Norton in trouble?

Keeps em in the headlines. Not a bad strategy - things are bad at norton, things are awful, things are over, all within 24 hours of viral spread........and then Mr G can do a bit of Ra Ra, customer engagement, all is good and look how good. Is it clever, possibly?
 
This BS reminds me of this.....

Absolutely!

You don’t have to be much of an ‘expert’ about any given niche within our hobby to know that a lot of what is written in the motorcycle press is pretty shoddy stuff.

They clearly spend more time on pictures and thinking up witty headlines and sound bites than they do on actual journalism.

If this is representative of the press as a whole, then gawd ‘elp us! It really is becoming difficult to sift through the fake from the real news these days.

This fake news thing is like we’ve gone backwards a few hundred years to when all ‘news’ was spread, unchecked, via word of mouth. Especially with regards to the whereabouts, and obvious guilt, of witches and sorcerers!

But hey... that’s progress...!
 
This fake news thing is like we’ve gone backwards a few hundred years to when all ‘news’ was spread, unchecked, via word of mouth. Especially with regards to the whereabouts, and obvious guilt, of witches and sorcerers!

But hey... that’s progress...!

It appears that much of the media is chasing the instant "hit" of the social (read antisocial) media. It's now the news equivalent of fast food.
The result appears to be centred on maximum dramatisation and minimum time and effort on ensuring facts are correct.
I feel sorry for young people having to navigate and respond appropriately to this dross.
 
Norton in trouble?
Well here is some good underreported news .
 
Absolutely!

You don’t have to be much of an ‘expert’ about any given niche within our hobby to know that a lot of what is written in the motorcycle press is pretty shoddy stuff.

They clearly spend more time on pictures and thinking up witty headlines and sound bites than they do on actual journalism.

If this is representative of the press as a whole, then gawd ‘elp us! It really is becoming difficult to sift through the fake from the real news these days.

This fake news thing is like we’ve gone backwards a few hundred years to when all ‘news’ was spread, unchecked, via word of mouth. Especially with regards to the whereabouts, and obvious guilt, of witches and sorcerers!

But hey... that’s progress...!

Couldn't agree more about the news, I haven't opened a news paper in 30 years and the news channels are hidden on my TV, but, this isn't fake news. The info is there to see on Companies house website and it does beg the question, why are the accounts late ? who runs a company like that ? the football analogy might be appropriate, although I would not like my company to be likened to a game run and played by morons for morons.

Also the comment about it raising the company profile by keeping them in the news doesn't work either because whilst checking whether or not it is fake news, things like this pop up.

https://www.bikerglory.com/news/the-norton-saga/

That article might be old news but the fact that it is still there to be read does suggest that it is factual. We might like the product but the company is dodgy. IMO. maybe.:)
 
Ralph, we have to be careful not to mix topics together though don’t we?

I, for one, am not defending Norton’s accounting practices etc. or nominating anyone for an OBE, or similar.

I’m simply saying that any journalist who makes the leap from ‘late filed accounts’ (that’s a fact) to ‘shock horror, the company is about to fold’ (that’s pure, unsupported conjecture) is definitely in the game of fake news!

That article you linked is a better piece of ‘investigative journalism’ IMHO. But there’s nothing contained in it that hasn’t been discussed at length on here, and other sites.

And even that article was predicting imminent bankcruptcy... 7 years ago...!
 
Ralph, we have to be careful not to mix topics together though don’t we?

I, for one, am not defending Norton’s accounting practices etc. or nominating anyone for an OBE, or similar.

I’m simply saying that any journalist who makes the leap from ‘late filed accounts’ (that’s a fact) to ‘shock horror, the company is about to fold’ (that’s pure, unsupported conjecture) is definitely in the game of fake news!

That article you linked is a better piece of ‘investigative journalism’ IMHO. But there’s nothing contained in it that hasn’t been discussed at length on here, and other sites.

And even that article was predicting imminent bankcruptcy... 7 years ago...!

I think Visordown just reported the facts but I do understand what you are saying re journo's, horrible people mostly, I used to have to deal with a fair few of them back in the day as a London courier.

I have never understood big business but just these two statements alone just don't add up to me, maybe a reason for the late accounts!!!

The combined cash at bank value for all businesses where STUART holds a current appointment equals £73.3k, a combined total current assets value of £6.6m with a total current liabilities of £6.9m and a total current net worth of £243k. Roles associated with Mr Stuart James Garner within the recorded businesses include: Director, Company Secretary

And the company secretary
The combined cash at bank value for all businesses where SIMON holds a current appointment equals £3.5k, a combined total current assets value of £4.7m with a total current liabilities of £4.1m and a total current net worth of £-1.6m. Roles associated with Mr Simon Peter Skinner within the recorded businesses include: Director
 
I think Visordown just reported the facts

I have never understood big business...

Visor Down reported (some of the) facts yes, but by adding things like “this normally applies when the Registrar thinks a company is not carrying on in business or in operation” they have definitely strayed from ‘facts’.

That’s just not true, it NORMALLY applies when a company is just late! It is only seldom that it is really becasue the company is not carrying on in business.

It ‘normally applies’ when Companies House are fed up with excuses and want to force a company to file their overdue accounts.

Which is clearly the case HERE, Companies House are making the threat becasue it’s the last straw for them and they want to force the accounts to be filed (can’t blame them really).

It is blindingly obvious to anyone that Norton Motorcycles ARE currently ‘carrying on in business’ and to suggest that Companies House genuinely believes otherwise is just false.

So yes, they reported the facts, but only some of them, and with added ‘drama’!


I don’t understand big business either. And normal blokes like us just wouldn’t be able to sleep at night with the numbers these guys deal with in terms of debt etc.

It’s no secret that SG has managed this operation so far on an absolute shoestring of a budget (comparatively speaking). Or that he as (does?) sail close to the wind at times. Or that that has caused issues at times with both suppliers and customers, etc.

But, and to me it’s a big but... at the end of the day, in not much more time than it’s taken me to rebuild one old Norton, SG has rebuilt the Norton Motorcycle company! He’s the one building Norton’s again, not us, and whilst he continues to do that, in Britain, I’ll continue to support and admire his efforts.
 
Stuart either has a very inept accountancy team or an incredibly efficient one! Filing accounts late incurs a penalty - if I submit my self assessment account late I get fined £100 in the first instance, god knows what the fine is for a company or group of companies. The accountants must therefore be able to offset the fine (and more) as Norton accounts are regularly filed late - no company would deliberately “lose” money by the decision to file accounts late, the dates for submission arethe same every year!
 


Well that’s interesting too, a US and and Australian website were able to call Norton and get answers as simple as that.

Which reinforces my point about the drama queen style bad journalism from Visordown. They didn’t find get any such factory quotes despite writing: “We're trying to find out more - whether this is a simple admin oversight, or if there are deeper issues”.

Bad Journalism.
 
Visor down is the evolution of a bike mag - I forget which - that went out of business as the journalism in the mag simply repeated or re-jigged what was available in MCN, Bike and Ride. Looks like the shoddy journalism carried over to the website.


I remember now - Two Wheels Only (TWO)
 
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Stuart Garner is running an advert on Planet Rock just now, seems to be giving financial advise, something to do with exporting. You couldn't make it up.:D
 
Stuart Garner is running an advert on Planet Rock just now, seems to be giving financial advise, something to do with exporting. You couldn't make it up.:D
Didn’t your Dad tell you - don’t do as I do, do as I tell you!
 
With it looking better than anytime in the past 10 years, NMUK have it all going for them. I don't see this as an issue, just crap accounting and repeated lack of oversight, as it is not the first time this has occurred. It will all work out and Fast Eddie can tell me just how good the SL is, hopefully this summer, but 2020 will do.
 
News flash!
This just in!
Read all about it!

It’s true!
It’s true!
Norton is staying in business!

It appears that Triumph and Royal endfield paid the Visor Down editor to write a bogus article.
We have our top investigative team working hard now to bring us real facts!

Stuart Garner is now aiming his firework arsenal straight towards Visor Downs Head quarters now.

In other news Donald Trump is finally stepping down after he finally admitted to the Muller investigation.
Apparently Donald has come clean and did in fact lie, cheat, steal and worked with the Russians. He and his family will be serving life in prison and being served Big Macs and happy meals only.

We will report more “HONEST” news as we find it.

Good day!
 
From today on Internet :


Norton in trouble?

BY: KATE MURPHY, Daily News Writer

The rumors of Norton's demise are greatly exaggerated.


WHEW. So, this morning when our colleagues at Visordown reported that Norton was in trouble we were surprised and a little worried. After all, things seemed to be going pretty well. I mean, the company's bonkers V4 was rolling off the assembly line and the first Commando Streets were slated to hit the streets today. How could they be in trouble?


Weeeeeell... turns out they aren't. Someone got their wires crossed and we reported it and, well, we're sorry. In fact, Norton's CEO Stuart Garner emailed us to let us know all is well (Sorry about that, Stuart). So, yeah. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Norton's fine. Disregard. -JM
 
a combined total current assets value of £4.7m

I looked at the assets in the last accounts, they include every £ spent on racing booked as being an asset ie an intangible asset. So what the accounts are saying is that every £ spent on racing side adds equal value to the company but not a value in the form of an item that can be sold or is in the bank. Now if the racing is creating enough sales to justify this intangible asset then fine, but if the level of sales cannot justify it then at some point it has to be written off. I was in a company that had booked previous losses as an asset based on offsetting future profits and so reduced corporation tax. As soon as they started a run of losses the asset value of the old losses had to be written off and caused the company to declare Chapter 11. These are the entries in accounts that cause problems when the economy goes into a recession and come back and bite.
 
I am glad to read that this is just a accounting tactic and not a real thing. I do wonder about another story I heard about the ex-US importer shutting down. Why isn't there a new US importer listed on Norton's web site? The story I heard was that the importer had moved to South America? Also that because there wasn't a US importer that there weren't going to be any 2019 bikes shipped to the US and that Norton's would have to be re-certified by the EPA or some other US government agency? Why are there so few US dealers? Are the regulations so bad that Norton decided it wasn't worth the effort?
To be honest I wouldn't buy anything that to get it serviced I would have to travel clear across the country to get it serviced or just to get parts!
John in Texas
 
I am glad to read that this is just a accounting tactic and not a real thing. I do wonder about another story I heard about the ex-US importer shutting down. Why isn't there a new US importer listed on Norton's web site? The story I heard was that the importer had moved to South America? Also that because there wasn't a US importer that there weren't going to be any 2019 bikes shipped to the US and that Norton's would have to be re-certified by the EPA or some other US government agency? Why are there so few US dealers? Are the regulations so bad that Norton decided it wasn't worth the effort?
To be honest I wouldn't buy anything that to get it serviced I would have to travel clear across the country to get it serviced or just to get parts!
John in Texas

John,

I think many prospective Norton buyers are bothered by the lack of a US distributor, and the few dealers available.
The less than glowing reports of 961 problems, and owners issues probably contributed to the early US dealers dropping their dealerships.
My dealer packed it in because he was loosing money with the 961.

However, I believe the new V4 and 650 twins will be very different animals.
New sheet of paper designs, created with the assistance of established engineering/design groups will mean that Norton is determined not to repeat the kind of errors they made with the 961.
If these machines are as good as I expect, once they get certified here in the US, dealerships will spring up soon enough.
 
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