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INTERVIEW MV AGUSTA PRESIDENT AND CEO GIOVANNI CASTIGLIONI: PART 2 P112 of the company, not simply stand on the sidelines. So I am working to purchase their 25 percent portion of the eq- uity by bringing in new inves- tors who are ready to put fur- ther cash into the company. It's a pity, it could have been a great marriage, because MV Agusta is hitting all the numbers and growing fast, that's the problem. We have essentially become a victim of our own success. We did not cash in from our dealers, so we did not pay our sup- pliers, that was the problem. Such a problem can only be solved in one of two ways—ei- ther you put more cash in the company in terms of working capital, or put more debt in the company—and we have very low debt with the bank, like 50 million Euro. So we're looking for a partner ready to discuss a capital increase, as I stated. In the meanwhile, MV Agusta will continue producing and sell- ing motorcycles. We have 600 suppliers altogether, out of which 200 relate to motorcycle pro- duction. Of these, we have 198 suppliers already delivering to us, and we are finalizing arrange- ments with the final two, and then we're ready to go. We have a huge volume of backorders wait- ing to be satisfied, which under the new procedures where we will insist on much tighter pay- ment from our dealers, will gener- ate the necessary cash needed to maintain production. I understand that Brembo is very upset with you. Are they presumably one of the two suppliers that you are still in discussions with? Correct. To the point that they refuse to supply you any more? Can you comment on that? That's true, but I really don't see the point of their attitude, which will not help anybody. I mean, we will pay cash for parts from them now. They have a very limited exposure in terms of outstanding debt. I mean, very limited for the size of the company. Yet there are other smaller medium-sized compa- nies where we represent 30-40 percent of their revenues, which are already supplying us, and by damaging MV by refusing to deliver braking systems, Brembo risks damaging them even more. However, I believe we should be able to come to an agreement with them soon. We don't have a business problem, it's a financial problem; the company does not need to make any further investments in products or brand image. We have everything we need. We have a cash problem. We have already reduced expenditure on two items: one is R&D, and the other is racing. Last year the two combined accounted for 18.7 million Euro, and now in 2016 that's been reduced to around 7 million. Why? Because we have a fantastic product range, we will do one, or two new bikes per year, but we will not make any more massive investment in products. So if you gain 10 million Euro by cutting R&D, it's a lot of money for the size of the company, plus racing previ- ously accounted for 5 million, but we've outsourced racing to "WE DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS PROBLEM, WE HAVE A CASH PROBLEM." They haven't produced a bike for years, but MV still holds the reign of the Cagiva concern.