Restless Tandy Corp, which spun off most of its international operations into free-standing quoted company, InterTan Inc, some five years ago, is now wondering whether it should remain a manufacturer and has decided to pursue the possible spin-off of all manufacturing operations, already going so far as to create a manufacturing entity out of its […]
Restless Tandy Corp, which spun off most of its international operations into free-standing quoted company, InterTan Inc, some five years ago, is now wondering whether it should remain a manufacturer and has decided to pursue the possible spin-off of all manufacturing operations, already going so far as to create a manufacturing entity out of its factory arms. It wants to devote its resources to building up its latest venture, the giant Incredible Universe superstores. It calls the new manufacturing business TE Electronics, and says that TE expects to take a pre-tax charge of about $20m against fiscal second quarter figures to December 31. The retail side is also in for a big shake-up and Tandy says its Tandy Name Brand Group will close about 100 of its 413 stores to focus on secondary markets and mall stores, causing Tandy Corp to take a restructuring charge of some $47.5m pre-tax against the same period. Tandy is also changing its fiscal year to a calendar year, but TE’s year will continue to end on June 30. TE Electronics will include all 25 of its manufacturing units, including O-Sullivan Industries Inc, Memtek Products, GRiD Systems Corp and Tandy GRiD Europe. For the year to June 30 last, the units had combined sales of about $1,500m. William Bousquette, who had been executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Tandy, will be the first chief executive of TE. Completion of the spin-off – likely in six months – is subject to final board approval, receipt of bank and other third-party consents and a ruling from the US Internal Revenue Service that it will be tax-free to shareholders. Its Computer City unit plans to open 16 stores this year and another 16 next.
