Thoughts on Finance, Current Affairs and General Consumer Ripoffs - Damn Lies and Statistics

The administrators of LCF have issued their six monthly update on their progress . It's a lengthy document running to 50 pages so I thought it might be worth giving a summary of their findings and my thoughts on them so that bondholders have an idea of the key points made. As always with my blog these are my takeaways from the document, feel free to read it in full yourself if you want to confirm the details. The administrators have given an outline of their costs so far and the total they expect by January 2021. This total comes in at £7.2 million which is slightly lower than their previous estimate. It sounds a lot and obviously is but there is a huge amount of work to track down assets in a company that has apparently deliberately tried to disguise the destination of money received from bondholders. It seems clear from this report that the Administrators comments in February 2019 that the value of loans matched bondholder funds and assets in place were very wide of the ma...

The current status of Blackmore Bonds in a few facts. All put together it doesn't paint a very healthy picture of the company. Blackmore Bond raised over £25 million from investors Many of their developments have seen no work take place and are still building sites. 20% of investor funds were passed to Surge Financial at the point investors handed over money 60% of the GDV (Gross development value) was borrowed from banks for most sites. Bondholders rank after bank lenders in the case of insolvency Accounts for 2018 are overdue and Blackmore have broken the law by not providing them Accounts also overdue for Blackmore SPV development companies  Independent Chairman of Blackmore Bond, Kenneth Buzz West has left the Blackmore Interest payments delayed for August due to "bank issues" Interest payments failed to be paid for October 2019 and January 2020 There are only 12 development sites believed to be owned by Blackmore Annual payments from Blackmore Bond to B...

Northern Lights Surety Company SRL are the provider of insurance for Blackmore Bonds according to their paperwork. But who are Northern Lights Surety Company SRL and is there any way that they will pay investors in Blackmore Bonds the amounts that they are owed if the company goes bust? The address given for Northern Lights Surety Company SRL is as below: Northern Lights Surety Company SRL Plaza Roble Centro Corporative Plaza Roble San Jose Costa Rica

Blackmore Bond investors are rightly asking what happens next and how much money they might get back? As with London Capital & Finance it appears that many unsuitable investors put money into Blackmore Bond thinking that it was a low risk way to invest money. Sadly it was not - unregulated mini bonds are very high risk and should never be sold to retail investors especially ones that are led to believe that they are similar to cash. Blackmore Bond - How Much Money Will I Get Back? What Happens Next? In terms of how much money investors might get back it really depends what has happened to the company since the last accounts were filed in 2017. At the time of those accounts the company owed £7 million more than the value of its assets. Blackmore have delayed filing their accounts repeatedly and now have missed the date which was 27 December 2019 so are in breach of Companies House legal requirements. It gives an indication of the fate of the company when they have failed t...

It's reported that Blackmore Bond have failed to make another payment of interest to their investors following on from the failure to pay the due coupon in October. This also follows delayed payments earlier in 2019. Does this mean that they are getting close to going bust? It may be significant that they have been unable or unwilling to raise new capital from investors since LCF went into administration and their previous accounts raised lack of new money as a material factor in their existence. Blackmore Bond on the Brink? They have also failed to submit their accounts on time and have now missed the Companies House deadline for submission so it tends to suggest that they are now not bothered about the consequences and may just be biding their time until they declare or are forced into administration. Of course these may be entirely unconnected issues, payments may start flowing again imminently and investors will happily walk away with their capital intact despite the ...

How to Avoid Investment Scams Situations such as the collapse of LC&F highlight the importance of choosing the right investments in the first place. This list was provided by an investment site suggesting some of the key steps you should take when considering any investment. I believe the list is highly misleading and could easily catch out unwary investors or those who simply don't understand the intricacies of the financial regulation system. Check it's Authorised - Look on the FCA's register to check the business is actually authorised to conduct financial services businesses. Do an internet search for reviews of the company to find out more about what its customers are saying about it too . My comment: This is sensible advice up to a point. LCF was listed on the FCA register but the mini bonds it sold were not protected so investors would be left thinking they were covered when they are not. Understand the Risks - Be certain what the product is and where your mone...

On 23rd January 2020 a bondholder meeting took place in London where evidence was heard for the Investigation into London Capital & Finance by Dame Elizabeth Gloster giving bondholders the opportunity to provide their experiences of their interactions with FCA. The investigation is specifically into the role of the FCA in the regulation of LCF. The meeting was live streamed and lasted approximately 3 hours. A large number of investors were able to give their evidence to the team and many repeated a lot of familiar points. Quite a few people did seem slightly confused about the role of the enquiry and were posing questions that were outside the scope of the review and expecting answers there and then. There were some very well reasoned points and a few specific issues raised that are worth highlighting. You can view and listen to the full event on the investigation website here LCF only failed due to FCA Action in Dec 2018 There are some investors (or possibly stooges) who ...