Vintage and Fret-King owner John Hornby Skewes & Co is shutting down despite being “profitable” and “entirely solvent”
John Hornby Skewes & Co, also known as JHS but unrelated to the US pedal brand, has announced that it is closing down after over sixty years in business.
JHS owns the Vintage, Encore and Fret-King brands, as well as being one of the UK’s largest distributors – currently supplying the UK market with brands such as Danelectro, Godin, Donner, Lava Music, Shubb, Wilkinson and many others.
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In a statement released this morning, JHS is at pains to point out that the closure has nothing to do with financial troubles that have dogged the UK music retail sector in recent months, but due to a rather unique set of circumstances spurred by the death of the company founder, John Hornby Skewes, in September of last year.
In a statement from JHS shared with Guitar.com, these unique circumstances. “The JHS business comprises of a property company and a trading company, both majority owned by family trusts set up by the late John H. Skewes,” it reads. “The settlor of those trusts stated that after his death, the Companies should be sold.
“Steps have been taken over the last few months to try and secure a buyer to take John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. forward under new proprietorship. This has thus far not been possible.”
It goes on to explain, “The trustees, shareholders, and board of John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. have concluded that to achieve the settlor’s mandate, a process of conducting an orderly winding down of John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. will commence with immediate effect.”
The company stresses that this is not a liquidation or administration process, and that JHS is “entirely solvent”. It anticipates that its closure process may take up to 12 months as it continues to trade, downsizing along the way, “gradually disposing of its stock and assets, including its valuable trademarks and other intellectual property”, which will be sold to the highest bidder.
JHS has created a variety of in-house brands over the last few decades, including Encore, Vintage and Fret-King – the latter two working in close tandem with after-market guitar hardware and electronics pioneer, Trevor Wilkinson.
The future of these brands will no doubt be determined in the coming months, but for the time being it seems to be business as usual as JHS begins the process of winding down its operations.
JHS concludes, “The trustees, shareholders, and directors of JHS would like to pay tribute to those who have engaged with us over the decades, in whatever capacity or manner of contribution.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
