Alpha Aviation put into liquidation
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Alpha Aviation put into liquidation
Hamilton's Alpha Aviation put into liquidation
4:35PM Wednesday January 23, 2008
Hamilton firm Alpha Aviation has gone into liquidation leaving a good proportion of its 70 staff out of work and owed a week's wages.
The company called a meeting of staff yesterday to tell them the grim news.
Australian listed parent company, Inventis, called for a suspension of trading in its shares as it made the announcement.
Avionics technician Geoff Sanderson told the Waikato Times the company informed them it was going into liquidation and couldn't pay staff. He was due to be paid yesterday but had not received any money.
Workers were told to collect their tools and go home.
Mr Sanderson moved from Air New Zealand to Alpha in November and his son Tim, 18, had also been working for a short time as a trainee process worker.
He said the company had been still hiring until recently, with one moving from the UK to take up work only two weeks ago.
He had seen no sign the company was in trouble. "It was unexpected. The work, if anything, was ramping up."
Just 18 months ago, then chairman Graeme Edwards said Alpha was "exceeding our wildest expectations" with regards to orders for its two-seater aircraft.
It was expected Alpha would pump $75 million into the local economy over 10 years, excluding aircraft revenue.
Alpha is a key part of a cluster of aviation companies in Hamilton which also includes Pacific Aerospace and CTC.
Inventis appointed a liquidator after costs spiralled out of control, and a three-month search had failed to find a buyer of the business.
Alpha was set up in 2004 when it acquired the world rights to the French-designed Robin R2160 and R2120 light aircraft, renamed the Alpha 2000 series.
Inventis, then Gregory Australia, bought Alpha in August 2006 for A$11 million ($12.63 million) .
Alpha was aiming to sell into the $5 billion market of training aircraft. The sale to Inventis was to have given Alpha access to capital to rapidly expand production to 100 aircraft a year.
About 20 planes had been delivered to New Zealand and Australian customers, mostly flying schools.
The Times reported that the liquidator was likely to try and sell the business as a going concern to another aircraft manufacturer and reopen the factory. Four aircraft were on the production line and some staff might be kept on to complete those.
Inventis said it was not prepared for its profitable divisions to support Alpha, whose internal costs had spiralled up.
Inventis said more details about the company's financial position would be made available tomorrow.
Investors in Alpha included Tony Noun, a director of both companies, Richard Izard, Mr Edwards, Barry Colman, and John Birch.
- NZPA
4:35PM Wednesday January 23, 2008
Hamilton firm Alpha Aviation has gone into liquidation leaving a good proportion of its 70 staff out of work and owed a week's wages.
The company called a meeting of staff yesterday to tell them the grim news.
Australian listed parent company, Inventis, called for a suspension of trading in its shares as it made the announcement.
Avionics technician Geoff Sanderson told the Waikato Times the company informed them it was going into liquidation and couldn't pay staff. He was due to be paid yesterday but had not received any money.
Workers were told to collect their tools and go home.
Mr Sanderson moved from Air New Zealand to Alpha in November and his son Tim, 18, had also been working for a short time as a trainee process worker.
He said the company had been still hiring until recently, with one moving from the UK to take up work only two weeks ago.
He had seen no sign the company was in trouble. "It was unexpected. The work, if anything, was ramping up."
Just 18 months ago, then chairman Graeme Edwards said Alpha was "exceeding our wildest expectations" with regards to orders for its two-seater aircraft.
It was expected Alpha would pump $75 million into the local economy over 10 years, excluding aircraft revenue.
Alpha is a key part of a cluster of aviation companies in Hamilton which also includes Pacific Aerospace and CTC.
Inventis appointed a liquidator after costs spiralled out of control, and a three-month search had failed to find a buyer of the business.
Alpha was set up in 2004 when it acquired the world rights to the French-designed Robin R2160 and R2120 light aircraft, renamed the Alpha 2000 series.
Inventis, then Gregory Australia, bought Alpha in August 2006 for A$11 million ($12.63 million) .
Alpha was aiming to sell into the $5 billion market of training aircraft. The sale to Inventis was to have given Alpha access to capital to rapidly expand production to 100 aircraft a year.
About 20 planes had been delivered to New Zealand and Australian customers, mostly flying schools.
The Times reported that the liquidator was likely to try and sell the business as a going concern to another aircraft manufacturer and reopen the factory. Four aircraft were on the production line and some staff might be kept on to complete those.
Inventis said it was not prepared for its profitable divisions to support Alpha, whose internal costs had spiralled up.
Inventis said more details about the company's financial position would be made available tomorrow.
Investors in Alpha included Tony Noun, a director of both companies, Richard Izard, Mr Edwards, Barry Colman, and John Birch.
- NZPA
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: in a fantasy world that is aviation.
Posts: 74
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sad news..
Drive past these guys everyday and always had a peak into their factory to see the line of aircraft being built. Its shame, cause all the people that fly the Alpha's at my work recon they are fun machines by comparison to the 172s.
Drive past these guys everyday and always had a peak into their factory to see the line of aircraft being built. Its shame, cause all the people that fly the Alpha's at my work recon they are fun machines by comparison to the 172s.
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: new zealand
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nothing has changed in the GA aircraft market for trainers , other than the demand has increased. So what went wrong.
This is a perfect example of bad strategic planning from a management team who did not do their sums and when their sums did not start to add up ( in a major way), did nothing too much about it. Sure there would have been some surprises in such a start up operation, but I think the projections did not lean towards the caution side of such a low margin /low volume industry .Their cost structure was way out of line The product is good and the demand was there at the prices quoted , so at the end of the day the inevitable has occurred.
This is a perfect example of bad strategic planning from a management team who did not do their sums and when their sums did not start to add up ( in a major way), did nothing too much about it. Sure there would have been some surprises in such a start up operation, but I think the projections did not lean towards the caution side of such a low margin /low volume industry .Their cost structure was way out of line The product is good and the demand was there at the prices quoted , so at the end of the day the inevitable has occurred.
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: NZ
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thats terrible news I hope they can find a buyer soon. Its got to be a shocker for those people working there. And a worry for operators of the aircraft regarding spares and support, or do you think the parent company will honour existing support agreements.
I like flying the 2120s I'd just like them to be a bit faster
I like flying the 2120s I'd just like them to be a bit faster
That's unfortunate news - didn't see that one coming. 
Hopefully the factory can be resurrected under new ownership, because it seems like they had found a pretty decent market, even if just in NZ and Aus?
Hopefully the factory can be resurrected under new ownership, because it seems like they had found a pretty decent market, even if just in NZ and Aus?
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: NZ
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So what went wrong? They got FAA certification last year, top notch General Manager appointed, orders on the books, skilled staff on the shop floor all the ingredients were there for a very successful venture. Was it as simple as a cash flow problem?
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Under the Equator
Posts: 605
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not hard to do the math;
Slow deliveries / Large workforce = cashflow issues.
Even with a healthy order book, Alpha needed to ramp up or shut down.
Adam in the USA has just shut down (pending cash injection).
Columbia went the same way and Cessna got a bargain as a result.
Eclipse was staring Chapter 11 in the face late last year.
None of the above had an issue taking orders - just making deliveries/generating income.
I hope the likes of Boomerang take heed and do whatever to stay in the game.
Slow deliveries / Large workforce = cashflow issues.
Even with a healthy order book, Alpha needed to ramp up or shut down.
Adam in the USA has just shut down (pending cash injection).
Columbia went the same way and Cessna got a bargain as a result.
Eclipse was staring Chapter 11 in the face late last year.
None of the above had an issue taking orders - just making deliveries/generating income.
I hope the likes of Boomerang take heed and do whatever to stay in the game.
Alpha
A great pity.
They were brave to give it a go... lets hope there's an angel investor out there somewhere.
Agree with some of the previous posts - underlines the criticality of being coldly realistic about cashflow.
Profit's the driver - but cash is the survivor.
They were brave to give it a go... lets hope there's an angel investor out there somewhere.
Agree with some of the previous posts - underlines the criticality of being coldly realistic about cashflow.
Profit's the driver - but cash is the survivor.
