HALP

[ewt]

From timeplease and Charlie Stross,

"Finally, can some rich, beer-drinking Belgian entrepreneur please buy Liefmans Breweries, which were unfortunately declared bankrupt last Friday? It's a cash flow glitch, due to bugs in a new bottling line and scheduled duty payments; the brewery should be long-term viable as a business."

Comments

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Indeed. So a company which is more vulnerable to cashflow glitches is now less viable, overall, than one which is less vulnerable. This company has demonstrated said vulnerability. That might be a one-off, or it might not - it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that we'll see an insolvency (or at least a 'cashflow glitch) in a major pub chain in 2008. That would in turn, I imagine, create an even bigger cashflow glitch for small brewers.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

An interesting scenario.

See this reply (http://ewtikins.livejournal.com/740716.html?thread=3715436#t3715436) below for the banks' likely response.