Suffolk Sportscars - liquidation
Discussion
The letter sent out by Suffolk was entirely spurious. They used the excuse of the Jaguar threat to imply that this was the reason for the company liquidation but nothing was further from the truth. yes, they had been threatened by JLR, but the he debts were enormous, creditors were closing in, and bankruptcy had been looming for a few years. The re a new company carrying on servicing and providing parts for cars, but I don't think you'll find anyone making the bodies and chassis any more.
I find it amusing how many different people have fantastical views on why this company went into administration. A conspiracy theory seems to be far more appealing than some ordinary business facts. We can see that the main creditor appears to be the original investor. The company has a legal dispute with JLR, (about the use of the name Jaguar, not the shape of the car) meaning it would have to completely re-brand, ...and while thats going on C19 appears. The company has 17 staff, so please do the maths on the wage bill/month, plus premises, and other overheads. Now imagine that most of their sales, for the approx 12 cars a year they build, come from the summer shows. So what happens to their cash flow, if you cannot go to any of the trade shows for a whole summer? .. no sales = no deposits and no ongoing money coming in ...but the wages and overheads still need to be paid. Even at the end of furlough there are not going to be enough orders to pay anyone. So the company takes advice and the advice is you have to fold. Mr. Williams was gutted that the company had to fold, I believe he intended to leave it running with his son in charge. Oh and Williams senior went bankrupt (only) once before in 1989, when as you might remember there was a rather huge financial crash, and quite a lot of other people also lost their businesses.
It's not even that complicated. Isn't the owner of the building being rented by the company the same as the majority shareholder of the company and for years the rent owed on the building has been being booked against the balance sheet? I can't remember all the details of the thread but seem to recall same beneficial owner of the two assets and an £800k liability created over years? If so then the whole thing is an engineered exit for retirement and nothing to do with C19 as the set up was created donkeys years ago.
This has come to light recently, but I am somewhat puzzled. All I can think is that the "owner" must have been extremely generous to allow the major debt of rent due to accumulate to such an extent. Which makes me wonder if the "owner" of the property was perhaps Mrs Williams? I'm probably wrong, but I do have a suspicious mind.
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