Chapter 16

Rory.

In the morning Mr McFarlane called the Luccinis and they agreed to meet him at their Restaurant at ten on the Sunday morning. When we arrived and Mr and Mrs Luccini saw Rebecca and me with David I think they were a bit surprised but they invited us in. Jessie was working and laying the tables in preparation for opening the business later on that morning. David said to them do you want to talk in the office or just sit at a table in the Restaurant. Mr Luccini sad that since nobody would be coming before they opened for business it would probably be less cluttered if they spoke around one of the tables.

"Good," David said, "Then I think you should ask Jessie to join us because it is because of her we are here."

"Why? What has Jessie done?" Mrs Luccini asked.

"Nothing bad, I can assure you," said David, "But I would like her to be included in our discussions."

Jessie had been trying to ignore our presence and was continuing to lay the tables. I think she was apprehensive and wondering why we had come.

Her dad called her over and she said "Hi" to us and we all sat round the table.

"Let me start by introducing my party, as you know I am David McFarlane and this is my daughter Rebecca and her boyfriend Rory," He told them, "They are here with me because like your daughter, they are part of the reason for us being here. I think for the purposes of the discussion we are about to have it would be better if we were on first name terms."

Mr Luccini spoke up.

"I am Carl Luccini," He said. "And this is my wife Sophie and my daughter Jessica whom you seem to know already. I am rather puzzled as to why you wish to speak to us David and that it seems to have something to do with our children."

"It is certainly because of our children," David said, "But let me explain. When School resumed after the summer holidays these three and some of their friends were discussing the events of Christmas, when Rory noticed that your daughter was looking a bit distressed. Being the kind of young man he is he drew her to the side and asked if something was wrong and saw she was near to tears. He wormed out of her the reason for her distress and it appears that you are having difficulty with your bankers who are threatening to foreclose on your loan."

Mr Luccini looked over at his daughter and said,

"Jessie you had no right... ,"

But before he could go any further David interrupted him.

"Mr Luccini, before you say something to Jessie that you might regret later, I would be grateful if you would let me finish my explanation."

Mrs Luccini reached out and touched her husband's arm,

"Wait Carl; let us hear what David has to say."

"Thank you Sophie" David said. "Let me tell you that Rory is an exceptionally bright and caring young man. I am going to sponsor him through university and he is going to come and work for my company. He is also my daughter's boyfriend and he is a young man who has helped us to come to terms with the loss of our own son last year just by being with us so much of the time."

"We were, so sorry for you when we heard that you and Ruth had lost your boy," Mrs Luccini told him.

"Thank you again, Sophie," David said, "We are still struggling to come to terms with it. But let me get to the point of being here to meet you. Hearing what was happening to you, Rory devised a scheme for helping small businesses in the area then told Rebecca, and they both brought it to me. I and several members of our family have discussed it and we have agreed to put it into effect. Rory, would you briefly tell them of your scheme."

This took me by surprise, because I thought David would have outlined it for them. But I took up the story.

"I came up with the idea of a Credit Union for small businesses whereby they would be able to get loans from it when the banks are refusing. Not only that, but they would get them at a lower interest rate that the banks offer. This is what is done for poorer members of our society when they cannot get credit and don't have a bank account. People who can do those things because they have money, decide not to use regular banks but start instead a credit union and bank with it. The money they put in is used to allow its poorer members to get credit when they need it without paying exorbitant rates. The richer members provide the funds which enable the credit union to do this. It enables them to lend to those members who normally can't get loans. In the case of my idea the money would come from the larger companies in the area many of whom depend on these smaller companies for their own profitability as they keep a lot of people in jobs and therefore able to spend money and buy the products which the larger companies produce."

"Thanks Rory," David said. "We are in the process of setting up this Small Business Credit Union and have committed a very substantial sum to it. Unfortunately we cannot yet lend money from it because we are seeking a grant which would double the amount we would have to lend. So at this moment in time we don't want to take anything away from the capital at the moment. Since it was Jessie who sparked all this off by telling Rory of your plight, we still feel you should benefit from the idea. We had a meeting last night of the Credit Union Committee which is made up of our family members. There we thrashed out an offer that may suit you and be even better for you. Rebecca as a member of that committee along with Rory, would you like to tell your friend and her family what we came up with."

Rebecca was even more shocked than I was at this, but my lady rose to the occasion.

"Mr. Luccini," She said, "I can tell you what we have proposed without knowing this, but it would help us in our further discussion if you could give us the figure still outstanding on your loan."

Mr Luccini hesitated but his wife gave him a prod, so he cleared his throat and said

"It is the Region of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds and for the last six months we have only been able to pay the interest on it. Doing so leaves us very little over when all the bills have been paid."

"I see," Rebecca said. "Then before proceeding I have two more questions. What is your rate of interest and if you did not have any loan to pay would you be in profitability?

"At the moment the rate is twelve point five percent" he told us. "The answer to your second question is yes we would be making a small profit."

"Good," she said with a smile, "That makes things easier all round. You see what we propose is that we should wipe out your loan. It appears from what you have said this would mean your business would be operating in the black. This means you would probably be able to weather the storm till the economy picks up.

As a profitable small business you can sit down with people from McFarlane Enterprises and agree a valuation of your Business. We then decide what proportion of that valuation the loan comes to and McFarlane enterprises would take shares in your company to that value. When things pick up we will agree that you can then buy back these shares at the value we placed on them at this time.

This means what you owe would not rise. When you have the money to do so you would be able to buy them back from us at the same price we paid for them. This means that what we are offering you what amounts to an interest free loan. You could also, if you were quite happy with this arrangement continue it and just go on paying your shareholders the dividend to which their shares entitle them.

Since the profitability of the business at this time is quite small this would be much less than the current interest levels being charged by the banks. With this option you could if you wished plough your profits back into the business to allow you further expansion."

I could see David leaning back in his chair with a wide smile on his face. He was obviously impressed by his daughter's presentation, as was I. Mr Luccini's mouth had dropped as he listened to Rebecca's exposition. I think he was amazed that a fifteen year old girl could set out such a proposal so succinctly.

His wife prodded him again and said. "I think you should close your mouth Karl."

Then turning to Rebecca she carried on speaking.

"That was a pretty impressive outline of your family's proposal young lady, especially as it was obvious to me at any rate that you had not been prepared for this."

Rebecca smiled at her and said,

"Thank you Mrs Luccini, You are right, my dad just dropped this on me as he did with Rory a few minutes ago."

"It is all part of their training," said her dad, "They came up with the ideas so they need to learn to present them. But I agree they did very well."

He turned to the Luccinis, "You will need time to think through this proposal and see if it meets your requirements. I would like to book a table for six people this evening at a time which would coincide with your last serving. This will give you the opportunity to meet the rest of the people involved in the project and who are willing to put up the money. They are the ones who will share part of the loan which we hope will free you up to concentrate on running your Restaurant.

We would then meet with you after you close and if you have any questions or want clarification it can come at that time. Once we have done this you can let us know if you want to follow up on our offer and we will arrange to meet with you and any advisers you want to bring along to thrash out the details at a later date."

"We will think very carefully about your offer David," Sophie said. "But I will be truthful with you from the outset. I don't think we have much of an option but to accept it and I for one am very grateful to Rory and Rebecca for their concern and for the scheme they have come up with. You have lifted a great weight from our shoulders and when Carl has had time to reflect on what you have said I am sure he will agree with me"

"Then I look forward to our meal this evening and meeting with you afterwards," David told her.

As we rose from the table, David, Sophie and Carl obviously spent some time discussing the arrangements for this evening and the timing of our arrival. While this was going on Jessie came up to Rebecca with tears in her eye and hugged her.

"O Becky she said, I am so grateful for what you and Rory have proposed. You won't believe how much easier this is going to make our lives. The threat of foreclosure has been hanging over us for months and my parents have been worried sick. Do you mind if I give your boyfriend a hug and a kiss too,"