Can’t quite work out what it is:
British leather jacket brand Belstaff is dependent on the goodwill of billionaire owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to survive, its auditor said after the heavily indebted firm posted a £48m loss.
The 110-year-old firm could struggle to operate without a financial lifeline from parent company Ineos, auditor KPMG said when signing off its books. Chemicals giant Ineos is owned by Sir Jim.
Accounts filed this month with Companies House show Belstaff’s losses narrowed to £48m during 2018, compared with £62m a year earlier.
Sales also fell slightly, down from £31m to £30.5m during 2018 after the firm closed a store at Westfield shopping centre in west London.
Sir Jim’s a canny guy and he’s certainly rich enough to be able to carry the losses of his favourite leather jacket maker.
It’s also, possibly and vaguely, for a company turning over £30 million odd to lose £48 million in a year. Something horrendous must have happened bu it can happen. But £100 million of losses over 2 years from £60 million turnover?
I think even Sir Jim would find that a little expensive for a side pocket luxury.
Summat’s wrong here. And the thing that’s wrong is that the company’s, financially at least, a right dog. Negative gross margins on their sales meaning that the entire overhead and plus some is loss.
That might be valid for a start up but something that been’s around a century?