by EWAN LAMB
Avocet Faculties Ltd., the company which paid £200,000 for a dilapidated Loch Lomond jetty five years after the pier changed hands for just £1,000, is now in the hands of administrators from the insolvency practice which is liquidating another business from the 'disruptive technology' Avocet group.
The jetty and a narrow strip of land at Port A Chaipuill, Arrochar has been used as security for a loan the £1 company had arranged with Avocet Infinite PLC (now called Omega Infinite and in compulsory liquidation).
A separate financial arrangement between the two firms entitles Omega to all of Faculties' properties and intellectual property including patents.
When shareholders discovered details of the £200,000 jetty purchase, which took place in October 2017, there was strong criticism of Faculties' management - current director Dr Bob Jennings, and his colleague Martin Frost who resigned from the Board in September 2020 at the time of Dr Jennings' appointment.
The pier at Port A Chaipuill, Loch Lomond, bought in 2017 for £200,000
The files of Scotland's Land Information Service [LIS], a government agency, gives values for previous transactions involving the Loch Lomond jetty. It was bought for £2,000 in April 2008 before being acquired by a new owner for £1,000 in October 2012.
Documents posted on the Companies House website shows the appointment of joint administrators to Faculties by the Business and Property Courts in Leeds on September 14th. The insolvency practitioners are Kris Wigfield, from Begbies Traynor, Sheffield, and Jason Ainge from the company's Leeds office. Begbies are liquidators of Omega Infinite.
The company records also show that ownership of Avocet Faculties has changed hands several times since its formation when it was called Avocet Infinite Properties. According to the latest confirmation statement in August 2021 the single share was in the hands of Avocet Bio Solutions Ltd., which has an address in Lapp's Quay, Cork.
Avocet Faculties' last published accounts (for 2019) show total fixed assets of £815,823 including investment property said to be worth £565,823. The amount owed to Omega Infinite is given as £807,563.
In July of this year an Employment Tribunal judge ordered Avocet Faculties to pay a total of £9,588.80 to former office administrator Sarah Shotton who successfully claimed for unauthorised deduction of wages, for a breach of her contract of employment, and for unfair dismissal.
The tribunal has yet to fix the amount of compensation Ms Shotton is entitled to for unfair dismissal.
Earlier this week, in a newsletter to Avocet investors, Group chairman Mr Frost referred to "the current attempt by Begbies to bankrupt Dr Bob Jennings for £1.25 million because [a] Bob helped develop the Avocet concept, and [b] Bob gave to Avocet much of Avocet's patent strength".
In addition, Mr Frost stated: "The dirty behind the scenes attempts by solicitors acting for Begbies and Emma Porter (administrator of insolvent Avocet subsidiary Orrdone Farms Ltd) to steal the IP [intellectual property] money which Avocet IP Ltd. (another subsidiary) is shortly to receive.
"These lawyers, without due enquiry, poo-poo Avocet Infinite PLC's February 2019 Declaration of Solvency and the resultant demerger of Avocet Natural Capital and Bio Solutions".
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