It's cucumber time and many journalists are on holiday, so Culture Press has to turn up to point out something that doesn't smell quite right. This time it is the press statement which the directors of De Tocht have posted on the website. In it, they explain how it was possible that this musical company, Friesland's pride, could suddenly go bankrupt. In short: it was not their fault.
Let's go through the statement paragraph by paragraph:
Leeuwarden, 30 July 2024 - De Tocht BV, the company behind Musical De Tocht, officially announced its bankruptcy today. Despite great efforts and new investments to create future prospects, history continued to throw an insurmountable spanner in the works.
Read these two sentences carefully, because what does it actually say here? That there was a history that threw a spanner in the works. It makes one curious, because what history is it talking about? The previous century? The Second World War?
The world premiere of Musical De Tocht took place on 1 October 2023 in Leeuwarden and exceeded all expectations in the months that followed. The show won several Musical Awards, including the audience award for 'Best Musical of the Netherlands 2024'. Almost 300,000 visitors from all over the Netherlands flocked to the Frisian capital to experience the Elfsteden magic, providing a solid tourist and economic boost for the province of Friesland.
Aha: history began on 1 October 2023. That's manageable: 10 months. A time when there were only successes. So what's wrong with that history? Or is that in the ominous word 'Elfsteden magic'? And what about those expectations, which were all exceeded? Had they already factored in a slow start, and how was that covered in the budget? (spoiler alert)
Financial problems from the start
However, the success on the front end is in stark contrast to the financial problems that were already there at the start of the musical and have proved to be a block to the organisation's progress. Due in part to Corona and setbacks in the run-up to the theatre's construction, initial development costs far exceeded the budget. As a result, the production was actually 1-0 behind financially at the start.
The organisation, read: the author of this press statement, speaks of a 1-0 deficit at the start of the project. As a director, you should then smell danger. And - because of your managerial responsibility - should not take the adventure. Because people can fall victim to this. So why did this entire board go ahead despite corona and construction setbacks? Or have they never looked into the books?
However, former director Hans Staal convinced the Supervisory Board and its shareholders at the time that the budget and forecasts he made were very realistic and would solve the liquidity problems. However, the opposite became reality. The budget was insufficiently adjusted to the changing market after the Corona period. As a result, De Tocht was dragging a pit of debt from day one that was only getting deeper.
This paragraph is curious. Because it says than a former director convinced an entire Supervisory Board of the feasibility of an unfeasible plan. It does not say what arguments this Hans Staal used. You can see from the text that they were not arguments, but magic formulas: 'Elfsteden magic'. Because none of the commissioners apparently looked into the books to see if Staal's words were correct, when, as it now turns out, they were patently nonsense.
Rescue plan
Despite requests from the management and Supervisory Board to the former director to change course and come up with a new strategic plan, this failed to materialise.
Surely, now it seems that the directors did know about the plight but did not intervene. They merely urged a new course. What that course then entailed, this press statement does not make clear.
On 4 March 2024, Staal was sacked. At that time, the organisation was in a technical bankruptcy upon which the shareholders again put money into the organisation to turn the tide. A new vision for the future was then presented by the management, significant savings were made and realistic forecasts were made, but above all, a multi-year plan was developed in which not only Musical de Tocht would take centre stage, but the positioning of the theatre would take centre stage, with plans for multiple musicals, events and conventions for the long term to perpetuate the future and to solve the financial deficit with it.
Five months after the premiere, the board then came up with a solution, which was to dismiss magician Staal with his spells, and something that had then apparently been the plan of the directors, which Staal had failed to carry out. And from that, it becomes somewhat clear why Staal had not done so. Because the heavily loss-ridden musical was not going to humbly cut back and skimp on costs, but rather undertake a flight forward, with a theatre to be transformed into an event venue. So invest, put more money in, because...?
Indeed, had everyone, board included, agreed to build an expensive theatre before 2023 without considering what to do with it if the musical The Trip ever stopped being played? Or would it exist forever, like Soldier of Orange?
"Musical De Tocht has proved that large-scale productions in Friesland have the right to exist and are not just reserved for the periphery. The Friso Theatre is the largest theatre in the Northern Netherlands with the most innovative techniques and has attracted almost 70% of its visitors from outside Friesland. That offers enormous opportunities for the region," said Madelène van Beuzekom, initiator behind the musical De Tocht.
Returning to a recruiting text from the prospectus. It offers visions of full stadiums with culture lovers from all corners of the country and the rest of the world. a decade or two ago, someone else did the same with a show about Abe Lenstra. This Jos Thie then met his business end in Utrecht when ambitions several million larger pale than the available budget. A pattern?
More problems
The shareholders of De Tocht BV backed this new perspective and were willing to invest once again to make the organisation future-proof and to further expand both the employment created by De Tocht and the social impact for Fryslân. Key suppliers and partners were also included in the plan and were willing to waive a large part of their receivables, in order to jointly realise the new future perspective.
The magic words, this time spoken by the board of commissioners, once again did their work. This Titanic could well sail through the Arctic Ocean for years to come with a few new partitions. All Aboard!
To make this a reality, however, the organisation had to be redesigned, but even in this, past administrative mistakes proved to get in the way of the process. For instance, contracts with suppliers were not centrally documented or were completely missing, and the financial records kept until March 2024 turned out to be faulty. Moreover, it emerged that former director Hans Staal had been incorrect or incomplete in previous communications towards lenders NPEX, Geld voor Elkaar and Cultuur + Ondernemen. Among other things, the NPEX prospectus had demonstrably incorrectly suggested that the Tocht B.V. was more capital powerful at the time than in reality. For its new plans, de Tocht B.V. was in good talks with all three financing parties about an extension of the outstanding loans, but when therein it turned out that erroneous information had been provided in the past, these options were off the table and the loans immediately payable.
It becomes clear that the Supervisory Board had been in deep slumber all this time. No checks were carried out on the outgoing applications, loans were taken out without a single commissioner checking whether the collateral was sound. No, people allowed themselves to be hypnotised by Hans Staal, the evil magician with his seductive formulas. Elfsteden magic.
In addition to the above, Staal unlawfully terminated Tocht B.V.'s legally required LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) registration after his departure and deleted his entire e-mail box, making relevant communications and agreements unrecoverable.
The wizard wipes his alley clean, and empties his e-mail box. Usually, enough of those mails can be found in the replies recipients gave and received. Or did Staal possess magic formulas that also purged the mailboxes of recipients?
On 26 June 2024, the aforementioned selection of facts will be heard, inter alia, in preliminary relief proceedings before the Interim Injunction Judge of the District Court of Noord-Nederland, location Leeuwarden. Case number: C/17/195190/KG ZA 24/78. On 17 July 2024, judgment was rendered in favour of de Tocht B.V. on all counts.
Question for a moment is which said selection of facts under which other was dealt with in summary proceedings, which on said roll number is not found on the website Rechtspraak.nl.
This accumulation of negative discoveries that are now increasingly coming to the surface have made shareholders painfully decide that the proposed new investments are still too risky.
Bit late. And why are all these discoveries only coming out now? What is the job of a board?
In line with what was stated in the summary proceedings to the former director, the Tocht B.V. is considering taking further legal action to have the matters assessed in a soil investigation. However, given the current debt burden and prospects, Tocht B.V. cannot wait for this as it is insolvent. It is simply no longer justifiable to continue the business operations.And with that, the new plans also definitely founder today and the bankruptcy of the Tocht BV is irreversible.
"We would love to find out, but don't have the money to do so." Which, in the event of a case being won, would obviously not be a problem. It would be if that investigation showed that an entire Board of Commissioners had been asleep.
Consequences for employees and creditors
The bankruptcy results directly in the dismissal of current employees and also means that future employees will not receive a new contract. De Tocht BV is working closely with relevant government agencies to support them during this transition. The court has appointed Rick van der Spek (TRIP Advocaten Notarissen) Leeuwarden as receiver to manage the bankruptcy process. In the coming months, the assets of De Tocht BV will be sold and creditors will be repaid according to legal procedures.
Many people lose their jobs and can probably whistle for their money. Large creditors, with the necessary fat on their bones, are usually more at the front of the queue with the receiver.
At De Tocht BV, the main feeling after the declaration of bankruptcy is great dejection.
We sincerely sympathise.
Van Beuzekom: "It is incredibly sad to see the organisation, which has had so much positive impact and with so much potential for more, now going under. Together made everything stronger and we are incredibly grateful for the support of the public and above all of all the staff, suppliers and hundreds of volunteers who made Musical De Tocht come to life every day for the past few months. I am proud that we were able to pass on the Eleven Cities Tour to future generations, even if it was only short-lived.
Victim of an evil genius, or of a board that liked to think bigger than it could, and now likes to blame the man in whom they believed unquestioningly?
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