By James Wells

SYDNEY: The Retravision NSW collapse and migration to the Retravision Vic-Tas and Queensland stables, contrasted by the expanding empire of Retravision WA, has forced Retravision to re-brand its companies.

At a meeting held in Sydney yesterday with major suppliers Retravision Australia CEO, Keith Perkin, said the national office will start renaming the businesses.

“We will be commencing a process to rename our remaining Australian based companies to Retravision Southern, Retravision Northern and Retravision Western. This name change more correctly reflects the new geographic boundaries for each company. Our task is now one of rebuilding our store presence in NSW and more particularly in Metropolitan Sydney,” Perkin said at the meeting.

Also at the meeting, Perkin stepped through the sequence of events which followed the appointment of administrators and receivers and went on to highlight the status of current Retravision stores in NSW.

“When we commenced the process of migrating stores to Retravision Vic/Tas and Retravision Queensland, we targeted a total of 85 viable NSW based stores. I am pleased to report that we have now migrated a total of 80 stores to supply via alternative Retravision companies.”

Retravision chairman Bill Harries said: “While the events in NSW have damaged our reputation they have made the remainder of the group more united and focussed than ever before.

“We want to make it clear that we believe the industry needs a vibrant single brand independent retailer and we will be driving to have Retravision fill this role. We are financially fit and healthy. We have put reporting processes in place which align to those normally seen in a major corporate. We have framed some aggressive growth plans and we will be implementing them with vigour.”

Retravision Southern CEO, Brian Kelly, and Retravision Northern CEO, Philip Scarff, presented plans which will see group purchases increase by over 40 per cent within the next three years. This will involve the establishment of new large stores in key areas.

“We are already in negotiations on two large footprint sites in metropolitan Sydney,” Kelly said.

Last week, Retravision Vic-Tas (RVT), which will now be known as Retravision Southern, announced it will become a retailer by purchasing five McKnights-branded Retravision stores which will be sold either together or individually in a sale estimated at millions of dollars.

According to Kelly, the decision to purchase the stores was to thwart a hostile purchaser, who remains unidentified but has been rumoured to be a publicly-listed retailer.

Kelly said he cannot estimate a price on the five McKnights stores at Ringwood, Mentone, Taylors Lakes, Epping and Moorabbin just yet and said he will be able to put a price on the business after he develops a strategy to take his asset forward. 

“We are a buying group and we are undertaking commercial negotiations like anyone else would. Retravision Vic-Tas has been set up as a buying group – it is not set up as a direct retailer and it is not our aim to be a direct retailer. This is the first time in my knowledge that we have become a retailer,” he said.