Norton crowdfunding bid pulled days after its launch
NORTON Motorbikes has pulled a £1m crowdfunding campaign after saying that a single, high-value investor had come forward.
The Leicestershire bike builder launched a Crowdcube campaign on Monday, saying it needed the money to meet an order book said to be worth £30m and to spend on research and development.
It valued the business, which is based in Castle Donington on the Leicestershire/ border, at £55m.
The campaign was pulled after a couple of hours though, with no immediate update.
In a statement, company chief executive and owner Stuart Garner said it had been a hard decision to close the public funding round because so many Norton fans had wanted to contribute.
He said the investor had to take precedence over the public offering, but said the company could return to the crowdfunding campaign at a later date.
He said: “We were overwhelmed with interest from our loyal customers and fans during pre-registration, which has given us so much pride and confidence with what we’re doing here.
“We simply could not have done this without them.
“We know there has been a lot of excitement in people getting involved with Norton which is why we didn’t take this decision lightly and have decided to pause the campaign.
“We are thrilled that a single investor, who has been a long time rider and fan of Norton, has approached asking to help deliver our order book out to owners meaning we can accelerate the process earlier than expected.
“We will focus on this stage, as we want to get people riding our bikes, and will be keeping all those that registered up to date on how we’re doing and the next steps of Crowdcube.”
The Norton brand dates back to 1898, when the business started out as a manufacturer of “fittings and parts for the twowheel trade”.
By 1902 the company had started manufacturing motorcycles.
It was in a period of decline before being rescued by entrepreneur Stuart Garner in 2008, who brought it to north Leicestershire.
Today the Castle Donington factory employs around 100 people.
After relaunching under his ownership, the Norton brand has re-established itself with its range of British designed, engineered and hand-built bikes, including models such as the V4SS and Atlas. It exports its products to 26 territories. It produces no more than 6,000 units a year in order to uphold “exclusivity, prestige, design, technology and engineering excellence”.
According to Norton, it needs the investment to increase production of its V4 and 650 range and fund future innovation.
It targeted it at motorcycle enthusiasts, fans and the wider community.
The move followed the company giving £1 million worth of shares to its staff.
Prior to the crowdfunder launch Mr Garner said: “Norton has a proud history designing and engineering exclusive British motorcycles and it’s thanks to our skilled workforce and experienced management team which has allowed the brand to thrive and continue to build globally recognised bikes.”