By James Wells
A three-page letter sent to Retravision WA stores by chairman John Groppoli has created distress among some members by claiming there is “no certainty” of a total recovery, with potentially “an orderly wind down of the Retravision corporate business and assets” in the short term.
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In the letter, Groppoli writes that if Retravision WA is unable to re-establish stability with its new direct invoicing system, the “best course of action (to protect shareholder value) may be to vest the Retravision Brand with another supportive industry group”.
By doing this, Groppoli writes, Retravision would be able to “preserve the brand and the trading needs of the dealers [and] return surplus capital to the shareholders”.
“There is no certainty as to the outcomes we are pursuing,” Groppoli wrote in the letter sent at midday yesterday (Queen’s Birthday, Monday 11 June 2012), which was a working day in Western Australia.
“As you will appreciate, there are many circumstances that may be more difficult to manage than we currently anticipate, and if enough of these issues impact us negatively in the next few weeks, our best course of action (to protect shareholder value) may be to vest the Retravision Brand with another supportive industry group.”
Groppoli does not outline which other industry group this is, but the most likely retail groups he was hinting at are either Narta — a multi-billion dollar buying group, home to retailers such as JB Hi-Fi, Bing Lee and Winning Appliances — or one of Narta’s members, Betta Stores Retail.
The letter concludes with Groppoli emphasising how hard the head office is working on this matter.
“In closing, I would like to repeat the fact that we are working quickly and diligently to ensure the right decisions are being taken to protect shareholder value and to provide an ongoing line of supply for the majority of stores that require it.”