Harvey Norman still chewing on Clive Peeters' easyphoto business

Clive Peeters’ easyphoto online photo printing and gifting service is expected to be upgraded following Harvey Norman’s purchase of the majority of stores in the collapsed CE and whitegoods retailer.

While Clive Peeters and Harvey Norman both run their photo businesses on FUJIFILM platforms, the former’s online offering is significantly smaller – in terms of turnover per store and services provided.

Harvey Norman general manager – computers and communications, Luke Naish, told PIN Online that no decision had yet been made about the future of the Clive Peeters’ easyphoto.com.au service.

“We’re still in discussions,” he said, “the main priority is to get a clear understanding of what we’ve got in its current form.”

“The numbers running through their (Clive Peeters) business are significantly smaller (than through comparable Harvey Norman PhotoCentres),” he said.

Harvey Norman announced last Friday that it had agreed to buy "certain stock and plant and equipment located at certain of the locations, know-how, intellectual property rights and systems" of Clive Peeters, which entered into voluntary administration on May 19, carrying $160 million of debt.

Receiver Phil Carter from corporate advisory firm PPB said the final details of the sale, worth about $55 million, would be announced later this week.

The deal includes the majority of Clive Peeters' 38 remaining Australian stores.
Harvey Norman Holdings currently operates 166 franchised Harvey Norman outlets, 15 Domayne stores (11 in NSW) and 14 Joyce Mayne stores (10 in NSW).

Many of the Joyce Mayne stores in regional NSW previously operated under the Retravision banner. Harvey Norman took over 17 Retravision stores following the collapse of Retravision NSW in 2006.

Harvey Norman will take over between 25 and 30 stores trading under the Clive Peeters and Rick Hart banners. Clive Peeters' Mt Druitt store is expected to be the only one of five NSW stores to continue trading.

Gerry Harvey "always interested" 

Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey told AAP last week that he “always had an interest” in buying out the troubled publicly-listed Clive Peeters group.

"We were always interested in Clive Peeters, but we couldn't make a bid for it or anything because they had a number of onerous leases," Harvey said. "So it had to go into receivership before you could actually negotiate some of those leases."

Harvey said it was no surprise the electrical and whitegoods retailer went bust and he was waiting to make his move on the company."It's been common knowledge for a long time that Clive Peeters is on the verge of insolvency," he said.

The deal is expected to add $300 to $400 million a year to Harvey Norman sales, he said.

JPMorgan analyst Shaun Cousins told News.com that Harvey Norman was expected to retain both the Clive Peeters and the Western Australian-based Rick Hart brands.