Hornby Apparently Derailed by Olympics Setback

Shares in Hornby lost more than a third of their value on Tuesday after the maker of model train sets issued its third profit warning of the year.

The owner of the Scalextric, Airfix and Corgi brands warned that an expected sales boost from the Olympic Games ran out of steam, as cash-strapped consumers shunned its London 2012 scale models of black taxis and double-decker buses.

Hornby, whose Olympics-related products included a £20 Team GB cycling velodrome Scalextric racing set, said: “Faced with lower-than-expected sales, major retailers resorted to deep price discounting. [read more here]