Jim Hammil leaving Roadtrek/Hymer?

[Dad2becca]

I will only say this....the only reason we bought a class b was because of Mr. Hammil. He said and I paraphrase "How many years do you have left to live....why wait until tomorrow...enjoy today"...It was the best decision I made!!..thanks Mr. Hammil.

[ContinuousImprovement]

These are not routine acquisition changes. Holy ****, something is rotten in Denmark, "People have watched their CEO get walked out," says Singleton. "Our company's going through an audit, our accounts are frozen...

https://www.kitchenertoday.com/local...aRTJToJrGQnwl8

[booster]

As bit and pieces is it odd, but when you look at them together it is starting to look like it could be we way beyond odd.


If the assets are truly frozen, by court or by the banks(?), and the CEO was physically walked out, that can be a very bad sign of inappropriate dealings.


The comment the worker made about no new vans going into the factory for conversion would commonly be a sign that the bank owns them and has gotten them frozen to preserve their equity

If they are locked down and don't have cash for the vacation pay, they also won't be making payroll soon, and would probably be on COD with suppliers.



This could get really ugly, really quickly.

[booster]

It appears the the COO is also gone (Howard).


Interesting that Wendlund has changed the name of the Facebook group to get rid of "Roadtrekking" and is now RV Lifestyle Group.

[Warmland]

With the takeover by Thor, we can be guaranteed that the first job losses will be in the quality control department. Anyone who believes otherwise should buy a Thor product.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by booster

It appears the the COO is also gone (Howard).


Interesting that Wendlund has changed the name of the Facebook group to get rid of "Roadtrekking" and is now RV Lifestyle Group.

He has been slowly making these changes for awhile now, changed his YouTube channel name recently. Not sure how he will handle his Roadtreking website name though.

His latest Roadtrek is a standard build with no prototype systems as far as I know. Campskunk still has a prototype electrical system in his, it will be interesting to see what happens with that.

[booster]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

He has been slowly making these changes for awhile now, changed his YouTube channel name recently. Not sure how he will handle his Roadtreking website name though.

His latest Roadtrek is a standard build with no prototype systems as far as I know. Campskunk still has a prototype electrical system in his, it will be interesting to see what happens with that.

Thor may have given him a heads up that he wouldn't be able to use the names in the future and he is getting ready for that time.


Campskunk and Hammill were really tight, by all accounts, so this will certainly be hard on him. It is also likely that he has been getting some kind of consulting fees from them also so those would certainly be gone now. This will be a tough deal for both Campskunk and Yan Seiner.

[gregmchugh]

The plot thickens...

https://rvdailyreport.com/industry/e...tYKqB3BE-cGZAI

[booster]

I had wondered why they got rid of the CEO and COO and not the CFO, as they whole thing smelled like financial games being played. In reality, they did take out the CFO, also, so now makes lots more sense.


So no we learn that Roadtrek management was not only less than competent, they were likely crooked also.


There are going to be a lot of severely upset fangirls and fanboys out there.

[warpig]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

The plot thickens...

https://rvdailyreport.com/industry/e...tYKqB3BE-cGZAI

Wow...thanks for the link. That does not sound good for that trio.

[GeorgeRa]

The exposure could be due to due diligence work by the Thor Company. I am surprised that Hymer didn’t exposed it earlier.

[booster]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

The exposure could be due to due diligence work by the Thor Company. I am surprised that Hymer didn’t exposed it earlier.

I don't know how it works in all cases, but at the places I worked at the due diligence covered financials like income, expenses, etc, but was not full audit type examination. Many good companies already have an audit statement to show, but those also can be incorrect, so those are 100% either. Once the acquisition is agreed on, a full detailed audit would be done with crosschecks like the VIN comparisons mentioned in the link.


I would certainly think this all got caught in the final complete audit being performed by Thor before closing.

[wincrasher]

Oh well, I guess I was not crazy after all. All these years I've been saying Jim was a scoundrel. I'm going to take a lap with "I told you so!"

[wincrasher]

Originally Posted by rockymtnb

In the layoff notification letter ERwin Hymer blames their "drop in sales" as resulting from a "recent economic downturn".

However that doesn't match recent Class B sales data as tallied by Statistical Surveys Inc for the RV industry. SSI reports that Class B sales registrations for 2018 thru November, the most recent available, are up 28% over 2017 (and 2017 itself had been up another 28.4% over 2016).

Winnebago has been getting the lion's share of Class B sales at 40%, just slightly more than the combination of Erwin Hymer/Roadtrek (29.1%) and Thor Industries (10.8%). And all the custom outfitters such as ARV, Outside Van, Sportsmobile, etc., appear to be solidly booked out 12-16 months.

Any sales shortfall at Erwin Hymer/Roadtrek appears to be entirely self-inflicted, not the result of any Class B industry or economic downturn.

So do those figures include the fake VIN numbers? LOL

[Squarepeg]

Glad we didn't buy one. It's going to be interesting to see who ends up in prison. Thor is a publicly traded company, so they're either going to get an asset sale and really great deal out of this, or walk away from it altogether. Too bad for the workers.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

Oh well, I guess I was not crazy after all. All these years I've been saying Jim was a scoundrel. I'm going to take a lap with "I told you so!"

wincrasher, check out booster's last icon. I think that sometimes when he uses it, he's having a good time - but not always. This time I think maybe yes, booster's having a good time. And why not! Still, sad too.

Bud

[booster]

Originally Posted by Bud

wincrasher, check out booster's last icon. I think that sometimes when he uses it, he's having a good time - but not always. This time I think maybe yes, booster's having a good time. And why not! Still, sad too.Bud

Guilty as charged


I have never cared for Hammill's business practices or the way he treats people, so this whole thing really kind of just follows along the lines of what I could expect. The more self righteous people are, it often works out they have the least reason to be.

[Mike]

I think it's called "Karma".

[Bud]

Originally Posted by booster

Guilty as charged


I have never cared for Hammill's business practices or the way he treats people, so this whole thing really kind of just follows along the lines of what I could expect. The more self righteous people are, it often works out they have the least reason to be.

FRANKLY, I kind of like that smile booster.

Bud

[rockymtnb]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

So do those [SSI] figures include the fake VIN numbers? LOL

Yeah, that's a good question!

I'm guessing not since SSI tallys are based on state title registration data. So they'd need to generate fake titles and get them registered by each state. Probably need some good mob connections to orchestrate that!

But RVIA data is based on wholesale production data. So it might have snuck into those reports?

Wincrasher you definitely win the victory lap for calling this one early! Hammill always seemed like a bit of a flim-flam man but this seems over the top.