GT40s.com - View Single Post - RF Situation - A bit of information related to other posts

Mark Worthington · 03-21-06, 10:11 PM

Ron, as much as I'm a glass-half-full kind of person, I agree with you that the situation does not look good and it appears unlikely that RF has the assets or work-in-progress necessary to make the affected creditors whole in this matter. Sadly, I am also afraid that the GT40 community has lost one of its better options for a quality product and after-the-sale support.

I also considered Robert to be a friend, and, at the risk of offending some of you who now find yourselves to be RF's "creditors," I will continue to give Robert the benefit of the doubt with respect to alleged claims of his malicious or "sinister" business practices. Of course, if I am proven wrong, I will eat humble pie, grab a torch and a pitchfork, and join the rest of the affected forum members just like the villagers going after Karloff.

But this whole mess begs the question; what really happened? The general answer, of course, would be that RF was over-extended and under-capitalized. It is also probably accurate to surmise that Robert is better at engineering and customer service than he is with a balance sheet or a P&L statement. But I don’t believe it is in Robert Logan’s character to stash the money away in an offshore account or live large at the expense of his company’s finances. Robert told me that he had a decent income from his Royal Navy pension, and that his wife brought in pretty good money as a doctor, and that he therefore did not draw much of a salary from RF.

So what were the contributing factors to the RF’s financial demise? I think there were probably several, and that there may be some very interesting stories that will eventually be told in private circles – perhaps they’re being told right now. International currency moves don’t seem to have been in RF’s favor. Setting up a new venture with an entirely new set of suppliers in South Africa is most likely what pushed RF over the edge. I believe it’s more likely Robert got screwed by some of his new South African suppliers than that he was up to something sinister. Am I the only one who finds it interesting that our normally well-informed and verbose South African forum member, Andre 40, has not uttered a peep about this, nor about any of the inner goings on in SA?

03-21-06, 10:11 PM	#6 (permalink)
Mark Worthington Mark Worthington 10 tenths Join Date: Dec 2001 GT40: Massachusetts Posts: 1,789 Rep Power: 24	Re: RF Situation - A bit of information related to other posts Ron, as much as I'm a glass-half-full kind of person, I agree with you that the situation does not look good and it appears unlikely that RF has the assets or work-in-progress necessary to make the affected creditors whole in this matter. Sadly, I am also afraid that the GT40 community has lost one of its better options for a quality product and after-the-sale support. I also considered Robert to be a friend, and, at the risk of offending some of you who now find yourselves to be RF's "creditors," I will continue to give Robert the benefit of the doubt with respect to alleged claims of his malicious or "sinister" business practices. Of course, if I am proven wrong, I will eat humble pie, grab a torch and a pitchfork, and join the rest of the affected forum members just like the villagers going after Karloff. But this whole mess begs the question; what really happened? The general answer, of course, would be that RF was over-extended and under-capitalized. It is also probably accurate to surmise that Robert is better at engineering and customer service than he is with a balance sheet or a P&L statement. But I don’t believe it is in Robert Logan’s character to stash the money away in an offshore account or live large at the expense of his company’s finances. Robert told me that he had a decent income from his Royal Navy pension, and that his wife brought in pretty good money as a doctor, and that he therefore did not draw much of a salary from RF. So what were the contributing factors to the RF’s financial demise? I think there were probably several, and that there may be some very interesting stories that will eventually be told in private circles – perhaps they’re being told right now. International currency moves don’t seem to have been in RF’s favor. Setting up a new venture with an entirely new set of suppliers in South Africa is most likely what pushed RF over the edge. I believe it’s more likely Robert got screwed by some of his new South African suppliers than that he was up to something sinister. Am I the only one who finds it interesting that our normally well-informed and verbose South African forum member, Andre 40, has not uttered a peep about this, nor about any of the inner goings on in SA?