The End of a German Company?

To tell this story...I need to introduce the chief player....Beate Uhse.

For an American, you've likely never heard of the company. It's on the German stock market and up until a few years ago....was making money. It's the "Sears" of German sex shops.

Typically, if you walk into a Beate Uhse shop....it's a medium sized shop that features just about every item that you could dream up. Their reputation is based on being the friendly shop where either a guy or gal could walk in....with any weird taste, and find exactly what they need. Complimenting this...was their catalog effort.

For a number of years...they had built up a very organized business and actually have a great business reputation for what they actually sell.

But things in the last couple of years have gone downward, and they are reaching a point where profits are difficult to maintain, and they are searching for some way to soar back to the top. This leads us to their latest idea....announced today....3-D adult movies.

In the video market....Beate Uhse was actually getting three-quarters of his business from video sales when you go back over a decade ago. Today...it's just under twenty percent of their business. They are thinking this 3-D interest in the past year...will be a curious thing in the adult community.

I pondered over this idea. Twenty years ago...this might have been accepted. People still went to theaters. There really aren't 3-D TV's yet, and if you do find them....it's way more than the average German would ever pay. But this trend to run down to an adult theater to see 3-D? It just won't happen.

My prediction here is that Beate Uhse is on its last legs. It'll spend the money to make this one last big effort...and maybe produce a dozen of these videos....and then watch the banks close its operation. It'll take a year or two after the first release but this is likely a company that is coming to an end.

A buyer for it? Why? It's not a business where number two's really exist. You've got a bunch of small market Italian, Spanish or French guys who can probably step in sell their wares....and thats about the best you can see develop.