The Kintyre Forum

According to the BBC today "Kintyre Windfarm goes bust"!!

Will end up the same way same The Campbeltown Ferry no doubt....

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BBC Article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-11626680

Kintyre wind farm firm goes bust
A wind turbine Skycon said it was in a very "cash-strapped situation"

A wind turbine manufacturer which received £10m from the Scottish government to safeguard jobs has gone bust.

The Danish company Skykon, which took over the Vestas wind turbine factory in Kintyre last year, has announced it is suspending payments to its creditors.

A total of 120 people are employed at the site just outside Campbeltown.

In a statement Skykon said the company was in a very "cash-strapped situation."

The company had been due to start production in the next month.

The announcement will come as a blow to First Minister Alex Salmond who went to Kintyre last summer to announce the deal.

The Scottish government's financial backing for Skykon was intended to safeguard 100 jobs at the factory and create 300 more.

Meanwhile, Danish firm Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, said it would axe 3,000 jobs and shut some plants to adjust to weaker demand.

So have they "gone bust" or just "suspending payments"? Obviously if they have gone bust then payments would be suspended but by suspending payments doesnt exactly mean they have gone bust.

Also what does "gone bust" actually mean? liquidation? administration?

As a note, im assuming the workforce are considered creditors as well in this situation.

I see thy've changed the headline to "Kintyre wind farm company in financial crisis", looks like they jumped the gun a wee bit earlier.

Wind turbine manufacturer says Scottish factory may not be hit

Jessica Shankleman, BusinessGreen, 26 Oct 2010
A wind turbine manufacturer which last year received a £9.7m grant from the Scottish government to help it take control of a Vestas factory on the brink of closure has entered Danish insolvency proceedings, citing the impact of the financial crisis on the wind energy market.

Skycon, which employs about 450 people in Denmark and the UK, today announced it has filed for suspension of payments to creditors because the economic downturn has left it "cash strapped".

"The wind turbine industry is project based and very cyclical, and it is currently being affected by a number of negative factors in the wake of the financial crisis," explained Skycon chief executive Jens Pedersen in a statement. "These effects have also impacted Skykon to the effect that we are in a very cash-strapped situation."

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, however, Pedersen said it was too early to say if the suspension of payments would affect Skycon's wind turbine factory at Machrihanish near Campbeltown, which makes towers for wind turbines.

"We don't know yet if it will affect the whole company," Pederson said. "Our lawyers are trying to find out today if the procedure also includes the Scottish factory or not."

Skykon was given a £9.7m grant from the Scottish government last March when it took over the troubled Machrihanish factory from Vestas.

As part of the takeover deal, Skycon pledged to invest £35m in the facility and triple its size with the help of private investment from EQT Expansion Capital.

Later that year, it won a multimillion-pound contract to supply towers for Europe's largest onshore wind farm development, Clyde Wind Farm, in South Lanarkshire.

Skycon also had plans to start up a new manufacturing facility in Machriha nish by the end of the year, aiming to increase employment from 150 to its full capacity of 250.

A statement from Kaj Thorén, chairman of Skycon's board of directors, insisted that the management had not given up hope of reviving some parts of the company.

"The board of directors has received indications from key stakeholders that there is a willingness to find a solution subject to certain conditions," he said. "As a result, we will now make a final attempt to pursue any remaining possibilities available to us."

The news marks a second blow to confidence across the wind turbine sector today, after manufacturing giant Vestas announced it would cut about 3,000 jobs across Europe.

However, while the European wind energy sector has undoubtedly suffered as a result of the economic downturn, global figures for new capacity continue to show that the market is growing rapidly, suggesting that the financial problems experienced by some manufacturers are a result of over-expansion and increased competition as well as slower than expected growth.

What I don't understand is - they had an open day just recently showing off their new huge extension - surely if they were in financial difficulties they should have put that on hold!!

Poor Kintyre, conned again!

It was agreed £9.2m worth of financial backing for Skykon BUT only £2.4m has been paid out since the money was being delivered in instalments with each batch dependent on Skykon fulfilling a number of conditions.

" The announcement will come as a blow to First Minister Alex Salmond who went to Kintyre last summer to announce the deal."
OH AYE Remember this wan ? ----- from Alec Salmond conference speech 2003 ----
In the new millennium, the lesson for Scotland is "let's be like Ireland"
This year Irish economic growth is forecast to be 50 per cent higher than the UK, and more than double the predicted rate for the Scottish economy.
Ireland achieved success by investing in education, defending its position in Europe, and pitching business tax at a competitive level. It is a country which is building up its fishing industry, not betraying it and running it down.
It also developed a social contract to marry economic success with social advance as we must do in Scotland.
For example Ireland has ABOLISHED tuition fees - front end ones, back end ones, all tuition fees - just as London and the Scottish Government brought them in.
A couple of years back Wendy Alexander told us to "forget Ireland" - just as Malcolm Rifkind once told us to "forget oil".Now that Wendy is out of office - having admitted that Scottish Labour hadn't had a decent idea for a century - she has written a pamphlet about Ireland and its lessons for Scotland.Predictably enough, she underplayed the importance of constitutional change and the powers of Independence in the transformation of the Irish economy.However, that's not what he Irish think. The Irish academic Peadar Kirby said on BBC that:
"Wendy Alexander's dismissal of constitutional change ignores the fact that it was the increased powers that came with constitutional change that transformed Ireland."

THAT IS THE IRISH LESSON THAT SCOTLAND MUST LEARN, NOT FORGET.

If "He " gits intae 'real' power --Skykon will be the least o our worries ! The entire country wull be doon the tubes !

Reading the article in Businessgreen there appears to be hope for Machrihanish plant to stay open.



Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Pedersen said it was too early to say if the suspension of payments would affect Skycon's wind turbine factory at Machrihanish near Campbeltown, which makes towers for wind turbines.

"We don't know yet if it will affect the whole company," Pederson said. "Our lawyers are trying to find out today if the procedure also includes the Scottish factory or not."


http://www.businessgreen.com/business-g ... insolvency

from what I've heard is that the stopped payments will not affect the Campbeltown site!! strange thing is the media was very quick to report it would but now they say nothing & i believe this is hurting the Campbeltown site more.
lets all hope this is the case.

Without knowing the full story, the problem with these "green" companies, is that they are so dependant on huge subsidies, that when the cash flow, from the tax payer, runs out, they cannot compete. Time will tell, but I say while green is honourable, it should pay it's own way and not depend on us paying for it

Swanseajock wrote:Without knowing the full story, the problem with these "green" companies, is that they are so dependant on huge subsidies, that when the cash flow, from the tax payer, runs out, they cannot compete. Time will tell, but I say while green is honourable, it should pay it's own way and not depend on us paying for it

A very concise and constructive comment, if I may say so.

This is not the case. Skycon committed significant private capital to the development, It seems to be that one of their private investors has taken cold feet with their parent company and its activities in Denmark - not the development here, comments like this are actually very dangerous to future investment, as the confidence of investors can by affected by the background "chatter" no matter how informed or ill informed it is.

What we have is a top grade manufacturing facility with significant orders operating in country which is upping the commitment to renewable energy production, all this in a landscape and seascape which is the best in Europe for wind, wave and tidal development.

In spite of recent issues we should be nothing but optimistic and supportive of the development of renewable energy production (except in Machrihanish bay of course)