Rumours of Zenos into administration..

[MrLizard]

rtz62 said:

A friend of mine made mention of something that got me thinking; if the car is so developed, and administrators have been called in, might it not make commercial sense for a company like Lotus to step in?
After all, if the R&D work etc has been done, and all the manufacturing process sorted, then with a little of the renowned Lotus 'fairy dust' sprinkled over it they could have another string added to their bow.
I'm not sure that it would be feasible but aforementioned friend genuinely thought it was a good idea....

unfortunately i thought that Lotus might be in a bit of bother as well ?

[KarlMac]

The Crack Fox said:

Weird. They doubled turnover from 2015 to 2016, losses halved (and were small anyway) and get pretty good press from everyone who drove one (me included). Why did they fail? Why were the export orders cancelled?

Financial info here; https://www.eddisons.com/assets/uploads/MBA/Zenos%...

Good luck, guys, if you're reading.

I'm guessing a swing in the £ hasn't helped export sales.

It would seem a good investment for some with the financial reserves and long term view.

[crosseyedlion]

KarlMac said:

The Crack Fox said:

Weird. They doubled turnover from 2015 to 2016, losses halved (and were small anyway) and get pretty good press from everyone who drove one (me included). Why did they fail? Why were the export orders cancelled?

Financial info here; https://www.eddisons.com/assets/uploads/MBA/Zenos%...

Good luck, guys, if you're reading.

I'm guessing a swing in the £ hasn't helped export sales.

It would seem a good investment for some with the financial reserves and long term view.

Someone will correct me if im wrong, but the swing in the pound would have helped orders! The cars instantly got more profitable.

Could it be that the kind of buyer of a Zenos is also the kind of buyer would would place a deposit on a new tvr?

[lockhart flawse]

No not more profitable but the cars became cheaper for most overseas buyers.

[NickCQ]

crosseyedlion said:

Someone will correct me if im wrong, but the swing in the pound would have helped orders! The cars instantly got more profitable.

Could it be that the kind of buyer of a Zenos is also the kind of buyer would would place a deposit on a new tvr?

It would depend on what proportion of their raw materials and components they import versus what proportion of their buyers are UK-based rather than overseas.

[crosseyedlion]

Another question is, how much would a company like this be worth? Single or double digit millions?

Or if its unprofitable, very little?

[framerateuk]

That's a real shame, the E10 looked great but I was really looking forward to seeing what they did with the E11.

[ads_green]

The problem with brexit is that yes, exports become easier to sell but it only works if the raw materials don't need to be imported.

For example, if they have to buy the Ford engines from the states then that'll hurt a lot.

[whit3star]

KarlMac said:

The Crack Fox said:

Weird. They doubled turnover from 2015 to 2016, losses halved (and were small anyway) and get pretty good press from everyone who drove one (me included). Why did they fail? Why were the export orders cancelled?

Financial info here; https://www.eddisons.com/assets/uploads/MBA/Zenos%...

Good luck, guys, if you're reading.

I'm guessing a swing in the £ hasn't helped export sales.

It would seem a good investment for some with the financial reserves and long term view.

Link doesn't seem to work. Did anyone download the file? as I would be interesting in reading it.

[soad]

Chris Evans drove a Zenos E10S on the latest series of Top Gear, describing it as "Darth Vader's weekend wheels".

[mikey P 500]

Really sad to read this, hope buyer can be found to save the staff jobs. Is Britex to blame maybe. Shame the government can't do something to help if so, as they helped keep Nissan in UK a few months back, prior to the falling pound they seemed to getting on OK. Guess their engine prices have shot up too.
So much effort gone into development hope they are bought out and the cars can continue to be made.

[Dick Dastardly]

Did it have a price attached? Would love to know what they are valuing the assets at and how much they'd accept.

[Dick Dastardly]

How could brexit or the fall in the pound be to blame? Most manufacturers I know are loving things at the minute, as their goods became much better value overseas so export sales are up. The only ones complaining are those who import all of their materials and only sell to the domestic market.

[mikey P 500]

I would expect almost all parts, raw materials and engines etc are imported for all their cars yet only a small percentage of finished cars are exported, so falling pound to blame.

[KarlMac]

crosseyedlion said:

Someone will correct me if im wrong, but the swing in the pound would have helped orders! The cars instantly got more profitable.

Could it be that the kind of buyer of a Zenos is also the kind of buyer would would place a deposit on a new tvr?

Nope, your quite correct, it would have made them cheaper! Brain fart on my part.

Can't even blame TG / GT or media as reviews are largely positive.

[DonkeyApple]

hebbhog said:

They had numerous charges over assets etc in place so I suspect one of the lendors/liquidity providers said 'enough was enough'. There was private equity houses, VCTs and other lending companies involved. They all want to make a return and protect capital wherever possible.

Yup. 5 charges from three separate entities. All it probably took was one to call theirs in.

Maybe we'll know who when we see who buys the assets at rock bottom value?

[Sid123]

All exports are invoiced in GBP so the cars have become even better value than they already were to a foreign buyer in almost any currency.
However, Brexit has nothing to do with the current situation.
As I understand it and as Dan's article has alluded to there was a cancellation/non-performance of a significant order which disrupted cashflow unexpectedly IMHO.
The cars are fantastic, very good value for the performance they offer (they are very quick) and the people at Zenos are some of the most enthusiastic I have ever met.
As I said earlier I had the pleasure of doing some work with them in 2016. More than thoroughly enjoyable.
Having owned and E10S and now an E10R I feel qualified to be able to say the cars are an excellent drive, well assembled and in my eyes superb looking (as long as it's fitted with a windscreen).
If the company doesn't survive it would be a travesty in my mind as I believe they have E11 developed and there is a significant waiting list for the cars.
Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope there is a positive outcome as I'd be gutted for the Zenos team who have done a brilliant job in only 3/4 years or so.

[phil4]

I notice that at the end of Nov, John Hughes left the company having been their chairman. I wonder if this was the start of the end, and investor unwinding.

[More torque]

Agree with previous comments, for the car to sell in any reasonable numbers its got to look right no matter how well it goes. Unfortunately this never did (look the biz).

[anonymous-user]

Whatever it's about, it's not about sales, they had more orders than they could fulfill so there was a waiting list.

I suspect it's fairly easy to find why they were burning through cash and not profitable yet - developing new cars is really expensive and you need the resources to fund that as a recent startup.

Really hope they can secure investment or continue in some way, the product was clearly very good indeed and was competeively priced against the competion.