Spyker Trading Update Fourth Quarter 2008
ZEEWOLDE, The Netherlands, January 30, 2009: Spyker Cars N.V.
(“Spyker” or “the Company”), manufacturer of
exclusive premium sports cars, today announces the trading update for the
fourth quarter of 2008. Spyker is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Amsterdam
(ticker symbol SPYKR). As from March 2nd, 2009 Spyker will be excluded from
the AscX index (Amsterdam Small Cap Index).
Key developments:
• After the transformation of the
production process into a 9-cell line production in September 2008, Spyker
produced and delivered 13 cars in Q4 versus 8 in Q3 2008 and 2 in Q4 2007.
The total annual production in 2008 amounted to 43 cars including the first
2 deliveries of the limited edition Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85, an almost
doubling of production (+95%) as compared to 2007 (22 cars).
On October 23, Spyker announced the appointment of Mr Renaud Gasc as
Chief Commercial Officer, effective as from December 1st, 2008.
The limited edition Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85, the road version of
Spyker’s GT2 Le Mans car, made its first appearance at the Jeddah
Motor Show, from 27 until 30 October in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Spyker made its debut in the South Florida International Auto Show
in Miami from 7 to 16 November with the Spyker C8 Spyder and Spyker C8
Laviolette. Subsequently, Spyker participated in the Los Angeles Auto Show
from 12 to 30 November, where the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85 had its first
US appearance (see picture). Other cars on display were the Spyker C8
Aileron and the Spyker C8 Spyder. In Q4 of 2008 the Company’s
workforce consisted of 134 employees (was 138 as per September 30,
2008).
Spyker appointed Auto Palace Ltd. in Singapore as a new dealer.
Spyker of Singapore officially opened on December 5, 2008. Spyker of Hong
Kong was appointed as a new dealer on the prestigious Gloucester Road,
effective as from December 1, 2008.
On November 28, Spyker announced the resignation of Mr Lex Roukens,
Chief Financial Officer. Mr Roukens will leave the company on January 31,
2009, but will continue to support the company until his successor starts
mid March 2009 (see Outlook).
On 4 October 2008 Spyker received an amount of EUR 2.6 million from
the escrow account in which an amount of EUR 4,000,000 was held as
collateral for any claims that might have arisen as a result of the sale of
the former Spyker F1 Team in October 2007 to Orange India Holding (OIH).
Spyker will lodge a claim against OIH to release further amounts from the
escrow account since it is of the opinion that OIH has withheld such
amounts unjustifiably. The amount received so far exceeds the provision
that Spyker had taken in its 2007 Accounts, so even prior to any further
releases from the escrow there is a small positive result in fiscal 2008.
Spyker is confident that it will receive further amounts from the escrow.
As to the final settlement of all remaining issues between Spyker and OIH,
Spyker had reached full and final agreement with OIH in September 2008 but
OIH has subsequently declined to execute the agreements and as a result
Spyker has now lodged a claim against OIH. The amount of the various claims
is approximately EUR 2 million and Spyker expects to be successful in
collecting the said amount from OIH.
On December 24, 2008 the Attorney-General to the Dutch Supreme Court
(Hoge Raad), Mr L. Timmerman Esq., concluded that the appeal lodged by the
Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) in March 2008 against the ruling of the
Enterprise Section of the Court of Appeal (Ondernemingskamer), dated
December 28, 2007, should be rejected. In this ruling the Enterprise
Section of the Court of Appeal rejected every single objection that the AFM
had raised against Spyker’s 2006 Annual Accounts.
Outlook
The production version of the Spyker C8 Aileron
(with automatic gearbox) will have its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show
in Switzerland from 3 until 15 March 2009. The final version of
Spyker’s all aluminium long wheel base model is a further development
of the Spyker C8 Aileron concept car as shown in Geneva in March 2007.
Design and technical modifications have been implemented and the car has
been taken into production.
With the recent introduction of 9-cell line
production in the Spyker factory, which resulted in higher efficiency, and
the start of the production of the Spyker C8 Aileron, Spyker increases its
focus on further expansion of its distribution network and expects
production and deliveries of its models to increase throughout 2009. In Q1
the emphasis will be on producing mainly Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85s but as
of Q2 the Spyker C8 Aileron will start filling the production line in
modest numbers and production numbers thereof will increase in the
following quarters of 2009 whilst those of the non-automatic SWB models
will gradually decrease.
Testing and development of the Spyker D8 Peking-to-Paris will
continue throughout 2009 and the first cars will be taken into production
within the next twelve months.
Spyker will continue to put strong emphasis on a further expansion
of the merchandising selection presented on www.spykercollection.com.
After the last 2008 season’s Le Mans Series race in September,
Spyker Squadron fully concentrated on the preparations for a new season of
Le Mans Series races in 2009, starting in April with the 1000 km of
Catalunya in Spain, in which it has entered one factory Spyker C8
Laviolette GT2R (as it did last year). Spyker Squadron has entered two cars
for the 24 Hours of Le Mans to be held in June 2009.
The appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer is imminent and the
announcement expected in the next few days. In the interim period,
Spyker’s former CFO, Mr Roukens, will continue to support the company
so as to ensure a smooth transition until the new CFO starts around mid
March 2009.
Spyker has secured its mid-term funding (fiscal year 2009) in the
form of loans from Snoras Bank and related financial institutions. An
amount of EUR 10 million has been provided to the company and further loans
will be provided so as to enable the Company to execute its strategy and
implement its engineering and development projects (C8 Aileron, C8 Aileron
Spyder and D8 Peking-to-Paris) throughout 2009.
Victor R. Muller, Spyker’s Chief Executive Officer,
stated:
“It goes without saying that the car industry in
general is experiencing very tough times and even the ultra high-end
segment in which we operate has been affected to some extent. However,
compared to our peer group -where production cuts,lay-offs and factory shut
downs are the order of the day- we are fortunate in that we have not
overproduced cars in 2008 and hence not stocked our dealers to the hilt. On
the contrary, many dealers are awaiting cars because they have none on the
showroom floor. Doubling our production in 2008 as compared to the disaster
year 2007 is a first step in the right direction but it is the eagerly
awaited introduction of the Spyker C8 Aileron (with automatic gearbox) to
the market that should give a further impetus to production this year. We
will use all of our efforts to ramp up production as quickly as possible
helped by the new 9-cell production method introduced last year. Past
experience has taught us, however, that it is far from easy to achieve
projected production targets and hence we make no predictions on production
numbers other than that we expect to see a significant increase this year
as compared to 2008.
In spite of the economic climate we are continuously appointing new
Spyker dealers world wide and the interest of professional multi-brand
stores and stand-alone high-end operators to become a Spyker franchised
dealer remains high, particularly now that the C8 Aileron with automatic
gearbox will be launched. We can now appoint dealers in markets that would
so far not take an interest in us because of the lack of an automatic
gearbox in our models.
We are relieved that notwithstanding the adverse market conditions we
have found sufficient support from our sponsors, in particular Snoras Bank,
to continue the efforts of Spyker Squadron in the international GT-race
arena, such an important component of our branding and marketing strategy.
Moreover, having secured our mid-term financing with Snoras Bank and its
related financial institutions, we can meet our 2009 objectives. Overall,
we are optimistic that we will see a further increase in production and our
distribution network this year.”
