kweli
05-01-2009, 01:49 PM
Didn't really expect this one.
Royal Doulton owner Waterford Wedgwood falls into administration
Waterford Wedgwood, the 250-year-old maker of luxury glassware and china, will fall into administration today after failing to secure new funding.
The loss-making company, whose famous brands include Waterford crystal, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton fine bone china, Rosenthal porcelain and Spring premium cookware, ran out of time in its attempt to raise up to £200m in fresh capital. It said this morning that Deloitte will be appointed as receiver and administrator.
Chief executive David Sculley said he was disappointed that some of the group's UK and Irish subsidiaries will go into administration and receivership, but said he remained optimistic that a buyer could be found.
The failure to agree a rescue deal is a heavy blow to Sir Anthony O'Reilly, who chairs the company. The billionaire media tycoon and his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris have pumped around €400m (£375m) into Waterford Wedgwood in recent years, and already faced seeing their 60% stake in the firm heavily diluted as part of any recapitalisation.
Shares in the company, which were suspended on the Dublin market today, had already fallen to €0.001.
Waterford Wedgwood's lenders had repeatedly given the company extra time to arrange a new funding package, and agreed to defer loan payments until 2 January. According to reports it has been negotiating with a US private equity firm over the sale of a controlling stake. But time ran out, forcing the company's board to call in the receivers.
O'Reilly thanked the company's suppliers, employees and customers and the UK and Irish governments for their help over recent months. "We are consoled only by the fact that everything that could have been done, by management and by the board, to preserve the group, was done," he said. O'Reilly and Goulandris injected €60m in October.
Waterford Wedgwood employs some 1,000 people at its Barlaston pottery in North Staffordshire, and a further 800 in Ireland. It operates almost 600 outlets worldwide, many of which are concessions within larger stores.
The firm has posted a loss for the last five financial years, as declining demand for its products pushed its sales down. Its future has been uncertain for months, despite attempts to cut costs by closing some sites and moving production overseas to Eastern Europe and Indonesia. Thousands of jobs have already been lost in the UK and Ireland in recent years.
Josiah Wedgwood, known as "the father of English Potters", founded the company in 1759 in Staffordshire. It merged with Waterford in 1986.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/05/retail-recession
Royal Doulton owner Waterford Wedgwood falls into administration
Waterford Wedgwood, the 250-year-old maker of luxury glassware and china, will fall into administration today after failing to secure new funding.
The loss-making company, whose famous brands include Waterford crystal, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton fine bone china, Rosenthal porcelain and Spring premium cookware, ran out of time in its attempt to raise up to £200m in fresh capital. It said this morning that Deloitte will be appointed as receiver and administrator.
Chief executive David Sculley said he was disappointed that some of the group's UK and Irish subsidiaries will go into administration and receivership, but said he remained optimistic that a buyer could be found.
The failure to agree a rescue deal is a heavy blow to Sir Anthony O'Reilly, who chairs the company. The billionaire media tycoon and his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris have pumped around €400m (£375m) into Waterford Wedgwood in recent years, and already faced seeing their 60% stake in the firm heavily diluted as part of any recapitalisation.
Shares in the company, which were suspended on the Dublin market today, had already fallen to €0.001.
Waterford Wedgwood's lenders had repeatedly given the company extra time to arrange a new funding package, and agreed to defer loan payments until 2 January. According to reports it has been negotiating with a US private equity firm over the sale of a controlling stake. But time ran out, forcing the company's board to call in the receivers.
O'Reilly thanked the company's suppliers, employees and customers and the UK and Irish governments for their help over recent months. "We are consoled only by the fact that everything that could have been done, by management and by the board, to preserve the group, was done," he said. O'Reilly and Goulandris injected €60m in October.
Waterford Wedgwood employs some 1,000 people at its Barlaston pottery in North Staffordshire, and a further 800 in Ireland. It operates almost 600 outlets worldwide, many of which are concessions within larger stores.
The firm has posted a loss for the last five financial years, as declining demand for its products pushed its sales down. Its future has been uncertain for months, despite attempts to cut costs by closing some sites and moving production overseas to Eastern Europe and Indonesia. Thousands of jobs have already been lost in the UK and Ireland in recent years.
Josiah Wedgwood, known as "the father of English Potters", founded the company in 1759 in Staffordshire. It merged with Waterford in 1986.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/05/retail-recession