Turnaround tricks
Article Date: Nov 23 2006He claims an ‘almost immediate’ hit with last May’s investment in Flight 99, a film about the New York World Trade Center attack. ‘We paid £40,000 and it will make us £500,000,’ he brags.
Urie claims to ‘bridge the cultures’ between the ‘creative people’ and the ‘suits’, and says it has been ‘absolutely vital to carry people with me.’ Since his arrival, the RBS banking group took shares instead of fees in a fundraising, which cut Loonland’s proportionate stake to 71 per cent.
All these changes saw Metrodome make an interim loss, but that should be reversed before long. Urie’s plan is now to raise more money from institutions to acquire film rights overseas, in mainland Europe, Canada and Australia, and reduce Loonland’s stake further.
At Turnaround Capital, which is planning a PLUS market float for itself and would like to launch a turnaround fund, Defries says ‘a lack of financial management is a common theme’ in most companies where a stake is taken. ‘Sometimes management can be reformed and those that cannot we identify and gradually remove,’ he explains.
The question is: ‘Can they listen to your advice and will they take it?’ he says. ‘That can be tough.’ Turnaround Capital’s policy is to leave suitable management with a big chunk of the shares, says Defries. ‘If a venture capital group puts up money, it usually takes a 30 per cent stake, but I’d take only ten per cent.’
Turnaround medicine does not come cheap for those at the helm of companies in distress, but rewards for rescuers can be tempting. Analysts estimate total fees and other costs for the MyTravel retrieval could have been £10 to £12 million. CROs and new brooms usually need handsome payment but, as Turnaround Capital suggests, value recovery can be impressive — at least in those cases where the medicine works.
