The Times is reporting that red driving school which went into administration on Feb 17th 2010 is to be saved as MCR (the administrators) seems to have found a buyer in Kelso Place a private equity specialist company who are have agreed to invest millions of pounds into LVG ltd the parent company.
I have no idea if this new buyer has carried out any due deligence, but the deal is supposed to be announced later on in the week.
The news will bring hope to the hundreds of Red driving school employees and the many PDI's who have paid up front for training to become a driving instructor.
Whether the rescue will signal a change in the way Red driving school (now part of a new company called 'driving results limited') markets and conducts its ADI instructor training is something that a lot in the industry will be keen to see.
Red driving school on TV
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The information fed to the BBC about the Administration of LVG/Red now appears to have been mostly spin. This is what I think.
ReplyDeleteThe first BBC article that appeared on 18th February entitled “Red Driving School's parent firm in administration” gives the impression that Red was profitable and it was the parent company LVG that was in difficulty. However, as Red makes up 96% of the business of LVG (according to its last published accounts 90% driving instructor course sales and 6% driving school sales) it is far more likely that the Red operations was to blame. The company had lost £2.2 million pounds in the last 16 weeks of trading and when you compare the sales from the previous year you can see they were down by about £5 million for an identical period, hence it is quite likely it was this massive drop in Red driving instructor course sales that resulted in this lose and ultimately the real demise of the Company.
I would also like to comment upon the inaccuracies of the following two statements published by the BBC when it reported the company had been bought out of administration on Monday 22 February 2010.
“LVG, the parent company of driving instructor business Red Driving School, has been bought just days after going into administration.”
LVG was not bough out of administration. It is in fact still in receivership owing over £6 million to its creditors (source LVG creditor). The company wasn’t rescued as such the directors/shareholders planned for the assets only to be on sold. These assets were purchased by Kelso Place and put into a new company called Driving Results limited with most of the liabilities being left behind in LVG in what is known in the insolvency world as a Pre-Pack sale. See link below for full explanation.
http://www.lindermyers.co.uk/article.asp?id=846
It is a pity when the BBC first published a story about this on the 18th February the true nature of the proposed transaction wasn’t accurately reported (i.e. that the assets of LVG, 96% of which was Red was for sale and that offers had to be made to MCR by 12 noon Friday 19th February at the latest). Had this occurred other interested parties within the industry may have been able to bid a higher and a fairer price for the assets and therefore may have achieved a better outcome for the creditors.
“The firm told the BBC it had full confidence in LVG's management and had no plans for any redundancies.”
On the same day that the deal was concluded (i.e. 19th February) LVG issued 80 redundancy notices and because the company had no money the 80 people also became creditors of the company. Source Anti-Red driving school Facebook group and Reds own trade magazine ADI News in the March issue.
Well if Red fails again the management could definitely find jobs in politics with their ability to spin a story.
The future for the tens of thousands of students who have bought Red driving instructor training courses is still not clear. Neither the receivers of Red/LVG or indeed the new company have contacted the students to officially explain in writing what rights they now have, if any. Although unofficially the new Red company are still providing training to students of the old Red company if you contact them.
i need to no if i have to pay the finance i have had no traing from them
ReplyDelete