Globespan grounded - but why?
Douglas Fraser | 22:39 UK time, Wednesday, 16 December 2009
So what did for Scotland's biggest airline? A reckless build-up of debt? Its cost structure too high? Prices being driven down by competitors?
None of these. Yes, it had a rough ride a couple of years back, making a big loss because it had some of its routes wrong.
But it seems it did well to turn that position around, even if it left it with a bruised balance sheet.
Those looking at the business, who ought to know, say it was sound. Debt is under control. Its orders for two of Boeing's new Dreamliners were sensible expansion more than over-ambitious pipedream.
Instead, it was liquidity that did for Globespan - or to be precise, the cash that ought to flow from the company that carries out its credit card transactions with passengers.
This is a business that gets a lot of its payments up front, but these payments weren't making their way into the Globespan coffers. Quite a lot of that money seems to have been withheld by a company called E-Clear, which specialises in credit card transactions for the low cost airline business.
Bosses at Globespan have been in talks over recent weeks with Halcyon Investments, based in Jersey, as a potential investor to keep it going.
And there is at least one report suggesting Halcyon is very closely involved with E-Clear, and its chief executive Elias Elia. The transaction company hasn't returned calls about that this week.
The statements issued by Globespan's chief executive, Tom Dalrymple - carefully cleared with Halcyon and its lawyers - followed weekend reports of a deadline for a funding deal, and the possibility of collapse.
Mr Dalrymple said the funding package was intended to expand the company, when there wasn't much doubt that the only reason it needed an injection of capital was for survival.
The focus of attention now turns to tens of thousands who are out of pocket, with thousands of family Christmas and New Year plans wrecked, as well as holiday plans stretching into next year.
Attention also turns to those who withheld the payments Globespan seems to have been due.
Scotland's the worse off for the loss of a well-liked company.