Havelock Europa Share Discussion Threads

[cvileservant] 28/6/2018 11:20

Unfortunately Brown is the harbinger of doom to many businesses, it's well documented that his arrival often was the start of the six months timer - he apparently shown up on the installation of the laser cutting kit in 2014, so it was a minor supprise #HVE lasted so long! Anyway, time to move on and roll the dice of financial life again!!

[lefrene] 28/6/2018 10:51

Kirkcaldy is already lumbered with one Gordon Brown, but heavens! the man's a socialist, I'm sure he will be along any day now with his cheque book to save the good working men of HVE!

[cvileservant] 27/6/2018 16:26

At the moment, i pity the long-long timers, who lost pension with Robert Maxwell, and look like loosing again. I wonder if the Scottish Government will step in and do a Bi-Fab, as the number of direct employees if higher here, or is there too much of a whiff for nanny-state Nicola to risk dirty fingers? There is the opportunity for a little bit of cronyism with snp funders, with the return of a near monopoly on state contracts; i.e. Calmacs island ferry's going through one Clydebank shipyard, Sctolands ''baby-box's'' costing 4 time the cost of scandanavias, but taken out of EJUE procurement regs.
Will the Scottish government give a bit of interim finance, or add to the demise of Kirkcaldy?

[lefrene] 27/6/2018 15:53

There's always one common in these scenarios, the officers on the bridge who are busily ripping the bottom out on a reef, keep drawing fat salaries and benefits, and once all hope is lost they usually have a lifeboat all of their own to step straight into, and thus continue their good work elsewhere. Their handiwork just a mild inconvenience to themselves and soon overcome.

I'm sorry for those who have lost their hard earned here. I did look at it a couple of times but thank goodness kept away.

[timnet] 27/6/2018 15:27

Come on guys, you're all forgetting our esteemed Non Executive Director, whose position as such has been, first and foremost, to obtain, secure and sustain sufficient funding to take us through this sort of temporary glitch.

Hew, your time has come. Get to work.

[homegrown] 27/6/2018 15:26

The mind boggles as to how HVE has survived this long. The writing was on the wall a few years ago. It was absolutely apparent when both the CFO and the COO both resigned.

Decision making at Senior Management level over years has no more shambolic.

Wrong appointments, unqualified people in senior positions. Moving people around an organisation into various roles where they have failed previously.

[cvileservant] 27/6/2018 14:39

Andrew, i hate to say but i suspect you were sucker-punched, if i understand a lot of your investment was post the 2010 accounts to the city, on the back of Scottish Widows withdrawing their pot. HB effectively kneecapped the firm with the calamitous 18th may 2009 business integration, and sold a pup to the city with accounts blaming weather for the loss. A lot of the the ESA project management staff would happily testify to this, for the effect it had on their health and welfare, and family life's.
Prescott may have asset stripped to keep things afloat, and clear bank facilities, but the damage was done. Theres little point blaming the size of the staff for the cost overruns, the majority were boarding on minimum wage, its just a serious of Keystone Cop capers and jumps into the unknown looking for the next big thing, a failure to get to grips with the clients desires, and numerous failures to deliver on time and on budget.

[tomboyb] 27/6/2018 13:39

Andrew -

It did hit me that with a low market cap no director was buying any shares twitter was constantly updated with positive updates and new jobs for Havelock up to June 19th -

The assumption was they had time on their hands with the funding -

They clearly did not -

[clocktower] 27/6/2018 13:34

Good Luck Andrew, you have taken it well bearing in mind the size hit you must be taking but one has too I understand, and just move on. Easy to be wise after the event but with the debts out of the way, like the pension liabilities, is there no hope left if the whole BoD were replaced, and it was taken private?

What funds would it need?

[magpie15] 27/6/2018 10:22

I hope this is not the end for Havelock. A comeback looks extremely difficult and even if someone swoops in, its difficult to see how they could manage the supplier credit position and the pension deficit. Today, I feel for the staff. They can no doubt see the writing on the wall but at the same time must no more or less nothing about their immediate futures. There are a few people who should be hanging their heads in shame there today, that they have blindly driven this once great company off a cliff.

Such a shame.

[greengiant] 27/6/2018 09:03

Good morning all. It looks like today I am the biggest loser 😝. Never mind, I will take the tax loss and move on. I won't be trying to rescue Havelock, I have a very big project in the US to crack in with.
Havelock just could never get a decent management team. Too many Ostriches.
My first business failure - but we always learn from failure

Keep well all
Andrew

[greengiant] 27/6/2018 09:03

Good morning all. It looks like today I am the biggest loser 😝. Never mind, I will take the tax loss and move on. I won't be trying to rescue Havelock, I have a very big project in the US to crack in with.
Havelock just could never get a decent management team. Too many Ostriches.
My first business failure - but we always learn from failure

Keep well all
Andrew

[tomboyb] 27/6/2018 08:21

Thanks clocktower -

It is a bit of a hit unfortunately but I knew the risks -

Clearly the trading environment is not great and couple that brexit risks I think most here were correct -

My assumptions was based upon timings and unfortunately that was simply not accurate -

Looking at the balance sheet I cannot see them coming back at all -

[clocktower] 27/6/2018 08:13

Will AB come out the winner after all - sorry about your losses tomboyb, but you knew the risks when you took the punt but unless Andrew can sort this out with the help of a few others maybe, the hard working employees will be left without a job, and customers and suppliers will no-doubt lose money.I expect it will go into administration and AB might do a deal to save jobs etc and put this company back under sound management.

Good Luck gg.

[magpie15] 25/6/2018 09:29

Yes, PMc was the COO. Hadn’t been in that role for long either although I think he was something like Production manager prior to that.

HR is the domain of Alan Tait. Don’t know much about him, he seems to have come from nowhere but he seems to have been put into a ‘director̵7; role by SO.

ED is Eric Dobbie. A friend of IG and has gone from a consultant to in payroll. Not totally sure of his role but believe he was the architect of the contractor framework policy. I don’t know how successful that has been although I thought the wording in IGs statement were telling, merely stating ‘more frameworks’ than actual numbers.

[homegrown] 24/6/2018 16:54

Risk and perhaps reward...not detail.

[homegrown] 24/6/2018 16:54

Risk and perhaps reward...not detail.

[tocsin] 23/6/2018 12:06

*buy not but

[tocsin] 23/6/2018 12:06

A main shareholder has always had a strangle hold on this business, never seemingly got involved to sort out the business but yet has prevented anyone else getting in to do the same ? Why but the volume of shares A Burgess bought and do nothing with them ?

[gargoyle2] 23/6/2018 11:02

Who was the COO? PMc?

[neverforget] 23/6/2018 10:01

Yet they advertise jobs on Twitter. Does this company have a clue. Does Godden have a clue? Time to get rid of balfour and Godden. Done nothing but run this company into the ground. What were they thinking when they brought him bad. He had all ready nearly bankrupted it the first time round. Just here now to finish the job.