Fast charging chain Fastned is of course also suffering from the corona crisis. According to business magazine Parameters the company of Bart Lubbers and Michiel Langezaal guzzles more debt than a twelve-cylinder petrol and the worst is yet to come. Because who goes to a charge pump station now? 

Fastned's debt is almost 13 times that sold in those fast charging stations. The interest that Fastned paid on those loans last year alone was € 2,7 million. Full year turnover was barely € 6,4 million, of which only € 4,5 million from electric fueling. In 2019, Fastned made a loss of over € 12 million, almost twice the turnover.

no new fast charging stations

Fastned is not going to do that, at least, the pace is going down. Because some sense of reality has penetrated the men. Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, the construction of some new stations has already been postponed and the renovation of existing stations has to wait a while, so that there is a cash buffer. 

empty-handed

What can you do as a private lender? Hoping and praying and reading the fine print again. As stated in the annual report:

“There are no securities for the bonds and there are no covenants applicable that could cause the loan to be short term at balance sheet date. The bonds are not subordinated and trading is very limited as they are not registered on any exchange. ”

Freely translated, it says: if you lend money to Fastned and it goes wrong, you have no leg to stand on and you are attached to it. Business magazine Quote calls the company 'technically bankrupt '. 

Also read: Fastned triples revenue but doubles loss after the IPO