Was our world exclusive 'fake news'?

by LESTER CROSS

Research by a public relations company has shown the recent 'news release' revealing details of a £400 million overseas investment into Avocet Group linked Gennfros Ltd. failed to attract any coverage from global media and press outlets, leaving Not Just Sheep & Rugby with a worldwide exclusive.

In recent days Gennfros has circulated statements from California and Brussels outlining plans by an offshore corporation known only as P. C. H. for a string of ventures in the UK, including the transfer of the company's headquarters from Geneva to London.

But after the findings of post press release investigations were published on the Avocet shareholders' forum at the weekend, we failed to find any media outlets on our contact list which had received the Gennfros statement.

A new member of the Avocet Forum had posted a "Report of Press Release Effectiveness" which seemed to show Gennfros's first attempt at public relations had been a resounding failure.

The report says: "My employer retains a Public Relations company and, as a favour to me, I asked the PR firm to assess the effectiveness of the May 24th (California) and May 26th (Brussels) Press Releases.

"They commissioned a search by their “clipping services” for broadcast, print, or web coverage containing any of the following words, all of which appeared in one or both of the Press Releases – P.C.H.; Avocet; AFS; Gennfros; and “Martin Frost”.

The PR firm’s expectation was that with an announcement of such magnitude – several acquisitions and the relocation from Geneva to London of the head office of a firm with reported annual revenues in excess of US $200 billion (as stated recently by [Avocet chairman] Martin Frost) - they would expect the story would be picked up by a minimum of thirty to forty news outlets globally as part of their business coverage.

But according to the Forum post: "Their search found that the Press Releases received no coverage at all in the US and the EU, and only one mention in the UK - on the Not Just Sheep and Rugby blog site.

"They did comment that they found the format of the Press Releases was very unusual in that they contained no information as to the issuer, no contact details to obtain further information, and no quotes from the principals of the entities mentioned, particularly P.C.H.

"Their conclusion was that based on the odd format of the press releases and the lack of any results, it appeared to them that these “Press Releases” were likely intended strictly for “internal” consumption".

The sheer scale of the proposals outlined by Gennfros should certainly have grabbed the attention of any business journalist who received the communication.

Here's a flavour of the contents, as reported exclusively (it seems) here last week..

""P.C.H. by equity & loan capital is investing some £400 million into Gennfros Limited. Apart from providing further seed funding for Gennfros’s intellectual property portfolio, the bulk of this cash is to establish two molten salt thorium electric generating plants - hopefully to be developed at Windscale, Cumbria, England and at Lisheen, County Tipperary, Ireland."

And the release continues: "P.C.H. from its London Gennfros base intends: 1. To establish an entrepreneurial financial hub to invest in European high tec companies & concepts. To this end, established progressive investment analysts are being recruited. 2. To set up a worldwide litigation & arbitration brokerage. As a starter Gennfros has already acquired over £100 million of litigation; and further briefs are being negotiated from insolvency practices, banks, and law firms.

"P.C.H. shortly hopes to establish a full trading relationship with international lawyers, Fieldfisher who in turn is establishing a criminal litigation arm to match its civil. 3. To set up an international financial marriage bureau & trading platform for companies & high net worth individuals. Gennfros (now meaning P.C.H.) has already an option to acquire shares in the English company Asset Match though a full bid at £5 million is under consideration. As one can easily see at UK Companies House, Gennfros & Asset Match have a mutuality in their shareholder base."