At the time it seemed the business may be able to prosper despite the tragic death of Laura Ashley on her 60th birthday in 1985 when she fell down a flight of stairs.
As long as the issue of the day is spending on schools, hospitals and the like, rather than Mr Brown's personality or his record of economic management, itmay be that Labour still has a chance to prosper.
Or itmay be a cyclical one: Asia's component-makers often prosper in the early stages of the Western business cycle, as companies rebuild their inventories in anticipation of brighter sales to come.