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Forest, harl is in this mess for one reason only, the reckless and cavalier stupidity of the board. The warning signs were there but you fell for the lies that Groat, Wood and Raman sold you. I don’t mention the other flunky they had on the board as it’s not clear she ever did anything or even visited Belfast.

Tomco Energy on the naughty list too with a certain M. Groat on their BOD. Not a good evening for the Groatmeister. Having one company struck off might be unlucky, but two? Not the kind of CV that impresses.

Chris, that’s interesting to hear you recounts your conversation with Arun. However, whatever he has said it doesn’t match with the reality. Arun was complicit in all of JW’s mad dealings. He was listed as a director on the doomed ferry venture and as I recall from last autumn, he was the signatory when looking to take over the incumbent ferry operator. He has been involved at every level, and very publicly.

It’s quite clear why it wasn’t prudent, because JW and his cronie board would have spaffed the money up the wall on whatever vanity project was in favour that week: ferries, landing craft; vans; family members fishing boats. No one’s fault but their own. Now the inevitable has happened and some adults have had to intervene. Part of me would like to be a fly on the wall in Harls boardroom as Arun tries to justify and the daft mess he’s got the company into with free spending thinking the Government wouldn’t notice financial imprudence. I’m afraid shareholders have no recourse to complain about Government not stepping in with a bailout, a vocal faction on here whooped and hollered as clearly poor decisions were being taken.

forest. have you ever heard of occam’s razor? it’s a principle which eliminates unlikely possibilities. it can be summarised by saying ‘the simplest explanation is probably correct’.

so rather than promoting far fetched theory and talk of ‘dark forces’ may i humbly suggest that the decision makers at harl were ‘just a bit ****’? i’ve not seen bt’s source, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if ar and jw agreed to build a load of barges at a loss, because then people would hopefully stop saying they hadn’t built a boat in two decades.

It really boils my p**s that this charlatan has been allowed to walk away scot free, milking the sympathy and platitudes from a group of sycophants on LinkedIn. The man should be banned from being a company director.

Kind of astounded that his departure didn’t come with a gagging order imposed by the new BoD. Maybe he wasn’t given the golden goodbye many have predicted on here.

For those of you who can’t be bothered to read his post, I’ve translated it: “it’s all someone else’s fault”.

I get it Forest. There won’t be many shareholders on here that haven’t been burned badly. But for your own health, I think you need to write this one off and become at peace with yourself.

As for prioritising French shipyards, that’s the world we live in where adults make decisions based on facts. If you were in the market to buy a car, and your choices were a British company with questionable finances that hadn’t build cars for a very long time but assured you they still remembered how; or a French company with sound finances who was churning them out regularly, which would you go for? If it’s the former, I’d suggest that indicates the mindset that got you to your loss, with patriotism coming before pragmatism. If you’re going to blame anything, blame common sense.

HARL will rise from the ashes, but in what form, nobody but Russel Downs and a few select cronies will know. Good luck all and I hope you find your peace FG.

Why say they’re committed to going ahead then? Just don’t say anything or ‘we will update in due course’.

Amongst complete radio silence from the company, the only public information from any employee of HARL comes from the part of the business that was the catalyst for the current situation. Does anyone else find it bizarre that we’re getting updates via Facebook rather than RNS or official statement?

Anyway, according to their Facebook page it looks like the company has greenlit the much delayed ferry service to proceed this year. First question for the new BOD, how much money will this add to the bottom line? (Or as I suspect, detract from it)👇

As some of you may know, due to ongoing evaluations within its parent company, Harland and Wolff, the commencement of the Scilly Ferries service has been delayed.

At Scilly Ferries we are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience and distress this has caused to the passengers who had reserved seats or who were planning to travel.

We remain committed to starting the service this season and offer the islands a much-needed alternative form of travel by sea between St Mary's and Penzance. We are grateful for your patience and support on this journey and hope to serve the islands long into the future.

But as others have pointed out, why? Running a shipyard and a ferry service are two very different beasts - anyone can tell you that. And from what I've seen to date, setting this up couldn't have been done much worse.

I found myself reading though the RNS announcing Scilly operations last night and it is quite obviously just a long and rambling tirade from a spoilt brat who didn’t get the contract he was expecting and wants vengeance.

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/infrastrata/news/rns/story/rgzolvw

Any adult or responsible CEO would have learnt from the reasons he lost the contract and MOVED ON. It now seems like JW’s little vanity project has had a big impact on the company's downfall - had to extend loan (Feb) by 15m to underwrite it; repeatedly missed deadlines and p1ssed people off; raised unneeded subsidy questions within Government delaying UKEF leading to the bid ultimately failing; took up way too much time, energy and company resources; hasn't made the company a penny; and now seems to be a massive white elephant.

Some good posts tonight.

I personally expected more from Government and I’m troubled at just how brutal the statement was. It makes me think there are some skeletons in the accounts that we don’t yet know about.

Why Arun and Groat (sounds like a Scottish brew house) are still there is beyond me. When the adults turn up and take a look at the books they’ll be for the chop no doubt. After all, they agreed to sign off on all of JW’s mental escapades.

There is clearly potential in parts of the business to generate revenue and profit, if (big if) the brakes are applied to JW's free spending dam the consequences mentality.

If anyone thinks selling the ferry business will make any cash, I have a bridge to sell you. They’ve leased the boat, have no customers (or even any ways of paying) and zero goodwill. Any potential buyer would be buying a millstone around their neck.

Overall agree with the tone on here tonight though. No one’s died. You win some, you lose some. No high rewards without high risk, etc.

BC. You have been a member on here for 94 days. In that time you have made 1084 posts, averaging 11.5posts per day.

Not one of them has offered any insight, a modicum of wit, or any degree of humility.

Perhaps time to take a break.

Has the syndicate of banks agreed to the loan with a 80% guarantee, a 100% guarantee, or both? And would the rates for either could be significantly different? Anyone know?

100% Si. It’s a poor turn of phrase at best. Time to head down to Westminster and bang on some doors.

On the 80% rather than 100% Stokey12? It’s widely quoted in media, primarily as a company statement in the FT piece, but also reitterated here in the Belfast Tele: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/government-set-to-reject-harland-and-wolff-bid-for-200m-loan-guarantee/a505009281.html

Full relevant parts here:

Yesterday H&W said the previous government had agreed in principle to the 100% loan guarantee last December.

But it added it “became aware of government concerns regarding honouring that 100% level in March 2024”.

The business responded by proposing a reworked 80% deal — a level it said was awarded to “hundreds of companies”.

It also rather worrying states “and we stand ready to meet with the new government at their convenience”. I would have hoped these meetings were ongoing.

Welcome back BC. I was beginning to worry you’d had a coronary. For someone so focussed on facts and data, you seem very dismissive when others provide them.

Spot on Chris. If they’ve known about 100% being a problem since March (I remember eyebrows being raised by some even before then) why no RNS about the change in approach? Here’s the belated company statement from yesterday.

“became aware of government concerns regarding honouring that 100% level in March 2024”

Seems like they didn’t have plan B until very recently and if so, Arun has many (more) questions to answer. Anyone with a basic understanding of Government would recognise this as a risk.

Where’s BC amongst all this? I’m beginning to miss him / her / they.

I see the tin foil hat brigade is out in force today. Yea of course it was a brilliant strategic decision for John Wood to purposely not have the accounts ready eight months after saying they needed to work on revenue recognition. And of course they are CHOOSING to delay the accounts further in a brilliantly conceived strategic move from what is undoubtedly some of the best corporate minds in Britain. Yes there is a big conspiracy acting against HARL who tightly coordinate the release of negative articles across many different news outlets rather than the board incompetently over-stretching the business on projects that have little to no potential upside and in the process p!ssing off government, when the could have just kept under the radar and got a deal done months (years) ago. 🤡 You guys have got it nailed. Well done.

Bubble, my reading of what Vectors meant was that Harls ferry would be subject to weather related cancellations as it is a high speed vessel built for calm waters. And don’t forget they’ve already cancelled every crossing they have had scheduled from 1st May until today. It’s great that you’re optimistic, but you’re definitely in the minority on this board in thinking that it’s a good idea.