P18 sep19 16/9/08 18:46 Page 18
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Profile Lawrence Hunt a year – our second service to New York and our
first to Dubai, in September and November 2007
Boom to bust – the
respectively,” he said.
But then Maxjet went bust.
Investor jitters
“Despite trying to persuade investors that just
because one athlete falls over it doesn’t mean
story of Silverjet
the whole field will, there was a herd mentality in
the City. They started to get jittery and our share
price continued to slide,” Hunt said.
An analyst eventually dealt Silverjet a “killer
blow”, publishing a report which concerned the
Reubens, other investors and customers.
In his first trade interview since the collapse of his airline, Lawrence But even as the situation turned increasingly
Hunt tells Lucy Huxley how he fought to keep Silverjet in the air
sour, Hunt said some agents stood firm.
“The like of Lotus, Trailfinders and Wexas con-
tinued to support us. There were some super-
S
ilverjet was conceived on the back of possible feat – launching an airline from nothing stars but most stopped selling us overnight.”
a beer mat in a pub in Southend in to its first flight in just eight months. He believes things may have been different
February 2004. Four years later, “It was a huge achievement. We launched a had the trade backed Silverjet from the outset.
after a fairytale launch, phenomenal whole new business model and level of service. “It took a long time for agents to accept us. If
growth and extraordinary media attention, the Our target was 80% load factor in nine months – they’d got behind us at the start, then we might
all-business-class transatlantic airline collapsed we got there in seven. We did not receive one have been more successful,” he lamented.
– one of several to hit the wall this year. complaint and won the Sunday Times best airline In March 2008, Silverjet had $100m pledged
It was a rollercoaster ride for creator Lawrence of the year award – I cried when they told me.” by an Abu Dhabi investment firm, but it was sub-
Hunt (below), the entrepreneur who put his life ject to an internal probe and the fund was frozen.
and soul into the venture but claims to have Rapid success By April 2008, Viceroy Holdings had seemingly
never let himself get carried away by its success. “We floated in May 2006 at £1.12 a share; when stepped into the breach but then failed to come
“It was just a business that ultimately we launched in January 2007, it was £1.30 a up with the money. Hunt has since launched a
fell victim to negative investor sentiment,” share; after seven months’ operation we raised Serious Fraud Office inquiry (TTG September 12).
he said. another £25m from our existing investors and Finally, an 11th-hour rescue bid was mounted
Such pragmatism is admirable for a man the share price rose again to £1.80,” Hunt recalls. by Kingplace, but Hunt claimed investors
who lost £2.5m in the start-up and who put But suddenly, the bubble was about to burst. disagreed over the deal, resulting in it falling
in serious hard graft to get his idea off the Silverjet’s share price peaked in August apart. Silverjet entered administration.
ground. From calling 900 investors at 7am 2007 at £2.12 – and then two Wall It was one hell of a ride. So much so, it’s hard
every day for 18 months, to surveying Street hedge funds “blew up”. to believe Hunt still has his feet on the ground.
business flyers with a clipboard at “I was on a beach when I read But he’s already back working for
Gatwick until evicted for not having about it. That was when it started Lowcosttravelgroup, the company he helped set
a permit, Hunt was determined to go bad. up, with a remit to acquire and grow quickly.
to make his £999 business-class “My mindset changed and I He may no longer be running an airline, but
London-New York concept fly. reined in my spending,” he said. catch him if you can.
But despite the meetings and “The first major investors,
presentations, he could not persuade who owned 10% of the company,
Seven successes and a failure
investors. Finally, his finance were advised to sell airline stocks
director’s former university mates – to ‘get out at any price’.” Hunt’s business start-up history includes:
changed his fortunes. That started the share price slide ■ Novell: American tech company – IPO
“I turned up to meet them late and other investors turned. ■ BMS: Tech consulting business – trade sale
and hassled. They all had copies Somehow, still believing ■ Database Management Sciences:
of my business plan, grilled me Silverjet was viable, Hunt Tech company – sold to IBM
all afternoon, got me drunk and raised another £22m from his ■ Rapid Travel Solutions:
ended up saying ‘We’ll float this investors in June 2007. Travel technology firm – sold to Telewest
business for you’. “Nobody else raised any ■ Dreamticket: Online travel agency –
“I didn’t believe them. But they money that month, and merger into Rapid then sold to Telewest
lined up 37 meetings and before we also brought in ■ Lowcosttravelgroup:
long, we had no aircraft, no li- the Reuben Accommodation-only – going strong
cences and no rights, but £26m in brothers,” ■ Global Travel Market:
the bank – it was an amazing feel- he added. Flight metasearch engine – going strong
ing.” “We launched ■ Silverjet: Airline – failed
Hunt then pulled off a near-im- three planes and two routes in
18 19.09.2008
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