Both Meade and Celestron are in trouble !

Hi All,
I'm on various meade and celestron yahoo groups and there seems to be some activity indicating that there is serious trouble ahead.
Indications are that celestron are on the brink of bankrupcy and that a take over by Synta (who are they??) is imminent, lets hope they're better then tasco :lol:
Meade are heading for a loss this year and there have been meetings apparently in the factory with management reassuring staff that their jobs are safe ?!?

Meade and Celestron seem like they want to merge but aren't allowed by US monopoly laws, not great if they both go out of business !
Some are suggesting that the near take over a while back by Meade could have actually been an attempted hostile take over, of course not every rumour is true.

There are some interesting times ahead !!

Synta (who are they??)

Synta are the company that produce all the skywatcher gear.

here (cached page on google);
64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:myrWdWCiQf...bankruptcy&hl=en

I found this (scary stuff);

Friday, April 1, 2005

Meade Instruments rebuffed in merger effort
Federal agency opposes Irvine telescope firm's purchase of area rival.

By TAMARA CHUANG
The Orange County Register


Irvine's Meade Instruments questioned how long it could keep manufacturing telescopes in Orange County after its last-ditch attempt to buy a struggling rival was stymied for the third time by a federal agency.

Meade and Celestron in Torrance have competed for years. But falling sales and competition from Asia have hurt the rivals, which both make telescopes in California. The union could save $2 million to $3 million a year in expenses, Meade says, and that could help make both profitable again. Or else, Meade, which employs 550, must do its manufacturing abroad to stay competitive.

"We want to combine our companies so we can have sufficient sales to continue to invest in lines we have manufactured here," said Robert Davis, Meade's senior vice president of corporate development.

Since the Federal Trade Commission fought Meade's bids to buy Celestron in 1990 and 2002, this time the companies sought the FTC's blessing first, but the agency's staff has again opposed the sale.

"What Meade wants to do is have us do something outside the normal process. It's an unusual situation," said Barry Nigro, deputy director in the FTC Bureau of Competition.

Celestron is near bankruptcy but has one other potential buyer, Taiwan-based Synta, which has offered less than it would get by liquidating Celestron, Davis said. Meade's offer is for $7.5 million.

Meade's sales plunged to $15 million last year, compared with $38 million in 2001, because of overseas competitors' lower costs, Davis said.

Joseph Lupica, Celestron's chief executive, could not be reached.

Celestron's sale to Synta could go through today, Davis said.

Synta are the chinese (based in Taiwan PRC) manufacturer that makes many of the rebadged scopes. For example my 4" Mak from Skywatcher is identical to the Orion (US) 4" mak, and are made by synta. I believe the lower end of celestrons range are also by Synta. The company has not yet gotten into the larger aperture market or computer market, which is a pity because the quality of their work seems good. Aquiring celestron would make sence. If it goes ahead that would mean a big opening up of celestons organisation, probably including a change in the international restrictions since they do not send everything through the US. Though might put unbearable strain on Meade...

Synta (who are they??) is imminent, lets hope they're better then tasco

Well celestron has survived being owned by Tasco before... just!

Meade has been doing work in China (and Mexico) for some time. A lot of mount work (all the LXD55/75 range for example) comes from china but the optics are still 100% "Made in the USA" in Irvine. Meade has spent a lot on R&D so its just possible that they can weather this out, though the NASDAQ tends to be harsh on companies taking that approach. This from Meade last week

Meade Instruments Updates Guidance for Fiscal 2005

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2005--Meade Instruments Corp. (Nasdaq:MEAD) now estimates that fiscal 2005 net revenues will be approximately $112 million, with a net loss, excluding ESOP expense, of between ($0.04) and ($0.06) per share.

The Company, whose fiscal year ended on February 28, had previously estimated that net revenues for fiscal 2005 would be in the range of $119 million to $123 million, and that the net loss would be as much as ($0.10) per share, excluding ESOP expenses. Fourth-quarter and year-end fiscal 2005 results are scheduled to be released on April 21, 2005.

Steven G. Murdock, president and CEO of Meade Instruments, attributed the better-than-expected bottom-line performance to managing operating expenses and better-than-expected gross margins. Revenues were lower than expected principally due to continuing softness in the U.S. telescope market.

From working for a US corporation I know to be wary of the phrase "managing operating expenses" ...

Ironically their sales would be much better if prices didnt get inflated on their way to europe. Wonder if changing their sales structure is something the board is looking at?

Meade acquired Simmons and Celestron, and to date have not brought out any products in either the rifle scope or solar market. With thepotential they have I wouldn't start writing their obituary.

Amateurs need both companies to stay stron in some incarnation, and also to have a european or asian competitor. Allowing any company to become dominant will result in even worse prices than we currently have.

Anyone know what Celestron trade under? I cant find them listed on any US stock market.

Cheers,
~Al

Irvine's Meade Instruments questioned how long it could keep manufacturing telescopes in Orange County after its last-ditch attempt to buy a struggling rival was stymied for the third time by a federal agency.

Thats the key to the depressing article though. If meade cuts US manufacture then its fine. They already own a manufacturing plant in Mexico. Once they keep the QA groups in Irvine they should be able to maintain quality. Thats not any consolation for the US workers though. Personally I don't think Meade are in as bad a situation as they make out in that article.

Also the celestron/Synta scaremongering, could be a ploy by the directors of Meade and Celestron to get the FTC to approve a merger. Implying that not do do so will affect US manufacturing and result in all manufacture going to China.

Also the celestron/Synta scaremongering, could be a ploy by the directors of Meade and Celestron to get the FTC to approve a merger. Implying that not do do so will affect US manufacturing and result in all manufacture going to China.

Things dont look as bad as they first seemed.
If the merger hgappened, I wonder what wopuld happen to the line of scopes, would it be good by LX or good bye CGE ??
This has serious implications for software support and upgrades.

Meade seriously need to get themselves together on the Europe prices issue, they must be loosing a major amount of sales here because of their mad EU price policy.

Yeah Guys, I heard some months ago that meade tried to take over celestron, but as was mentioned the monopoly laws prevented that, what's worrying for me is that if this is all a ploy to eventually get these 2 to merge, does'nt it make sense to say that it will be a monopoly as the new company will have an edge over everybody else quality wise?, since there are 2 competing companies at the moment, in the near future there will be only one?

I think overall this is worrying, my own personal opinion is that this stems from both companies pricing 'statagies' , both are too restrictive about where they sell, wonder why there is no official outlet for meade in ireland, correct me if i'm wrong

I'll have a look at the message boards i'm subscribed to....