The present turmoil in the banking world seems to be trickling down to independent electrical dealers.

Three retailers tell me that their banks are changing the way they finance their portfolio of rentals. All three have had long-standing overdraft arrangements that were subject to an annual review.

These reviews had become almost a formality, but now the dealers report that the amount advanced has been dramatically cut.

Banks have apparently watched the closure of the national rental shops and are now insisting on extra “cover” on finance rentals. All three dealers admit that this past year has been a difficult one with many cancelled agreements.

The bankers seem to be acutely aware that the price of new sets has fallen dramatically and they feel this erosion will continue.

One banker even spotted that his customer had a pile of ex-rental TVs in the shop window for what the manager called “knock-down prices” and he therefore questioned the true value of the dealer’s rental stock.

Some dealers still have a considerable rental base, but is anyone still investing heavily in the rental market?

For some time now, black has been the finish of choice for large screen TV sets. It seems this is about to change.

Samsung had great success with the black Bordeaux series, but will soon be selling a new range that retains just some of the black, but adds a considerable amount of a rose colour. The new range will be called Crystal Rose.

Every maker is trying to differentiate its sets and the new 65in plasma from Panasonic will have an Ethernet connection, be capable of connecting to a home wi-fi network as well as linking to Internet Protocol TV (IPTV).

The set will also have an Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD-SD) slot, so that should help advance the sales of similarly equipped HD camcorders.

Sony’s new products all seem to be network capable and its Air Station sales are about to take off, as customers demand “streaming”.

All these extra are good news as it needs a “real” dealer to fully demonstrate their capabilities and sell a whole network of products.

Last week, ERT Weekly recorded the death of Eddy Pratt and I just wanted to add a tribute of my own.

I first got to know Eddy when he was with Lombard Tricity Finance. When Tricity ran golf tournaments, Eddy was an expert at diplomatically losing games to dealers, when in fact he played like a professional.

Eddy travelled widely with Tricity and started writing (under a nom de plume) the Take a Town feature for Electrical Retailing.

Eddy wouldn’t mind me now revealing that Tricity did not know he was writing the articles. They only found out when they wanted to book the Take A Town writer to speak at its sales conference.

On a more personal note, Eddy paid a surprise visit to my shop when he featured the town of Aberdeen. At the time, Electrical Retailing was a competitor of ERT Weekly and it would have been very easy to give me a low score.

Fortunately, everything must have been right on the day, as my shop went on to be chosen by the other magazine as the best independent in the UK.

The fact that Eddy resisted the temptation to knock the competition was typical of the honesty that shone through all the Take a Town reviews.

Eddy was one of the best and I shall miss him.