Norton trouble

There appears to be some sense of irony when one Gov. Department holds up money while another Gov. Department threatens to close down a company effectively shooting one another in the foot - only in the UK, or maybe not.. . . . . . .

Maybe.

But that’s how it works, and it’s how it’s always worked, and if you run a company it’s your fiduciary duty to know this and act accordingly.

There are always those who think they’re cleverer than the system, or the rules somehow don’t or shouldn’t apply to them (a “too clever fool” as Kommando phrased it). I worked for such a guy once and left cos I couldn’t stand it. He went bankrupt sometime afterwards! Far simpler to just follow the rules!

Simple as that really.
 
And just for clarity; “Winding Up” in this context means winding up the affairs of the company, in other words it’s the formal process for closing a company in order to liquidise it’s assets and retrieve owed money.
 
Winding Up Petition, very few company's survive them as they are issued as a last resort when other routes have failed.

The judge has many options, even if the company proves it can pay its way, he can still liquidate, put into administration, remove directors, order further investigation or even remove the WUP so the company can carry on trading.

DHL may have instigated and obtained the WUP, but once advertised they can be piggy backed by others to the extent the originator can pull out and let the others progress with it. Problem is that those who piggy back are only disclosed on the day of the hearing 1 hour before the hearing - brutal.

In the past directors would avoid them easily by selecting other routes to shut down their affairs, to avoid further investigation, in the last few years these loopholes have been shut off.

Now you can see why they are serious and hard to survive.
 
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Not quite the same, but had to stop trading.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Motorcycle_Company


Head of Wildrose Ventures, Nelson Skalbania, reformed the company as Norton Motors (1993) Ltd., putting his daughter Rosanda in place as General Manager at the Shenstone site.[29] The new ownership attempted to reclaim from public exhibition premises and place for auction with Sothebys ten historic motorcycles, estimated at the time to be worth £50,000,[27] including a 1904 Triumph first exhibited in 1938, which had been variously distributed to National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Science Museum, London and Coventry Transport Museum.

This proved controversial as the museums had assumed the loans had been made on a permanent basis, and former Chief Executive David MacDonald stated "Without doubt anything which existed before 1984 does not belong to the present company. The assets were simply not transferred"[30][31]

Wildrose Ventures was ordered by the Alberta Stock Exchange to cease trading.[27][28] In 1994 ownership of the company reverted to Aquilini Investments as Skalbania was unable to repay the money he had borrowed to purchase the company. The Skalbania connection was reported as being severed by July of that year[32]
 
Not quite right, Wiki is sparse with the facts.
1993 Norton Motors Ltd was skint, so the deal was done for the assets of NML, this let NML wither and die as a shell. On completion of the deal NM93 was formed, though as can be seen publicly the various registrations, UK and US, that needed to be completed as part of that deal were not completed until after the Skalbanias had disappeared and Calof, Aquilini's brief, did some tidying up, with some registrations not completed until 1998.
Norton Motorcycles 1993 named changed to Norton Motorcycles, again the dates can be found at company's house.
Looking at the data from and the timeline the security the Aquilini's had over NM93 was worked out in 1998 - details and dates online, less than seven days after the settlement Calof moved all Norton Motorcycles Ltd assets from the UK into March Motors Inc, in the US. This US entry contains both the TM, and on the same piece of paper another paragraph for the entire business interest as well. We know that the entire Norton Motorcycles Ltd had transferred to the US.
This left him with no Company, but some BSA agreements that were not part of the transaction to MMI and without checking my details the TM, so he used the empty company registration to set up to name change to BSA motorcycles Ltd. This did not last long, in 1999 he was challenged for not keeping to the the agreements, he did not attend the hearing and lost with the lot moving to BSA Regal. The finer details of this can be found on the UKIPO challenges website where it is publicly available.
The above is a very brief over view of this period. Most of the above can be found publicly online, any that is not, as per ZFD comment recently, those who wish to see more historic detail that AN have can make an appointment to view it.
I have been asked, how many times has the TM been sold since 1966, answer is once in 1993, NML to NM93.
The exact financial detail of how Villiers obtained it in 1966 was never fully disclosed, though the file papers seem to suggest it was thrust upon them and MBH, and thus the reason why MBH set it up as a new company _ Norton Villiers Ltd, so that if it failed it would not affect MBH or Villiers engines.
 
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The Mcdonald crap about the bikes is just that - where are the bikes now? Who lent them in the first place? He had no documented proof of these bikes being permanently loaned. The London museum bike if it existed should have been returned when the museum recently shut.
He made this up, just like the 1984 date, where is the paperwork? has anyone other than him confirmed this? Mike Jackson, directors of the NVT & subsiduary's that were in place in 1984 and still here in 1994 ever confirmed this - No. It was a ploy to affect the Skalbania's.
Were they in the agreement when NM93 bought the assets of NML - no.
Just because he said it does not make it true, the Wiki refs his comments, but he cannot ref his own, not even in 1994.
 
Thanks guys , surprisingly still clear as mud , haha! ...I sure hope that Norton can continue in its present “busy” state for all concerned
 
No. Not for those with deposits in place and motorcycles on order...
Mm that’s a good answer , we’ll sure hope things smooth out , we all want a long “ no ripples in pond time “ from now on, Toyota type reliability, Harrods customer service,no quibble Honda/triumph etc warranties issues , Morgan /Aston Martin experience
 
Not so sure Aston Martin are a good example to follow, aren't they on their 3rd profit warning within 12 months.
 
Mm that’s a good answer , we’ll sure hope things smooth out , we all want a long “ no ripples in pond time “ from now on, Toyota type reliability, Harrods customer service,no quibble Honda/triumph etc warranties issues , Morgan /Aston Martin experience
Some would be more thankful just to have a bike.
. . .
 
Tax bill started at £600K, now down to £300K which should be covered by Tax rebate on R&D according to SG, but the rebate is only £135K so £165K is not covered.

Also

https://www.accountancydaily.co/norton-motorbikes-faces-ps300k-tax-bill

In the latest accounts for year end March 2018, filed in April 2019, director and company owner Stuart Garner said that ‘intangibles had grown significantly over the last three years as the business has invested money into the research and development of new engine platforms and motorcycle ranges, being the V4 and 650cc model ranges’.

However, the auditor’s report by HSKS Greenhalgh indicated that there was material uncertainty related to going concern, with pre-tax profits of £33,701, with a year end loss after tax of £1,537, against liabilities of £3.38m based on £6.7m turnover. It also flagged incorrect reporting of development costs and government grants in prior years.

Intangibles are assets not easily converted to cash so the balance sheet is not liquid, it also includes all that racing expenditure, all depends on the timing of the liabilities. If you have been mis-reporting development costs and Govt grants then the Tax rebates dry up even if they are correct until the Tax man is satisfied the accounts have been corrected.

Metro Bank and Santander PLC have charges against the company in place. They come after the Tax man gets his cut.
 
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