By James Wells
Retravision has sent a letter to all 180 stores explaining the next stages of the “orderly wind down” of the business and the transfer to new retail groups.
The letter, distributed yesterday by Retravision Western chief executive officer, Paul Holt, was titled “Orderly Wind Down of Retravision Support Services and Transfer of Business to New Service Providers”.
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“Following on from our letter dated 7 November 2012 and the subsequent update that you will either have received yesterday or today regarding the winding down of our business and the transfer of the ownership of the “Retravision” brand to the Narta narGroup from the 1 April 2013, the purpose of this short note is to provide you with further guidance as to how we believe the transition process will work in coming weeks and months.
“You will shortly receive a letter of introduction and an outline offer from a member within the Narta Group of Companies or from the Leading Edge Group. This letter will commence a process that will consider on how and when best to transition your business support needs across to your new service provider (subject to your agreement of course).
“We are focused on ensuring that your transition is managed as seamlessly as possible and, to this end, we will continue to provide pricing, advertising and IT support (the “Support Services”) until at least the 31 March 2013 to all stores in the Retravision group as and where required.
“Importantly, and in order to ensure that we are able to meet our financial obligations throughout this transition period and remain solvent, all stores in the group will be required to pay the monthly Retravision Service fees and charges through to March 2013 on account of the Support Services, irrespective of the date that your store may transition to another group.
“In consideration of Retravision WA Ltd continuing to provide the Support Services, the Narta Group of companies and the Leading Edge Group have all agreed not to implement service fees to stores until 1 April 2013 in order to minimise the cost impost on stores whilst the transition takes place.
“Many stores have called me in recent days to ask, ‘what do I need to do next?’
“The best thing you can do right now is to focus on preparing your store for a busy Christmas trading period and to await correspondence from a new service provider in the next week or two.
“Once that contact has been made, you can assess the offer that you are made and begin to determine a course of action with your new service provider that will suit the requirements of your business. Please feel free to obtain proper legal and/or financial advice before you accept any offer.
“Remaining patient on this issue for a little while longer will enable the new service providers to focus on their planning and communication tasks with a view to making all the operational changes required going into next year.
“There will be very little change across the group before Christmas as all of the new service providers are planning dealer road shows across the country to be able to meet with store owners and outline their plans in person before implementing changes.
“In closing, please be assured that our service platform will continue to service the needs of your business throughout this transition phase through to 31 March next year and we will do everything we can to make your transition as seamless as we can.”