Spyker posts first-half losses of $177 million, trims Saab target

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Spyker posts first-half losses of $177 million, trims Saab target

Automotive News -- August 27, 2010 - 4:26 am ET

UPDATED: 8/27/10 9:49 p.m. ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Spyker Cars NV, the money-losing Dutch sports car maker that acquired Saab from General Motors Co. earlier this year, said today it posted a first-half loss of $177 million while it trimmed Saab's sales targets and said it would lose money through next year.

The company acknowledged it may have been too optimistic on Saab's earlier targets but Spyker CEO Victor Muller said the company had sufficient liquidity and would not have to recapitalize despite reporting negative shareholders' equity.

Spyker, a loss-making manufacturer that produces a handful of high-end sports cars annually, stunned markets when it launched its bid for Saab. While it pulled off the deal, its complicated financing has raised questions about whether it can sustain itself while it turns the Swedish brand around.

The company said today it had net cash of 280 million euros ($356 million) and undrawn facilities of 266 million euros from a European Investment Bank loan. Together, Muller said that would carry the company through to its 2012 profitability target.

For the first half of the year, Spyker said it posted a loss of 139.1 million euros ($177.2 million) on sales of 243.1 million euros. The company did not provide year-earlier comparisons.

In a statement, the company said: "Given the effective shut down in Saab's operations during the first months of 2010, the first half year cannot be seen as representative in terms of volumes and operating results, but as a necessary episode from which Saab will build going forward."

Spyker said its near-term sales goal for Saab is 45,000 units this year. For 2011 it forecast sales of 80,000 units and it kept a long-term goal for sales of 120,000 cars per year.

Saab CEO Jan Ake Jonsson said last month he was confident it could reach a goal of selling 45,000 to 50,000 cars this year.

"Maybe we were a little bit optimistic" about the high end of the range, Jonsson told reporters, adding that Saab's restart when it came out of liquidation took longer than expected.

Jonsson added he is optimistic about the newly launched Saab 9-5, which is just now arriving in the United States and ramping up in Europe after the summer holidays. He said it would take about a month to get a sense of how the car is performing.

The loss was published two days after the group said its debts had become larger than its assets.

Muller said the issue was purely an accounting one, having to do with the way certain items are classified under international rules as opposed to Swedish accounting standards. He also said Spyker is still pursuing a second share listing in Stockholm, though it could eventually consider de-listing from Amsterdam as well.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100827/COPY01/308279977/1265#ixzz0xqxjmVWo

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Report: Spyker posts loss, expects to lose more

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) on Aug 27th 2010 at 6:00PM

An accounting rule, among other things, is ostensibly to blame for Spyker posting a loss and having to declare negative shareholder equity with more liabilities than assets. According to Automotive News, the new owner of Saab had counted General Motor's $326 million in redeemable preference shares in the company as equity, not a liability. So with the company having just got its factory going in October and only having sold 10,500 cars in the first six months of this year, the hard numbers are a loss of €139.1 million ($177.2M U.S.) on €243.1 million in sales ($309.8M U.S.).

The good news is that sales for the same period last year, before Saab's plunge into full out cardiac arrest, were €4.1 million ($5.2M USD). The Swedish maker also has €280 million in cash (around $357M) and another €266 million ($339M) untapped from its European Investment Bank loan. Spyker has been saying for a while that profitability would come in 2012 and that it has enough cash and credit to get it there without needing to raise more money.

Its sales projections of 45,000 to 50,000 cars this year, however, might be on some downward pressure. Company CEO Jan Ake Jonsson said that they're still looking to achieve that low number. Next year's forecast and the company's break-even point is understood to remain at 80,000 cars, with 120,000 as the long-term annual sales target.

link:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/27/report-spyker-posts-loss-expects-to-lose-more/