caused ... I would like to put on record that I am very proud of my shops,
my products, my staff and my customers.’
Even as the apology was issued new posters were appearing in some of
the store windows plying the merits of ‘Cheap, Reliable and Affordable
Prices’ – eating humble pie did not come easy. Gerald followed up with an
apologetic appearance on a TV chat show, but nevertheless found himself
labelled by some as the ‘businessman the great British public loves to hate’.
After an initial rise of 6p on the day of the speech the shares had shed 7p,
to settle at 180p. The fall continued until a recommendation^16 from analysts
Hoare Govett brought a rise to 169p. ‘The worries about the recent com-
ments about the quality of his goods were overdone. Consumers will soon
have forgotten about them.’ But by the end of the month other analysts had
downgraded their forecasts on the company, based not on company per-
formance but on the strength of the economy. The shares closed the month
at 150p.
By the AGM Gerald was insisting that he had been mis-reported, saying
that the term ‘crap’ had been solely applied to the sherry decanter, not the
jewellery products, which he said had always represented good value for
money and high quality. However, he did plead guilty to naivity. He had
tried to make what was meant as a light-hearted comment to brighten up
an otherwise gloomy discussion of recession at a conference. It was
reported that his contriteness was well received by the shareholders.^17
Roger Cowe also defended Ratner:^18
He should be in a Batman cartoon as ‘The Salesman Who Told The Truth
About His Products’. He made the mistake of repeating a well-worn joke,
that he had used many times before, once too often and found it splashed
over the front pages. The outrage was misdirected. He has never pretended
the Ratners chain sells high quality products. The point of his speech to the
stuffy directors was that Ratners provides customers with what they want –
something shiny that doesn’t cost very much.It wasn’t enough. The media were now alert for any piece of news about
the group: Exeter magistrates fining Zales and Ernest Jones for wrongful
claims about the durability of Laser Rope gold bracelets made front-page
news.
The losses continue
The interim results 1991 reported a loss of £17.7 million compared to £9.3
million for the previous half year. This was attributed to the recession
rather than the earlier comments, since 8 per cent more people were
coming into the Ratners stores; but with the average transaction value
The referral and influence market domains 261