Potential Briggs Bankruptcy

[bobodu]

Glad I got out when I did...

[KE4AVB]

And it is getting worst for the investors.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4361012-briggs-stratton-investors-are-being-wiped-out-bankruptcy-liquidation

Who is going to trust Briggs after this??? They even sticking to the employees too.

[38racing]

Any thoughts about generac taking it? Is the snapper and simplicity and murray al part of this bankruptcy?

[bgsengine]

Any thoughts about generac taking it? Is the snapper and simplicity and murray al part of this bankruptcy?

from what I read, Briggs was trying to sell Snapper/Ferris/Simplicity/Murray along with Power Products (Which I suspect is where Generac's interest lies), but they could not find any buyer willing to pay the premium price for what used to be solid, robust brands but are now tainted with Briggs' cost cutting (and cheap murray style construction).. probably any deal now will see those brands either split or discontinued (If it goes anything like it has in the past with some brands, some company in china will buy the brand and start dumping more cheapo chinese built crap on the market under those brands..) .. they couldnt pay their bills anymore after spending millions in a new factory that pretty much would be building commercial crap that was falling out of demand.. basically mortgaged their entire business on a Ferris gamble that I could have told them would never work out...one way or another most likely the engine business will continue.. for a while longer, but they've lost a lot of value in their brand with all this mis-management.. I doubt generac would want to buy the whole business - they really just want a piece of it.. so they'd have to find bidders who'd take other pieces..

[David]

What a damn shame this great American business has been run into the ground and looted.
R.I.P. Steve Briggs,this stuff does not do your memory justice.
I believe Mr. Briggs played varsity basketball in college. South Dakota or Wisconsin?

[RoyM]

They are putting on a brave face, we will just have to see what comes out in the wash. The local dealer is not committed to staying with them, he is primarily a Stihl dealer and rental yard so the residential yard care is just a side line to keep the shop productive. The big issues for him are parts availability, timely warranty reimbursement (which I am trying to help him with but he is stubborn) and the portable generator line which he has done fairly well with. Snapper is not a big seller in western Canada since the previous distributor alienated all the dealers and Ferris/Simplicity are virtually unknown.

[KE4AVB]

All I know in reference to my business that it is the end of the season until about March next year. Hopefully Briggs things will be straighten out by then.

I do have a slight problem as my main Briggs distributor is ridiculous on shipping charges; unless, I order over $200 then the shipping is free. I placed a $190 order back in June and was slapped with $45 in shipping charges. That is probably why I am sitting on a $140 restock order now. I will just wait until I get a $200 order together or reroute to another vendor if before that comes to be true I need a priority item. That vendor done lost over $3000 in sales because of this attitude in the last 4 yrs.

Also Power Distributors in Ohio dropped me because I wasn't at a level they wanted me to be at. Hey if they provided the same 20% discount instead of the 10% they would have gotten the business. They acted like it was my fault for vendors that provided better discounts or had the parts in stock.

It probably will be the same with Gardner on the Oregon parts as they don't stock them but RBI does. Anyway I don't think they will drop me right now.

The following only show the last three years since this year is over too of the top five vendors.

May look like I purchased less parts but in fact I brought more at better discounts. I actually went through a little over $8K in parts cost wise this year.