fastjet PLC (LON:FJET), the low-cost African airline set up by easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has once again warned it will go bust if investors don’t stump up some more money.
The ambitious carrier set out to be the continent’s first low-cost pan-African airline, but it has struggled to gain traction in its target markets.
READ: fastjet warns it could go bust
As a result, it has been burning through cash at a rate of knots and said back in June that it would collapse if a fresh injection of cash wasn’t forthcoming.
Luckily, it managed to get away a £5.3mln placing a few days after which kept it afloat over summer, but it has now run into more troubles.
fastjet said today (Friday) it needs to either carry out another fundraiser or reach an agreement with its main creditors in the coming days otherwise “it would be unable to continue as a going concern”.
Some cost-cutting and a slight pick-up in trading mean it has enough cash to limp on through until the end of the month although the funds are unlikely to stretch much further.
Discussions ongoing
“Whilst discussions to date with certain shareholders and creditors have been positive, discussions are ongoing and there can be no guarantee of a successful outcome,” read this morning’s statement.
“If the company is unable to carry out an equity fundraise and/or reach an agreement with its key creditors, the Group would be unable to continue trading as a going concern.”
Shares were down another 12.6% to 1.53p on Friday morning, valuing the company at less than £10mln. At one point back in 2006, shares were worth almost 9,000p.