Diesel aircraft engine maker Thielert AG’s board of directors has removed founder Frank Thielert as chief executive amidst a cash crisis that’s prompted a sell-off of shares to raise $24.4 million Euros to cover immediate needs. The company’s shares have plummeted in value in recent months in response to a court decision that nullified its financial statements for the years 2002-2005. The engine maker’s shares dropped to 3.17 Euros in trading Friday. Last July they hit 25.22 Euros. The board has also removed Chief Financial Officer Roswitha Grosser. “Anyone who was surprised has been sleeping for the past weeks,” Jochen Klusmann, an analyst at BHF Bank in Frankfurt told Bloomberg News. “The bottom line is the company has booked relatively high sales and profit, but never has had good cash flow.”
After the court ruling last month, Thielert delayed release of its 2007 financial statements saying it needed more time to do them. That caused a freefall in share value and precipitated the current crisis. We’ll have industry reaction from Sun ‘n Fun in coming issues.
