NORTON LATEST
Report reveals all outstanding customer bikes WILL be built,
Administrators BDO have released their latest report on Stuart Garner’s Norton operation, which confirms the exact details of the £16m sale to TVS, as well as how that money is expected to be distributed.
BDO detail that there were three serious offers but the TVS deal was the best. TVS paid £15m for the intellectual property, plus £1m for equipment and stock. As part of their deal TVS agreed to honour previously paid deposits and complete those orders, subject to customers agreeing to transfer their deposits to the new business. Less any fees, that has put BDO in a position to begin distributing funds to creditors.
At the top of the tree are the secured creditors which include Metro Bank. At the time of the administration, Norton owed Metro Bank around £4.04m, which has now been repaid in full. Metro Bank has a cross-company guarantee, so should the administration of Donington Hall fail to pay back what that business owes Metro Bank (£3.07m), they can claim the full amount from what BDO have raised selling Norton to TVS. Another claim has also arisen from Tudor Capital, who say they are owed money from a claim that was incorrectly marked as satisfied. BDO’s investigation has shown their claim is valid and they expect to make a repayment in the region of £1.7m. Second in line are the preferential creditors, however given all the employees have been taken on by the new TVS backed business, it’s not expected they will make any claims. Next up come the unsecured creditors, which include deposit holders. To date BDO have received £8.8m of claims from unsecured creditors, far exceeding the £6.2m held on record. Despite this, BDO say they expect to make a distribution to the unsecured creditors, but they don’t know how much this will be or when. Deposit holders have been given the option of continuing their orders with the new TVS venture, or making a claim for their money. BDO also mention the nine customers whose bikes were in for warranty claims, some which had been stripped of parts. TVS have agreed to remedy some of these claims, despite having no obligation to do so.
Further claims have come from the trustees of three pension schemes, although BDO simply say they are receiving legal advice on the matter. For these people, it’s going to be a long time before the situation is complete.
● ‘BDO expect to start making payments’