Info Aqualung Financial Troubles

[cerich]

So the death knell has been rung for AL, and now the rats are fleeing the sinking ship. Burning the wall paper indeed. Sometimes I really hate the smartest guys in the room, whom only seem to know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

My father, who was a pretty successful entrepreneur once dragged me along when I was a teen when he signed the note on a 8 figure (left of decimal) sum of money. In the car after I asked him if that scared him. He laughed and said to me the following:

" When you owe somebody 10 thousand bucks, YOU have a 10 thousand dollar problem, when you owe somebody 10 million, THEY have a 10 million dollar problem"

Anyhow...

 

[iain/hsm]

So the 25m euro loan was for Apeks only?

Hi Landon

Yes and No and all at the same time.

Sorry if I was confusing in my earlier posts. It's clear in my head but difficult to explain fully in writing
and fast moving. Further confusing by the USA/UK being two counties divided by a common language.
Of which I am clearly poor in both at explaining.

So here goes. These latest loans 7th Dec which I posted earlier are between Aqualung Corporate
and Bearings and Massachusetts Mutual in addition with Aqualung International have to be factored in with with earlier loans I didn't go into with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation a Chinese bank.

What the Apeks managing director signed on the 7th is a security agreement for the €25M with Glas SAS in Paris as Agent.

It's a bit like when your kids buy a house and you the parents act as guarantor for the loan Except in this case its the other way around. Apex and its assets are all up as collateral against the loan.
We need to discuss leveraged buy outs to get this fully into perspective. But IMHO the managing director resigning soon after is the best option for him to do. I can explain later. Iain

 

[iain/hsm]

So the death knell has been rung for AL, and now the rats are fleeing the sinking ship. Burning the wall paper indeed. Sometimes I really hate the smartest guys in the room, whom only seem to know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

USdiver1

You can remember I'm sure when US Divers were a better outfit and the products we had back then. Well It's all gone those days are over the old guard are out and the old dogs left behind feeding on scraps.

The folk left behind now are the ones to feel sorry for. As the ship slowly sinks the crew are facing forward as she goes down, while the rats on deck are facing in the other direction climbing up and off for a rescue horizon and a new job.

Consider the picture I have posted below. This was taken when the Apeks Managing Director resigned.
The party had all those smiling faces grinning for the camera. Yet only two people knew what had just happened a couple of weeks prior. Most still don't know but they had a happy holiday trusting in the management to guide direct with their best intentions at heart. In God's hand I trust everyone else needs to verify.

"For those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters." (Psalm 107) Iain

 

[iain/hsm]

In addition to the Aqualung fiasco the disaster with Apex just continues downward at an alarming rate.
Encombered with the huge loan discussed previous and a possibility of selling off the brand the future looks even bleaker. Leading some to think now would be a good time to dump off your Apeks equipment before spares maintenance and product line become a thing of the past. So here we go:

1. Last year sales in the UK dropped by over 50%
2. Directors missed out on their annual £800,000 bonus
3. But while staff numbers and wages stayed the same as the year before
4. The new director wages were increased by a whopping 45%
5. Now the kicker is Apeks for the first time in its history made a whopping quarter of a million sterling loss.
6. I can confirm on 8th December 2023 Barings completed the acquisition of the Aqualung Group.

Feel free to disagree but someone needs to put this dog down before the one trick pony of a regulator design runs out of patent life and those around in the wings waiting for a chance to strike make a move.

Just saying. Iain

 

[makar0n]

(...)

1. Last year sales in the UK dropped by over 50%
2. Directors missed out on their annual £800,000 bonus
3. But while staff numbers and wages stayed the same as the year before
4. The new director wages were increased by a whopping 45%
5. Now the kicker is Apeks for the first time in its history made a whopping quarter of a million sterling loss.

(...)

Corporate 101.

Hmm, I wonder, could it be the loan was somehow done on purpose, banking on the default? I.e. to allow the lender to take over Apeks? (which was used as a collateral if I understand correctly)

Sad times, that is sure. Time to stock up on servicing kits.

 

[LandonL]

@iain/hsm I was unaware they still had any patents? thought all had long expired by now.

Which brings up the interesting question, what intellectual property do they still have besides the trademarks?

 

[BoltSnap]

In addition to the Aqualung fiasco the disaster with Apex just continues downward at an alarming rate.
Encombered with the huge loan discussed previous and a possibility of selling off the brand the future looks even bleaker. Leading some to think now would be a good time to dump off your Apeks equipment before spares maintenance and product line become a thing of the past. So here we go:

1. Last year sales in the UK dropped by over 50%
2. Directors missed out on their annual £800,000 bonus
3. But while staff numbers and wages stayed the same as the year before
4. The new director wages were increased by a whopping 45%
5. Now the kicker is Apeks for the first time in its history made a whopping quarter of a million sterling loss.
6. I can confirm on 8th December 2023 Barings completed the acquisition of the Aqualung Group.

Feel free to disagree but someone needs to put this dog down before the one trick pony of a regulator design runs out of patent life and those around in the wings waiting for a chance to strike make a move.

Just saying. Iain

This is a very good time to buy the name, factory and other tangible assets, not the company.

 

[thomschoon]

In addition to the Aqualung fiasco the disaster with Apex just continues downward at an alarming rate.
Encombered with the huge loan discussed previous and a possibility of selling off the brand the future looks even bleaker. Leading some to think now would be a good time to dump off your Apeks equipment before spares maintenance and product line become a thing of the past. So here we go:

1. Last year sales in the UK dropped by over 50%
2. Directors missed out on their annual £800,000 bonus
3. But while staff numbers and wages stayed the same as the year before
4. The new director wages were increased by a whopping 45%
5. Now the kicker is Apeks for the first time in its history made a whopping quarter of a million sterling loss.
6. I can confirm on 8th December 2023 Barings completed the acquisition of the Aqualung Group.

Feel free to disagree but someone needs to put this dog down before the one trick pony of a regulator design runs out of patent life and those around in the wings waiting for a chance to strike make a move.

Just saying. Iain

Sounds more like they are making some correct decisions based on building a stronger brand:

No bonus because of no profit, normal behavior.

They had a loss, sales were down so you would expect that especially if they maintained staffing and salaries.

New Directors getting paid more is normal in these type of project, you have to upgrade talent and that usually cost more.

I spent the last 20 years doing this type work and it sounds fairly normal as you have to stop the bleeding and focus on products that actually sale. All the historical stuff is nice to talk about it it doesn’t pay the bills, you are trying to save a company and keep people working, it isn’t always “nice”.

I am a Apeks customer and wish them the best, and will continue to buy their products.

 

[BoltSnap]

I spent the last 20 years doing this type work

What type of work specifically please?

 

[thomschoon]

What type of work specifically please?

Restructuring, rebuilding, improvement in companies owned by PE as well as publicly held. Usually companies bring in a team to do the analysis and build a recovery plan. The implementation is the fun part.