FFX gone into administration.

[DaveB]

Administration doesn't mean closed.

If the business can be sold to a new owner it has to remain operating.
once the doors are shut it will be dead.

Edit: I really must get my typing speed up

 

[dan treg]

In administration doesn't mean they have to stop trading.
In fact, if they still have stock to sell (plus contracts/supply chain orders still incoming) the administrator(s) have a duty of care which normally involves carrying on trading

ok so they can still take on new orders from stock i guess

 

[Domdom]

From PWC. They are no longer trading.

Unfortunately, the Company’s financial position upon appointment means that it is no longer able to continue trading and as a result all stores and the website will cease to trade immediately.

The Administrators have retained a small number of employees at the Company's head office in Kent for a short time to support in winding down operations.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Problem with screwfix is much of their useful stuff is on next day collection and not same day.

Yes, all the keenly priced stuff is always next day, so you need it now you pay double very often. A right pain.

 

[Brad93]

They were often the cheapest for stabila and metabo stuff, I probably spent a grand with Ffx last year and always quick delivery, even if you ordered late in the afternoon it was normally there next day.

 

[Keithmac]

That's a real shame I've bought a lot of Milwaukee kit over the years from FFX.

 

[S-Rail]

It is a shame. I bought a fair bit of Milwaukee stuff off them as I found them to be one of the cheapest. (Any other recommendations?)

Try “Power Tool Mate” , based in Plymouth I think . They are pretty keen on prices

 

[Erie Fred]

Wow! a hundred million turnover and three million loss, that takes some doing Accountants need bringing to the room .

"We make it up with volume"

Yeah like going to eleven eh ?

 

[hotponyshoes]

I was with Quinn Direct insurance when they went bust.
They (and my policy) carried on 'in administration' for 13 years!

 

[pressbrake1]

Wow! a hundred million turnover and three million loss, that takes some doing Accountants need bringing to the room .

They forgot about eBay fees….

 

[MetalMonkey]

I was surprised but also not shocked to hear this.

I believe power tools is a highly competitive market with fairly low margins, so its easy to see how you can end up with high turnover and slim profits, and one bad year could easily sink you.
FFX did used to be pretty solid to deal with, but recently their constantly fluctuating prices put me off buying, and I judging by some of the comments I've seen, I don't think I'm alone either.

All retailers are struggling though, so probably it won't be the last either.

I can recommend Power Tool World and ECA Toolfast as two smaller outfits I've dealt with quite a bit recently.

 

[Brad93]

My pal pointed out to me that £3 million on £100 million of sales is only 3%, when you put it as 3 pence on every £1 of sales, it isn't hard to imagine a big company loosing that. You could literally miscalculate your packaging or shipping expenses

 

[roblane65]

I'm sure I still needed to print off a few invoices from my FFx acc bugger .

 

[bricol]

Local big name company, been trading over 150 yrs, managed to do similar - made £79,000 on £21m turnover. Went bust owing £5m. Sold complete for £350,000. We must spend close to that with them!

 

[Gareth J]

3% loss for a year is nothing. Many growing companies would be fine with way more than that for a year or three. Sounds more like they've been on the edge for a while. Shame, have used them a couple of times and been ok, replaced an impact wrench that died in warranty without hassle.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I probably spent a grand with Ffx last year and always quick delivery

Same here....most of my festool stuff came from them. Always arrived quickly. Real shame as it reduces choice which tends to push up prices.

Very tight margins in that game I would think.

 

[MetalMonkey]

The FFX website now redirects to a page saying they are not taking any further orders.
Their ebay shop also has no items listed

 

[Shedendman]

Bummer,have had some good deals off from them in the past

 

[Keithmac]

We nearly went down that rabbit hole with tyres (no £11 million turnover mind!).

It looks great getting all the jobs through at £300 a go but when you break it all down working out how much time was spent and the margin on the tyres etc there was no real profit in it.

Now we charge £25 a wheel mounting fee just to make it profitable, so that was £25 a wheel less before, and practically no profit made.

We also sat on probably £10 - 15k or more worth of tyres on the shelf, now we order them in per job.

I can see how companies can quite easily get sucked into the high volume, low price business model and get into trouble.

If we do half the tyre jobs now we still make more profit than before. To be fair the majority of customers are fine with it.

 

[premmington]

We nearly went down that rabbit hole with tyres (no £11 million turnover mind!).

It looks great getting all the jobs through at £300 a go but when you break it all down working out how much time was spent and the margin on the tyres etc there was no real profit in it.

Now we charge £25 a wheel mounting fee just to make it profitable, so that was £25 a wheel less before, and practically no profit made.

We also sat on probably £10 - 15k or more worth of tyres on the shelf, now we order them in per job.

I can see how companies can quite easily get sucked into the high volume, low price business model and get into trouble.

If we do half the tyre jobs now we still make more profit than before. To be fair the majority of customers are fine with it.

"Takings are vanity - profit is sanity"