fleetwood debt/equity ratio, page-15

seals

at least 12 months i reckon.

profitability is secondary here. cashflow is what is important. they have considerable capex commitments that cannot wholly be funded by operating cashflow. this happens in all businesses from time to time, but right now timing for these guys is not helpful.

now, thereare a few things you can do to increase cash from business, run down stock, squeeze debtors, stretch creditors and provisions. but they are not getting top line growth ( neither is anyone in his industry ) . margins are underpressure, goes to follow.

against this backdrop you see gearing increasing, we do not know what terms facility will take once osprey is completed , but suggest it will require amosrtisation. this will further use the cash generated from the village , so i dont see a huge amount of cash to pay dividends. traditionally this business has never had $55/60m in debt to repay , which has enabled a very generous dividend.

if trading gets tougher, goodwill valuation may come under pressure. that wouldnt be helpful either.

baraka