I came across this article earlier today, which is somewhat concerning. If this turns out to be the case, I think we should all hold on to our Freelanders until they fall to bits!

Investor Concerns

JLR hasn't made a penny profit in the last three years. It just made and sold more cars of different shapes and sizes on the back of increasing its debt pile. The folks that lent it money in the past (when Evoque was in the ascendancy) have decided understandably that they are not prepared to lend it any more. But JLR still needs cash, and presently it is on target for a loss in FY2019 of upwards of £600 million, making this FOUR YEARS of negative operations.

The financials show that JLR is not capable of breathing on its own, usually a pre-death indicator. In the latter part of 2018, to fill the funding gap left by reluctant bond buyers, it was obliged to borrow $1 billion in syndicated off shore loans. Now it needs another $1 billion in the next 14 months just to pay back some of the money it had borrowed previously - but then squandered on the £3.1 billion of recently written-off R&D. The astronomical price of credit default swaps on JLR debt (up six-fold in just a year) and the trading of existing senior notes at 77% of their coupon indicate that JLR is seen as a cash consumer, a financial black hole - worse, one that is now more likely to collapse than it is to survive long enough to pay back what it owes. So JLR is being forced to go back to the banks again for assistance It's a reasonable question for them to ask: why does this same management team think that it can produce profits this time around, when its track record since 2015 says otherwise? Promises are like pie crusts to bankers.

The financial data tells a very clear story, but nevertheless it still jars - because it seems totally at odds with the huge volume of rhetoric and glitzy presentation of higher "perceived" quality, "mild" hybrid electrickery and plug-in fashion tractors pouring forth from JLR's PR and marketing machine However, all of that is irrelevant because, as the article says, this is now only a matter of time. The main question is whether Tata Motors will allow itself to be dragged down with JLR when it goes, or cut itself loose beforehand in an attempt to get something out of its original $2.3 billion investment. Ask this - why is a company like BCG in there just now, going through the books with their finely set tooth combs? Recall how you would always invest in a pair of new tyres, Isopon the rusty wing and get a new MOT certificate just before advertising your old banger . . .?

You read it here first, check the date. We shall no doubt be coming back to this sequence of posts.

A few years back every other SUV sold seemed to be an evoque , and diesel ones at that. Now the anti diesel scaremongerers have pretty much ruined the market. JLR have been caught napping when it comes to hybrids or full electrics. It's been discussed to death but they have alienated the ordinary customer by not providing a robust cost effective 'normal' landrover like our freelanders and the much maligned defender, instead catering to the footballers wives with more money than sense. McGovern has so much to answer for. I recently specced a new discovery sport on landrover web site and with a few options, no change left out of £45k.
Hope we don't find ourselves with landrover going down the plug hole like Rover did back in 2005. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Rubbish!!!

March 2018 they reported pre tax profits of £1.5bn

2018-19 has been tough but JLR has been in pretty good shape and they have invested £Bns.

All figures are available on the JLR media site. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

It might show an operating profit, even EBIT, but the net/net figure after investment and paying back creditors is a staggering overall loss. You are forgetting what they have borrowed, versus what they owe, which is why they have been downgraded and marked as 'significant risk' Look at the overall losses on the Parent (TATA) website to see how much 💩 they truly are in. TATA cannot and will not allow this to continue - they owe a duty to their already irate shareholders.

If you had a few spare hundred thousand, would you risk it? Having completed due diligence before investment, I think that I already know your answer.

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/jag...write-down