KPMG Demand may halt production of Discovery.

[CarZee]

The company who makes the chassis for the Land Rover Discovery, UPF-Thompsom, has gone into liquidation.

The liquidators, KPMG, are demanding an upfront payment of £45M from Land Rover (Ford) to 'secure the future' of their supplier.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1759000/1759078.stm

Personally, I take umbridge at the way pirhanas like KPMG see fit to hold a company to ransom like this, effectively endangering not only the future of the Disco, but the jobs of a shedload of people at Land Rover and their other suppliers of Disco parts..

I took the opportunity to go to KPMG's website and tell Mr Mark Orton this using their contact form.

Maybe I'm adressing the wrong audience, but perhaps we should all do the same:

www.kpmg.co.uk/kpmg/uk/ContactUS/contactus_entryform.cfm

cheers

[bertie]

But if Land Rover / Ford hadn't screwed the supplier into the ground on price with demands for "year on year cost redusctions" they wouldn't have gone bust.

Blame LR for the redundancies not KPMG

Edited by bertie on Monday 14th January 14:31

[Nick M (nmilton)]

Have to say I agree with bertie. Land Rover largely have themselves to blame for this one....

Sounds pretty similar to what happened to the company that supplied Lotus with their metal-matrix brake thingies.

[aovcerb]

Have to agree with CarZee here, 45M is a lot out of a business cash flow particularly when we are facing an economic downturn, fact said in business or in our home life we always try and secure the optimum deal, so why should not LR. If the Disco ceases production it will open up the market to foreign competition and in the grand scale of things we the taxpayer will have to support the many resulting redundancies.

[DIGGA]

Working in the construction industry, my company has, in previous years, had the misfortune of customers experiencing financial difficulties.

The most striking coincidence is, that no matter what the size of the company, and no matter which bunch of pirahanas takes control, their fees always wipe out any reserves. Nice little earner!

Marcus
& Ocean Haze Griff 500

[bertie]

For sure, accountants, along with bankers, solicitors and recruitment agents are all leeches on the back of manufacturing industry.
Typical service sector, produce nothing, add no value and charge a disproportionately large fee.
I would never try and defend any of them.

But the big car companies take an extremely arrogant approach with their suppliers, if they hadn't then they wouldn't have gone belly up.

[Roadrunner]

One of the major motoring mags held a survey on how well large companies paid their suppliers - ie on time or not - and Ford came out as the worst offender.

[CarZee]

All valid comments and worthy debate.

Whilst I know that Ford are enormous and have a Market-Cap greater than the GDP of much of the 3rd world and are not the most scrupulous of businesses themselves, my personal concern in that a short-termist decision taken by a nonce enthroned in KPMG at Canary Wharf (or wherever) is threatening jobs which might well not be recreated in this country after the downturn ends.

The Land Rover plant has just had a big win in keeping the contract to build the vehicles in this country. Now that is all under threat.

[WalterU]

I know all about the way specifically small subcontractors are treated by the car giants - they (the subcontractors) are my customers.

Small customers of mine have been bankrupted because they had a signed contract, bought 250,000 quids worth of machines - and then the contract was withdrawn. If you try to sue them they'll laugh at you.

Rgds, WalterU

[JMGS4]

Combine this with Ford's wish to close 5 factories world-wide and fire 40 thousand (17 thou in Europe) then we'll end up with ford exploders instead of landys, very short sighted KPMG! and very short sighted labour unmenschen to let this happen without getting a hold on a militarily important company!!! Or should the army drive unimogs and haflingers!!!instead of a good brit product which we can repair when they go wrong........ Rant over

[CarZee]

quote:very short sighted KPMG!

And that's why I passed on my rant to the bloke at KPMG via their website - perhaps you should do the same...

and I don't think it'd be too difficult to work out his email address either..

[Ali_D]

Before every one jumps on the accountancy profession as a whole can I point out the good work that Deloitte & Touche did and still does for MG - keeping at least one reasonable sized car maker British.

I can understand both sides of the argument here but I am now firmly on Land Rover's side after seeing a quote from the KPMG guy which basically said no-one else makes these components so we have LR over a barrel so they should pay up.

[CarZee]

quote:I am now firmly on Land Rover's side after seeing a quote from the KPMG guy which basically said no-one else makes these components so we have LR over a barrel so they should pay up.

Can you post a link to that or tell us where you heard/read it ?
cheers

[Fatboy]

I find it very hard to believe that LandRover (or Ford) cannot simply tell them to stick it up their arses and get the chassis made somewhere else? (like the people who make the Rangie chassis for example - pay them the £45M to set up new jigs etc, just to spite the b*stards)

[DIGGA]

quote:
Before every one jumps on the accountancy profession p.

Accountants are fine, so long as they know their place - cupboard under the stairs preferably (just joking) - but they really 5hag things up when they get involved in long term commercial projects, particularly in manufacturing.

Unfortunately, UK plc, has the well documented failing of being innovative and creative, but not being able to put these ideas into production.

Marcus
& Ocean Haze Griff 500

[CarZee]

quote:I find it very hard to believe that LandRover (or Ford) cannot simply tell them to stick it up their arses and get the chassis made somewhere else

That was my thought too, but a bloke from Land Rover said on R4 yesterday that during the time it would take to retool etc they'd have to lay people off. You'd have thought there'd be another company willing to take on the chassis work though..

[Fatboy]

Why not Just move the summer shutdown forward a bit while they re-tool Or just make it perfectly clear to KPMG that they will not pay that, offer £1 or £2M for the jigs etc and tell them to like it or lump it - the jigs are F-all use to KPMG, so they'd be F*cked too...

[kevinday]

As a qualified accountant (management not financial) I always believed it was my responsibility to ensure the financial viability of a project and then to find the finance for projects. This view is probably why I no longer work as an accountant! Not many people understood that view, or even welcomed it. I was not an FD or anything, merely number 3 on the totem pole so ultimately got over-ruled in too many cases.