Waterford Wedgewood Potential Sale

thomasm

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/waterford-wedgwood-owner-could-bag-400m-profit-on-sale-after-just-six-years-30920416.html

Didn't realize it was generating sales of anything like $450 million.

Marchandire

When you can get a write-down on 800 million Euro debt and the company's pension obligations are paid by the state, how could you not make a profit?

Of course, this is exactly what KPS does as a business. A lot of foreign investors got amazing deals on Irish property and businesses after the crash.

waterford

26/01/2010: WWRD Group Holdings, which is owned by KPS Capital, is already planning to expand a flagship factory and visitor centre set to open later this year.

The world-renowned brand is to take over the former ESB offices at The Mall in Waterford city as part of a €25m redevelopment of the historic area.

How many million did KPS Capital spend or was it part funded by Waterford Corporation using The Mall redevelopment grant. ???

TheQuietFella

City Council if I'm not mistaken!

KPS couldn't have given a Shiites where it was manufactured!

The City Council needed a major attraction for the City so can you imagine the

amount of businesses that would have faltered.

jennygirl

TheQuietFella wrote: »

City Council if I'm not mistaken!

KPS couldn't have given a Shiites where it was manufactured!

The City Council needed a major attraction for the City so can you imagine the

amount of businesses that would have faltered.

if im not mistaken House of Waterford Crystal pay a realistic rent to Waterford Council for the Lease on the Manepia Building

wellboytoo

TheQuietFella wrote: »

City Council if I'm not mistaken!

KPS couldn't have given a Shiites where it was manufactured!

The City Council needed a major attraction for the City so can you imagine the

amount of businesses that would have faltered.

Correct originally but when they saw the tourist trail income's that changed very quickly!

Dum_Dum

I believe anyone should be able to manufacture crystal in Waterford, subject to license issued by Waterford Council (and only Waterford Council).

To earn this license the applicant must:

• be subjected to a stringent initial and ongoing inspection regime of product and process to assure the highest quality
• pay a fee
• can demonstrate all principal operations take place within the geographical confines of the City and County of Waterford.
• entitled to use the "Made in Waterford" marque
• agree not to denigrate, sully or besmirch the unified "Made in Waterford" marque.

The Council agrees to:

• protect the reputation of Waterford crystal manufacture
• maintain a transparent inspection regime
• protect the exclusivity and quality of the "Made in Waterford" marque
• aggressively pursue infractions nationally and internationally
• establish an international centre of excellence of glassware in conjunction with e.g. WIT.

In summary, without the marque, is just isn't Waterford crystal.



I knocked this up in <10mins. What have the council been going for the last 6 years?
It's not rocket science

Max Powers

there is so much wrong with that post Dum Dum that i wouldnt like to see your thoughts on rocket science...just one or 2 points...Waterford Council or any council does not have the power to make special restrictions, licences you refer to or restrict use like 'made in Waterford'. Anyone CAN make crystal in Waterford.

Dum_Dum

Max Powers wrote: »

there is so much wrong with that post Dum Dum that i wouldnt like to see your thoughts on rocket science...just one or 2 points...Waterford Council or any council does not have the power to make special restrictions, licences you refer to or restrict use like 'made in Waterford'. Anyone CAN make crystal in Waterford.

What a downer. I didn't realise all this was all exhaustively looked into already. I suppose it's back to basing a local economy based around parking tickets and dole money then. If we watch the pennies we can pay for WIT's upgrade into Harvard.

johnsparkexile

Max Powers wrote: »

Anyone CAN make crystal in Waterford.

Correct, but they can't use the name Waterford when marketing it. KPS own the brand name.

robtri

pity they not going to honour all the debts Waterford Cyrstal left....

johnsparkexile

robtri wrote: »

pity they not going to honour all the debts Waterford Cyrstal left....

Couldn't agree more with you. a hell of a lot of local business's and suppliers were left massively out of pocket when it closed with no hope of ever recovering anything.

johnsparkexile

jennygirl wrote: »

if im not mistaken House of Waterford Crystal pay a realistic rent to Waterford Council for the Lease on the Manepia Building

They have an 8 year lease on the premises, I think for the first 5 years they only paid a nominal amount.

johnsparkexile

waterford wrote: »

26/01/2010: How many million did KPS Capital spend or was it part funded by Waterford Corporation using The Mall redevelopment grant. ???

They spent very little,Waterford City Council funded most of the work. The Examiner ran a story in 2013 detailing issues surrounding procurement policies in 2010 the year the new crystal centre opened.

"A report into the local authority’s expenditure said that proper procurement rules were not followed in 78% of deals examined.This meant that €4.3m, out of €4.9m which was audited in 2010, did not meet requirements. In 40% of these cases contracts were awarded without a procurement process.

A quarter of all problem purchases, spotted by the internal audit team, related to the €8m investment the council made in the relocated visitors’ centre for WWRD’s Waterford crystal operation.Because of this Waterford City Council was told to give back €101,866 in grant aid it got from the European Structural Fund. In total the council had to return €218,952 of ESF money received for the Waterford crystal project because it was not spent according to the rules."

johnsparkexile

johnsparkexile wrote: »

They have an 8 year lease on the premises, I think for the first 5 years they only paid a nominal amount.

From the same Irish Examiner story

"The Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly, which administers its portion of the ESF, said that it also had not received a realistic breakdown of rent due from WWRD for using the visitors’ centre."

waterford

if im not mistaken House of Waterford Crystal pay a realistic rent to Waterford Council for the Lease on the Manepia Building

What is the realistic rent and what was the nominal amount of the grant given to WWRD

johnsparkexile

waterford wrote: »

if im not mistaken House of Waterford Crystal pay a realistic rent to Waterford Council for the Lease on the Manepia Building

What is the realistic rent and what was the nominal amount of the grant given to WWRD

What rent is or was paid would be regarded as sensitive commercial information and wouldn't be disclosed, so we'll have to agree to disagree on whether it was realistic or not.

As for the grant ,the article quoted it as an "€8m investment the council made in the relocated visitors’ centre for WWRD’s Waterford crystal operation". Other grants were received from the Dept of Enterprise for the back office jobs in the Cleaboy Buisness Park.