"New" Avocet company is five years old

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

The national press finally caught up with Not Just Sheep & Rugby at the weekend when The Sunday Times reported on the troubled Avocet group of companies with shareholders fearing they could lose £14 million despite investing in a 'groundbreaking set of technologies'.

These columns had brought readers news of Avocet Infinite's liquidation and subsidiary Orrdone Farms' administration several weeks ago as the Borders-based businesses hit the buffers. Insolvency experts intend selling off three Berwickshire farms where the 'pioneering' farming and fuel production systems were based.

The Sunday Times included mentions for Jacob Rees-Mogg's brother Thomas, holder of 4,000 shares in Avocet Infinite (now known as Omega Infinite), and Thomas's wife Modwenna, "an influential angel investor" and a non-executive director of Asset Match, the UK's leading investment platform for unlisted companies.

Martin Frost, principal director of the Avocet businesses, apparently failed to submit the necessary paperwork to allow his company's shares to be traded on the Asset Match platform, according to  Sunday's paper.

Yet Asset Match holds 104,000 Avocet Infinite shares. A spokesman for Asset Match told the Times the shares had been accepted from Mr Frost "in lieu of payment for consultation work".

The article makes no mention of the fact that a company called Loch Lomond Heritage (sole director Martin Frost) has a significant stake in Asset Match with 52,084 shares.

Asset Match also appears to have set aside at least one of its usual criteria in agreeing to consider Avocet Infinite for its platform.

The company's website states: "The Asset Match platform is designed to give private companies periodic liquidity for their shareholders. Usually companies that list on our platform have over 50 shareholders, a turnover in excess of £10 million and a well experienced board of directors.

"The Asset Match team undertakes a large amount of research and due diligence to certify the companies that are accepted on the Asset Match platform. Before being accepted companies have to be accepted by the Asset Match New Business Committee which is made up from industry experts in the private company space, who have a wealth of experience spanning the finance sector."

Avocet had some way to go to reach the £10 million annual turnover mark in 2018 when it was in discussions with Asset Match. The last published accounts (for 2017) recorded a turnover figure of just £117,392, admittedly an improvement on the previous year's £20,755.

This is an extract from the blurb which Asset Match included on its website page for Avocet Infinite: "Avocet Infinite Plc is seeking to raise £7,000,000 to £10,000,000 at a minimum price of £7.00 per share. The fundraise is to be priced via a Dynamic BookBuild and the final price and allocations will be determined by the Board. Avocet Infinite is the pioneer of the unique "natural capital" concept which aims to achieve commercial success from projects and technologies that assist man and improve the global habitat." 

Meanwhile Mr Frost told The Sunday Times that after a decade of trial and error he had formed a new 'relatively debt free' company called Avocet Natural Capital.

He added: "Each shareholder who acquired a £1 share in Avocet Infinite now holds a £1.50 share in Avocet Natural Capital, a poundage gain of over 50%. The real worth of the business, the intellectual property is preserved and intact".

In fact Avocet Natural Capital was incorporated in March 2015 as Avocet Fuel Systems before changing its name in February 2019. It was initially a dormant company, and a subsidiary of Avocet Infinite, the firm which is now in the hands of joint liquidators.

The last published accounts for Avocet Natural Capital were for the year to December 2017. A set of accounts for 2018 was due to be filed with Companies House by December 24 2019. But as of today the companies register includes an 'Accounts Overdue' note, which amounts to a breach of company law.

During the course of 2019 Avocet Natural Capital benefited from three separate "statements of capital following an allotment of shares" totalling more than £120 million.

The company's list of 649 shareholders includes entries for Mrs T F Rees-Mogg (6,000 shares), Asset Match Ltd. (156,000), Martin Frost (13,960,765) and Loch Lomond Heritage Ltd. (1,455,000).