"What is the situation at Clifton Enterprise, Uncle Ralph?" Marcus asked after few moments of awkward silence.
Ralph sighed deeply as he framed the answer, "The situation does not seem very good, young master."
"It appears that the arms division of Clifton Enterprise will be shut down even before producing a single weapon," he added. "It is very likely that we will not be able to start manufacturing the assault rifles by next week."
"Why is that so?" Marcus questioned.
Ralph was about to answer when Marcus interjected, "Let us not do it from the middle or the end."
"Uncle, please narrate the whole story from the beginning, in detail, please."
"Yes," Ralph sighed. He was saddened by Marcus's ignorance.
Ralph begun, "Your father, Tracus Clifton, had been trying for a long time to scale up his company, not only in terms of volume but also in the types of goods produced."
"After a long period of time and hard work, he discovered a small organization—the Weaponry Research Organization. As it name suggest, this organisation is dedicated in the research and design creation for new weapons."
"When your father learned about it, this organization was on the verge of a breakthrough about a new and latest technology about a new assault rifle."
"But the organisation was constrained for funds," continued Ralph. "Master Clifton approached them, and a deal was signed between Clifton Enterprise and the Weaponry Research Organization."
"The deal was simple- Ralph Enterprise would invest the money into the research and in return the Ralph Enterprise would have exclusive rights to produce that assault rifle. Weaponry Research Organisation was to get 30% of the total profit made by Ralph Enterprise on their sale."
"Your father invested a lot of money into the research and, after about six months, results were yielded."
"But that was only the first phase," Ralph continued. "For what is a design worth unless it is manufactured on a mass scale?"
"And there is only one entity that is allowed and capable of buying rifles on a large scale."
"The Federal Government," Marcus added.
"Yes," Ralph confirmed. "For six months, your father tried tirelessly. He met with various representatives of the federal government and presented the designs of the rifle."
"After all that hard work, the Department of Defence decided to launch a pilot phase for these assault rifles."
"In the first phase, they ordered 20,000 rifles. Although it was a success, things were not so simple."
"Firstly, even after we would have sold all these 20,000 rifles, the profit from it would not have even covered 50% percentage of the investment cost we have had to put in setting up the manufacturing unit."
Ralph continued, "Secondly, to manufacture the weapons, a large unit had to be set up, requiring huge investment."
"Master Clifton used all his liquidity and every possible bank loan, but he finally managed to establish the manufacturing unit."
"He called it an investment for the future," Ralph said. "Master Clifton was sure that after the pilot phase, they would surely get more orders."
"But now, since your father has died, things on two fronts have started to look grim," Ralph added gravely.
"Rumours say that the Weaponry Research Organization is considering cancelling the license it has granted to Clifton Enterprise, and they are willing to pay compensation as per the exit clause of the agreement," Ralph informed Marcus.
"But that compensation would be like grains of sand compared to the mountains. It is nothing compared to the money we have invested in the manufacturing unit."
"On the second front," he continued, "rumours suggest that the federal government is also considering cancelling the orders they placed with us."
Marcus narrowed his eyes; things were indeed not simple.
"And how true are these rumours?" Marcus asked.
Ralph hesitated before replying, "While I do not know anything definite about the Weaponry Research Organization, there is some truth on the government side."
With that, Ralph placed an envelope on the table bearing the seal of the Ministry of Defence. Marcus picked it up and extracted a letter.
"The Ministry of Defence is sending a representative who wants to have a rediscussion about the whole deal," Ralph described the content of the letters.
Marcus read the letter and it was as Ralph told- a representative was arriving from the Department of Defence for the rediscussion, and the meeting was scheduled for later this evening.
"Department of defence sending a representative is no small matter," Marcus said and Ralph nodded.
"As far as I know, my father had already made all the required arrangements to begin manufacturing. Just because he is no more does not mean the manufacturing cannot proceed. My father was not the only one—there are many people running Clifton Enterprise," Marcus said.
"Why this sudden chaos? It has not been even a week since he died or it not like as if we have failed at something," Marcus added.
Even Ralph shook his head, "Even I fail to understand how is all this happening. It makes no sense."
Marcus remained silent for few minutes before he questioned, "Uncle Ralph, how many percentages of shares of Ralph Enterprise did my father own?"
"53 percentage," Ralph replied. "Previously he used to own 64 percentage of Ralph Enterprise. He liquidated quite a lot of his shares for the manufacturing unit."
"He said that once he started earning, he will get those shares back."
"And if a single person owns 10 percentage of share, he will get a seat in the board of governors," Marcus said.
"Correct," Ralph replied.
"And apart from my father, how many board members do we have?" Marcus asked.
"Three," Ralph replied even though he did not know where he was going through these questions. "All three of them have 11 percentage shares each."
"And the remaining 14 percentage of shares are owned by retail customers."
"Should not the other 3 board members be also worried about the Ralph Enterprise?" Marcus asked. "Did we have any response from them… or any attempt to find the solution for all this mess?"
Ralph found himself lost in thought, "I have not been able to pay much attention to these matters in the past 2 days but I believe I have not heard anything from them."
Even though Ralph did not understand what Marcus was exactly thinking, he too now was feeling suspicious of the three board members. Something, just did not felt right.
"Uncle Ralph," Marcus said. "Contact the board members."
"I have to meet the representative from the federal government at 6 in the evening. Set a board meeting at 3 p.m. in the afternoon."
Ralph gave a nod and walked from the office.
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