TVR Engineering Ltd - Skint or Loaded?

[steelnads]

What profit does wheeler make on a Tuscan? What''s his Annual turnover, profit/loss and assets/liabilites. Has anyone ever been prudent enough to review TVR''s returns at Companys House before handing over a deposit cheque?

[neilmurphy]

Are TVR in a spot of cashflow problems?

[photonic]

In the year to 31/12/99, sales were £37 million, down from £52 million the year before. Profit before tax was £82,000, down from £2.6 million the year before!!

[Don]

That's an incredibly low margin business. Mind you. Since TVR is independently owned there is NO reason to declare a big profit....just to pay corporation tax on it. Might as well bank the money personally instead. (Although PW will pay income tax on that) or spend it (ahead of tax) on stuff you enjoy...like advertising/marketing/promotional campaigns - you know...motor racing! Reading TVRs accounts won't provide a picture of the business at all: it'll provide an insight into how TVR are managing their tax situation (perfectly legally too). Edited by Don on Tuesday 4th September 13:17

[GasBlaster]

From those figures one can deduce that TVR's fixed costs are around £6.1 million each year and that the variable cost of materials, etc is about 83.2% of the price of each new Tiv. Also, break even point must be about £36.5 million of sales. I should imagine PW is losing money hand over fist at the moment, with all the belt tightening going on worldwide. PW praising the competition's product in the press isn't going to help either...

[ATG]

Ouch. Anyone got a view on their sales figures since 99? Size of the profit doesn't really tell you much as it is the sum of a bizillion parts and there are no shareholders to impress, but the sales figure is nice and concrete. If you extrapolate from the 98 & 99 sales figures, it would be a severe case of the brown trousers by now.

[andyvdg]

Which year did PW pay himself that multi-million pound salary - wouldn't that have dented the profits ?

[GasBlaster]

Has anyone got Caterham's figures? It would make an interesting comparison!

[andyr]

I think PW took out £2m that year for himself (Autocar report?). I seem to remember he ploughed money in from a chemicals business, and I guess wanted some of it back.

[GasBlaster]

Depends on how he ploughed it in and reaped it back. If he made a loan to TVR then I don't think the repayment back to him would be a charge against profits. If he invested it into TVR equity then the sale/purchase of TVR shares would not affect profits either. Isn't it fun being nosy?