15/06/2009
NEWS STORY
With just a week to go before this year's British Grand Prix it would be nice to know that the race will at least be taking place next year.
The financial troubles of Donington, the circuit which hopes to host the race from next year are well documented. It looked like things had picked up when it was recently revealed that the race promoter had settled a lawsuit brought against it by the circuit's owner over allegedly unpaid rent. However, the promoter has yet to find £80m needed to modify the circuit in order to host the GP.
According to press reports, Simon Gillett and Paul White, the owners of the promoter Donington Ventures Leisure (DVL), have been using their own money to keep the project going after it lost a key financial backer in March. Since then DVL has faced claims of unpaid bills from contractors and a report in the Express newspaper, written by Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt, explains why this may be the case.
A report about DVL by business information firm Dun&Bradstreet dated 27 May 2009 reveals that the majority of its trade is not paid promptly or within 30 days, with a number of payments made more than 91 days late. It adds that "98% of UK businesses have a lower risk of paying significantly late."
The consequence of this, according to Dun&Bradstreet, is that DVL has "a greater than average risk of business failure" with 66% of UK businesses having a lower risk of failure. It concludes that out of 62,353 businesses in the same industry group none has lower financial strength than DVL. Perhaps unsurprisingly, DVL refused to comment on the data - Pitpass imagines that its hands are full with the task of trying to raise that £80m.