Mallya pumps in £20m to fuel Force India’s F1 drive
INDIAN tycoon Vijay Mallya has ploughed about £20 million into his loss-making Formula One team in a bid to boost its performance.
Silverstone-based Force India team’s accounts show Watson Limited, Mallya’s personal investment vehicle, loaned it £6.85 million, while his Kingfisher Airlines and beer and spirits businesses provided it with £13 million in sponsorship money.
The new F1 season begins this week with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
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Force India, which finished in sixth place last year, has improved each season. However, that improvement has not translated into profits.
The figures show its net loss narrowed from £40.3 million to £26.7 million in the year ending December 31, 2010, as turnover increased by £17 million to £48.5 million thanks to the sponsorship boost.
Kingfisher is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and is majority owned by the Mallya-controlled UB Group
Bank debt was pared down by £1 million, leaving a total of £8.2 million outstanding. Mallya’s drinks brands, which include Whyte & Mackay whisky, provided £6.7 million, more than double the previous year, while Kingfisher’s sponsorship increased 71 per cent to £6 million.
Kingfisher is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and is majority owned by the Mallya-controlled UB Group.
It has debt of 65 billion rupees (£790 million) and has posted 17 straight quarterly losses.
To combat this, it has cut flights and is looking for a white knight to provide it with enough capital to avoid bankruptcy.