If you take a look at the latest releases from Harley-Davidson, you may believe that business is good for the Milwaukee-based manufacturer. However, the investor relations website paints a different story.

Filed at the beginning of the month with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the Form 8-K document that you can read as a PDF at the end of this article is centered around a multi-million-dollar loan. To the point, “the company entered into a new $350.0 million 364-day credit facility and committed to draw $150 million under the facility.”

Why does Harley need the money?

“The company would pursue other actions to secure additional liquidity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” thank you! In addition to the health crisis, it’s also worth highlighting how bad H-D is doing in terms of sales.

In the first quarter of 2020, the motorcycle manufacturer moved a total of 40,439 bikes as opposed to 49,151 in the first three months of 2019. That’s a contraction of 17.7 percent, and naturally, that’s not good for business. You can blame the virus for these results, but on the other hand, let’s not forget that H-D is at a crossroads over a systematic lack of innovation.

The same ol’ bikes, same ol’ marketing, and same ol’ demographic that happens to be getting too old to ride; it all adds up. Worse still, H-D has yet to attract younger, more diverse customers to the brand.

Investors aren’t too happy either. From $37 at the beginning of 2020 to $24.80 at the time of writing, there’s no denying that H-D has dug itself in a rather deep hole. Adding insult to injury, the new CEO and president has yet to come up with a viable turnaround since he was named in May 2020.

“I am also leading a necessary and comprehensive overhaul of the company structure, operating model, and strategy as we adjust to the new post-COVID-19 realities,” said Jochen Zeitz, yet nothing has transpired to date.

Original Source [autoevolution]

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