Dunnes Stores winding up petition

ninty9er

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

There'll be some sort of settlement. There's about as much chance as Dunnes being wound up as Ryanair. Very profitable, minimum debt and cash rich.

Dunnes has a huge property portfolio that it is happy to see vacant rather than see a competitor in it. When new stores have opened they've sometimes maintained another within eyeshot to block M&S in particular from building market share.

They rent very few buildings (as evident in the case at hand) and given the portfolio, could probably raise €21m by selling off a few vacant sites.

The case isn't going to see Dunnes wound up, they'll just be forced to pay up. I don't like the idea of Margaret Heffernan and her brood becoming billionaires overnight, that's about the only effect a wind up order would have if enforced.

Ryanair on the other hand would go out of business overnight if the EU legislated to ban airport subsidies.

ted1

Solair, per capita I'd guess that we've way more sq ft of supermarket space. Spain, France, britian all have 10 times or population. We as a nation are only comparable to Manchester and Liverpool county.

Solair

ted1 wrote: »

Solair, per capita I'd guess that we've way more sq ft of supermarket space. Spain, France, britian all have 10 times or population. We as a nation are only comparable to Manchester and Liverpool county.

That old excuse gets used for absolutely everything here.
It may be a small market, but it's fully integrated into a single EU market, so for a UK or French chain to operate here it's really not any different from operating in a region of their own countries (especially for a UK chain)

It's also not a question of lack of Sq Meters of space, it's about consolidation of about 80% of the grocery retail sector into the hands of just three players.

Even going back to the 1980s we had more players in the market here. There was a lot of consolidation, Quinsworth taking over a few smaller players and various other groups like L&N being absorbed into Musgraves.

The Groceries Order prevented competition by keeping foreign chains out because it restricted the size of floor space which pretty much totally precluded the hypermarket concept. We really only saw that arrive with Tesco Extra in the last 5 years! That was pretty much the key reason that we never attracted any of the international players in here. Tesco basically entered the market through aquisition just purchased Quinnsworth.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that if Dunnes did end up purchased by someone else it would mean nothing in terms of consumer choice / greater competition / lower prices. All that would change is the name over the door.

Cookie_Monster

Tesco Ireland has the second highest profit margin in their group precisely because there is so little competition here, Ireland badly needs a few more major chains in the mix.

WhatNowForUs?

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Tesco Ireland has the second highest profit margin in their group precisely because there is so little competition here, Ireland badly needs a few more major chains in the mix.

Is it the lack of competition or is it that they are pushing their suppliers margins so low along with customer loyality.

greendom

WhatNowForUs? wrote: »

Is it the lack of competition or is it that they are pushing their suppliers margins so low along with customer loyality.

But that could be down to lack of competition on that side too. The farmers don't have many options when it comes to selling their goods so they are forced to accept very low bids from the supermarkets.

liffeylite

ted1 wrote: »

Solair, per capita I'd guess that we've way more sq ft of supermarket space. Spain, France, britian all have 10 times or population. We as a nation are only comparable to Manchester and Liverpool county.

Dublin is bigger than both manchester and liverpool as a city. Its major streets have a higher footfall due to Dublin being in europes top 10 most visited cities. There is a big enough market in Dublin. And the average salary is higher than it is in london. Recession or no recession,there are plenty of people with plenty of money and with cheap rents in the city the time is ripe for a big player to come in...

123balltv

I know someone who works in head office staff Christmas bonuses were due
this week they've been delayed till next week :mad:
Isn't Margaret up in court next week?

RATM

I'd be shocked if Dunnes was wound up over €21m.

I think this is Dunnes playing the bully, something that they have doing a lot of recently.

They had another court case with the Revenue over unpaid levies on plastic bags. As a result Dunnes no longer sell the 22c plastic bags that you would expect to find in any supermarket in the country. Instead you're forced into buying a 75c bag, that or carry your stuff home.

Then they had a row with the Irish Times over commissions due. So now they no longer stock the Irish Times, the second biggest selling broadsheet in the country.

Then they have an advertising campaign with a hint of racist undertones 'The Difference is we're Irish', i.e. not British not German, we're Irish.

Not paying their taxes to Revenue and not stocking the Irish Times kind of makes a mockery of the claims to be Irish.

To my mind the actions of the company show that the management just don't give two dams. They have a Michael O'Leary attitude but the difference is they don't have Michael O'Leary's market dominance. This latest case is just Dunnes flexing their muscle. Justice Peter Kelly will cut them down to size, just like he did with Michael O'Leary.

TheChizler

Looks like it was just a scare tactic, just heard on the news that Dunnes paid in full last night and the application to force a wind up has been withdrawn.

seanaway

Delighted the big boys had their ass kicked. About time someone took these guys to task over the way they bully small businesses.

WhatNowForUs?

seanaway wrote: »

Delighted the big boys had their ass kicked. About time someone took these guys to task over the way they bully small businesses.

But it took NAMA to do it. A smaller company can't