)
Mark_1602

Luxembourg   
Joined: 24/09/2014(UTC)
Posts: 704
Location: Luxembourg
Originally Posted by: H0 Go to Quoted Post
Telling a partial truth that sounds good and letting the customers draw wrong conclusions - I think all companies can do that.


I can definitely agree with this statement.

Yesterday evening I also looked up some information about Piko on www.bundesanzeiger.de and found out that Piko lost a bit of money in 2013, whereas they had made a profit in 2012. There's no information about 2014 yet, but in any case Piko doesn't seem to be a very profitable company either. Märklin stands out from the crowd with its profit margin of well above 5 per cent, but if it started using the best decoders and motors on the market once again, there might be no profit left.

According to the financial report in the Bundesanzeiger, Märklin's lower EBIT in 2013 was due to investments. Their first investment after the takeover should have been into better quality control, which would probably have slowed the decrease in sales that we've witnessed in the last two or three years. Märklin's financial success since 2009 has been remarkable, but the current high number of warranty cases is not sustainable. Looks like a dilemma, so I'd rather be a Märklin fan and customer than one of their managers. If the warranty cases don't stop, I can simply buy vintage items. BigGrin

Best regards,
Mark
Best regards, Mark

I like Märklin items produced in the 1960s or early '70s, but also digital locos & current rolling stock.
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Offline tulit  
#104 Posted : 15 November 2015 23:18:52(UTC)
tulit

Canada   
Joined: 20/05/2012(UTC)
Posts: 400
Originally Posted by: baggio Go to Quoted Post
And many marklinists kid themselves that they can fix locos the way professionals do....


99% of what you might end up needing to do is pretty trivial.
I'd be hard pressed to pay a "professional" to fix my trains. Half the fun is learning and doing these things yourself.

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Offline H0  
#105 Posted : 15 November 2015 23:54:00(UTC)
H0


Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,254
Location: DE-NW
Originally Posted by: tulit Go to Quoted Post
99% of what you might end up needing to do is pretty trivial.
For some folks 99% are trivial, for others only 75% or 25% are trivial.

Some tasks that are fairly simple with some models can be bally difficult with others.
I have a Märklin loco (but a Trix construction) that had a damaged decoder. I wanted to send just the decoder to the Märklin Service, but didn't manage to open the loco and so I sent the whole loco.
Sooner or later I will have to open the loco to lubricate the gears. I will let my fingernails grow before I give it another try.
In general it is trivial to replace a 21MTC decoder in a Märklin loco - but there are some exceptions. At least with my limited capabilities.

Newer locos are more complicated than older locos and therefore there are fewer trivial tasks.
Regards
Tom
---
"In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS
UserPostedImage
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Offline RayF  
#106 Posted : 16 November 2015 13:10:11(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,838
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
Whether a task is trivial or not obviously depends on one's skill set

Most people probably have the ability to learn the skills to do basic maintenance on their locos but only some have the skills to perform a complete strip-down and rebuild. There are also some with very little confidence in their manual skills and to these it would be a trauma to contemplate a major task such as changing a motor or re-wiring a loco.

We tend to judge other people by our own set of skills, and this is a temptation which has to be avoided as what comes easily to one can be very hard for another to understand.

The model railway hobby today has evolved into quite a technical pursuit. As a person with an engineering background I find it relatively easy to adapt, but I can see that people with more artistic talents might fall short. I might suggest, at the risk of alienating some keen members of the forum, that if you are unable or unwilling to develop your technical skills you will find it increasingly difficult to get the most from the hobby.
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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Offline grnwtrs  
#107 Posted : 16 November 2015 19:09:47(UTC)
grnwtrs

United States   
Joined: 18/06/2005(UTC)
Posts: 669
Location: El Sobrante, California
I am sorry if my comment is OFF TOPIC. But here goes, how about MARKLIN go a best efforts case to get their MAIN Catalog
out and delivered to the Colonies by the end of each September.

I would think that would be their greatest marketing tool ever. Also that may establish some discipline (focus) in the organization.

All the Extra's are fine, but the main catalog must be the greatest sales tool. Okay, I know the English version became available
last week in Europe, but I surely do not expect it to arrive in the U S A until late December. 2015 . Opps that is this year!!

Sorry for the off topic note

Regards,
gene
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