cce -where to from here !, page-11

Its all very well to continue to spend money on R & D, receive Grants and tax refunds , and in the process you manufacture something with the view that you will be able to sell that something (and/or service) at a reasonable profit margin . Unless you can achieve that sooner rather than later , or not at all, then there will be a shortfall in cash generation (put simply you will end up with a loss) and that cannot be sustained unless you continue to fund the shortfall by raising capital from shareholders and/or borrowings to be able to continue to trade. Equally you cannot continue to raise capital when that dries up.
Therefore for a company to continue to trade and grow it needs to generate sales and profits -- and to reward shareholders with dividends and/or capital gains (as in appreciation of the share price).

The alternative to that is best not to go there !! -- simple.