Don't shoot the messenger, Mr Frost

SPECIAL REPORT 

The serious allegations levelled at this Not Just Sheep & Rugby blogging website by Martin Frost, chairman of the Avocet Group of companies are totally false and without foundation readers should know.

In the latest letter to 650 shareholders of his 'disruptive technology' businesses Mr Frost claims:"Noteworthy, as Chisholm and Aileen Orr fail to inform – anyone who visits their web blogs is electronically tagged & harvested - enabling Chisholm and third parties to track & back track their visits, exchanges & intromissions – an obvious invasion of privacy!"

We will deal with that particular slur later on in this article.

But before that Avocet investors should know the blog run by retired journalist Bill Chisholm M.B.E. is entirely independent and has no link to any Avocet shareholder. However, Not Just Sheep & Rugby believes the issues currently being faced by some Avocet companies are of considerable public interest and we will continue to write about those issues without fear or favour.

The collapse into insolvency of Orrdone Farms PLC (previously known as Avocet Farms Ltd) and the ongoing liquidation of the Group's former flagship parent Omega Infinite (it used to be called Avocet Infinite Ltd) has major implications for the Scottish Borders.

For example, the first report from the administrators of Orrdone Farms included a list of creditors owed more than £600,000, among them local businesses operating on both sides of the national boundary as well as HMRC and the Government agency Scottish Forestry & Land. There is also the small matter of the £3.2 million which, according to the joint administrators, is being sought by an agricultural finance company.

And the last annual meeting of shareholders of Omega Infinite held in October 2019 heard that creditors of that business were due a total of £800,000 at that time.

There is also ample evidence that a significant number of Avocet shareholders are concerned at the lack of progress in bringing products to market some six years after the first company's formation.

Not Just Sheep & Rugby would also like to take this opportunity to make it clear that Mr Frost's description of Mr Chisholm as "an acolyte" of Mrs Aileen Orr is pure fantasy: Mr Chisholm has never met Mrs Orr or any other members of her family who appear to be regular targets for the Avocet chairman's wrath.

Anyone who has read Mr Frost's correspondence with his shareholders will know that he frequently threatens legal action against all and sundry. The police must also be kept busy looking into Avocet's scores of complaints of alleged 'criminal behaviour' in Berwickshire alone.

The current shareholders' letter - written on company-headed notepaper - declares: "The enclosed correspondence has little to do with Avocet’s business prospects, but it will help provide an explanation as to why some things happened in 2019 as they did. Remember, that the police have agreed to review over 100 complaints made by Avocet in 2018 and 2019 against the Sunwick Orr family and their acolytes."

And among other serious allegations contained in the letter is the following statement: "the Orr family has little intention to repay the Hamilton Orr Limited £3.9 million debt due to UK Agricultural Lending Limited or make good the £10 million or so that the Orr family appears to have defrauded from Avocet shareholders." 

Mr Frost frequently states in these missives that Avocet as a company or he personally has 'taken legal advice' or is about to 'place the matter in the hands of our lawyers'. Well in turning to the very grave allegation he has chosen to level at us we have taken advice from a technical expert who commented:

"As can be seen from entering the blog's web page it states: 'This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyse traffic. Your IP address and user agent are shared with Google, together with performance and security metrics, to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics and to detect and address abuse.'

"Bill Chisholm cannot access this information, and it is not being used maliciously. In fact, Google’s own advice page states that this information can be used in several ways including being applied to 'protect your data'. Both data harvesting and electronic tagging are unrelated concepts to this and are not being employed either." 

Our source added: "To suggest an invasion of privacy is utter bullshit!"

NOTE: For the benefit of those who do not know him Bill Chisholm was The Scotsman newspaper's district reporter for the Scottish Borders from 1969 to 2005. He was invested with the MBE by Her Majesty the Queen for services to journalism in 2006.

£400,000 Covid hit for Borders Common Good Funds

by DOUG COLLIE

A world wide slump in financial markets resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic wiped more than 15 per cent off the £2.780 million currently invested on behalf of Common Good funds in the Scottish Borders. The £435,000 loss was felt most by the Jedburgh fund which suffered a £143,000 hit.

The extent of the losses is outlined in the annual accounts of the region's twelve Common Good funds, published by Scottish Borders Council which acts as trustees of the burgh charities.

Most of the cash reserves from the dozen funds is invested in the Kames Capital plc Diversified Monthly Income Fund. The report which accompanies the statistics says: "As a result of the COVID-19, global markets across most asset classes have seen a drop, resulting in an unrealised loss for 2019/20."

It means the Galashiels fund with £160,000 vested in Kames at the end of the 2018/19 financial year last March is £25,000 poorer in March 2020.

The other main figures are Hawick, loss £73,000, new value £387,000; Jedburgh, loss £143,000, new value £767,000; Kelso, loss £42,000, new value £225,000; Lauder, loss £39,000, new value £211,000; Peebles, loss £74,000, new value £393,000; Selkirk, loss £35,000, new value £194,000.

But while investments have taken an unforeseen battering from the virus, a revaluation of Common Good property and land has resulted in a sizeable increase in so-called tangible assets.

As the report to the trustees says: "In line with the Accounting Policy-Tangible Fixed Assets and Depreciation, all Common Good assets were revalued as at 1 April 2019 with a net gain of £3.481 million showing in the Statement of Financial Activities."

All of that means the main funds have seen the value of buildings and land increase substantially in the wake of the revaluation. The individual figures are with last year's total in brackets:

Galashiels £682,000 (£518,000); Hawick £4.430 million (£3.518 million); Innerleithen £514,000 (£256,000); Jedburgh £541,000 (£442,000); Kelso £917,000 (£713,000); Lauder £1.295 million (£983,000); Peebles £852,000 (£766,000); Selkirk £3.903 million (£3.044 million.

The combined total of tangible assets for all 12 funds now stands at £13.450 million compared with £10.490 million at March 31st 2019.

When the cash investments and property values are added together the total worth of the funds is £16.262 million (£13,533 million).

During 2019/20 the largest amounts in donations to local organisations were made by Hawick at £63,000, Jedburgh £37,000 and Selkirk £28,000.

The total disbursed by the dozen funds was £171,000 while support and governance costs accounted for £52,000 and £684,000 was taken up by property costs and depreciation.

Borders housing sites were sold at half price

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

The apparent lack of demand for development land in the Central Borders resulted in the sale of two sites earmarked for new housing at rock bottom prices.

One of the lots being offered by the administrator of an insolvent Galashiels building company was snapped up by a local housing association while the other went to a community group who will use the prime housing land to create a village green. There was little or no interest from the private building sector.

Given the proximity of the Buckholm Corner site on the outskirts of Galashiels to the Lowood Estate,  purchased by Scottish Borders Council for £9.6 million to facilitate new housing, there must be serious doubts as to whether the local authority can hope to recoup the large sums of taxpayers' money which financed the land deal unless there is an unprecedented upswing in demand for building plots..

The prices paid for Buckholm Corner and a site at Lilliesleaf are included in a report by Richard Gardiner, the administrator of Murray & Burrell, a business established in Galashiels in 1946 and which encountered financial difficulties in 2016.

Murray & Burrell was in possession of a number of potential development sites in the region. But when Mr Gardiner came to sell the various parcels of land to pay off the firm's considerable debts he found a very weak market indeed.

In a reference to the Buckholm Corner site (10.87 hectares or 26.8 acres) Mr Gardiner says in his report: "From discussions with various agents I was advised that there is little interest for plots of this size in the Borders area".

The directors of Murray & Burrell had valued the site at £1.2 million, but agents working for the administrator estimated a price of £750,000 to £1 million.

However, after Scottish Borders Council had indicated its intention to remove the land from the local authority Development Plan, Mr Gardiner's property agent lodged an objection and an offer of £640,000 for the entire Buckholm Corner site was accepted. The price equates to £23,880 per acre, far below figures being achieved in the Borders up to eight years ago.

The price per acre paid by Scottish Borders Council when it purchased Lowood in 2018 has not been made public while figures included in a report by the District Valuer for the council prior to the conclusion of a deal were redacted in a copy made available via Freedom of Information.

The difficulty in disposing of the Lilliesleaf site is also outlined in Mr Gardiner's progress report. In this case Murray & Burrell management's estimated value had been £790,000 with the agents quoting a figure of £200,000 to £275,000.

"Following an unsuccessful attempt to sell the land at auction a local community group offered £160,000 just prior to it being entered into a second auction", the report says. The community deal was made possible by a grant from the Scottish Government's Land Fund.

The low prices achieved for these two sites and others will have a knock-on effect for Murray & Burrell's ordinary creditors.

Assetz Capital Ltd., which held a standard security over all of the company's assets have been repaid in full. And employees with claims totalling £30,000 for wage arrears and holiday pay will also receive all that they are due, explained Mr Gardiner.

But the dozens of ordinary creditors owed £2.13 million between them will be far less fortunate..

The report warns: "Based on the asset values provided by the directors at the time, a dividend of 100 pence in the pound would be available to creditors.

"Unfortunately, due to the lower values that have been achieved on the land sales this is no longer the case. Current indications are that there may be a dividend of approximately 25 pence in the pound to ordinary creditors".

There is a similar message for shareholders: "The anticipated surplus in the anticipated financial position of the company indicated that there might be funds to be returned to shareholders, However, given the lower return from the sale of assets, I can advise that there will be no return to shareholders".

Avocet chairman promises to deliver long overdue accounts

by DOUG COLLIE

Avocet Natural Capital PLC, the flagship parent company of the group which promises to revolutionise 'green' fuel production and crop growing is now more than six months late in posting accounts at Companies House for its activities in 2018.

This serious breach of company law is attracting automatic civil penalties for both the company and its board of directors.

But Avocet chairman Martin Frost, who has come under severe pressure from shareholders in recent weeks, and who has promised to resign 'as soon as possible', has issued a new statement to investors promising the 2018 and 2019 accounts will be lodged 'shortly'.

Those 2018 accounts should have been signed off by the board by last December, an omission which has fostered disquiet among groups of shareholders.

According to a letter issued by Companies House, which has been seen by Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "With regards to the absence of accounts, I can advise that the company has already been reminded accordingly to deliver outstanding accounts in accordance with the Companies Act 2006. Our records show that the accounts for the period ending 27 December 2018 should have been delivered to Companies House no later than the 24 December 2019.

"I can also confirm that we have recently issued letters to the individual directors to chase up the delivery on accounts. All limited companies that file outside the statutory time, as directed by the Companies Act 2006 will attract an automatic civil late filing penalty, which increases with the period of delay. It is very much in the company’s own interest to file overdue accounts as soon as practical to minimise the costs of the fines."

Avocet Natural Capital (ANC)'s ability to file accounts may have been affected by the resignation of the company's auditors, Tyneside-based Ryecroft Glenton over 'long overdue professional fees'.

Mr Frost has also provided shareholders with a copy of a letter he sent to Ryecroft Glenton recently offering to "purchase the outstanding debts due to your firm by Omega Infinite Plc [now in liquidation] and Omega’s direct and indirect subsidiaries as at December 1^st, 2018."

He added: "For the avoidance of doubt, this debt includes all subsequent 2018 Ryecroft work upon these companies. The purchase offer is conditional in that Ryecroft Glenton undertakes to complete the 2018 and 2019 accounts and tax returns (VAT & PAYE etc.) for all the above companies (except for ANC Plc)." 

The conditions attached to the proposed deal are also laid out in the letter. They state: "Payment for the outstanding along with new work will be made as follows: A purchase payment of £50,000 to be applied first to the purchase of the Omega Infinite Plc outstanding to your firm, then to that of the debt due to your firm by Orrdone Farms Limited [now in administration]. 

"An on-account pre-payment of £30,000 to enable you to commence new work. Once new work commences, and you have consumed £20,000 of the prepayment £30,000, ANC Plc shall repetitively top up the prepayment sum and pay off at each rest a further £10,000 of the outstanding."

In today's communication to shareholders - it is headed Business as Usual - Mr Frost declares: " Avocet has a profitable future. Traditionally, a major new fuel such as ‘avocet methanol’ costs half a billion pounds to commercialise – at Avocet we have reached commercialisation at a tenth of the traditional expense. 

"This time, last year, Avocet was bleeding cash at some £400,000 per month – today, Avocet is monthly cash positive. A year ago, Avocet had succession and governance problems – now, Avocet is empowered for the future." 

Investors are also told that  ANC Plc’s subsidiary Avocet IP Limited continues to develop and enlarge its intellectual property base, and that ANC Plc’s 2018 audited accounts will shortly be lodged at Companies House with 2019 to follow.

And there is much more positive news from Mr Frost...

"Avocet NC Limited – ANC Plc’s operating associate (headed by Preston-based accountant Paul Newsham) has made significant strides: Such will witness: New capital, funding, and governance structures for both Avocet NC Limited and ANC Plc to be set out. New ‘Master Franchise’ developments especially in North America to be announced.

"The August launch of ‘digital avocet: the home of natural capital’. Behind the scenes Avocet is working with colleagues from Amazon and Google to initiate a next generation natural capital platform. Succinctly, Avocet has secured an offshore super-fast web server based on a ‘Trunk’ highway enabling Avocet to daily interact with a million or more visitors." 

Backlash over "non-ownership" of farms

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

The belated admission by the directors of the Avocet group of Borders-registered companies that they never owned three Berwickshire farms despite quoting valuations of £8-£10 million for the properties in company documents has sparked a furious reaction among shareholders.

But although management say they discovered the acreages and buildings were not in fact theirs in October 2018, an outstanding loan of £3.25 million - identical to the sum now being claimed by agricultural lenders - is included in a set of accounts signed off by the Avocet board on February 13th 2019. Tangible fixed assets of £6.480 million are also recorded in those accounts which cover the calendar year 2017.

As Not Just Sheep & Rugby reported earlier this week, Martin Frost, Avocet Group chairman, told 650 investors of the complicated ownership scenario surrounding the farms of Sunwick, Harcarse Hill and Greenwood in a letter circulated last Sunday on company-headed paper.

In the correspondence Mr Frost claimed the 'planned loan' from UK Agricultural Lending Limited "never happened to Orrdone Farms Limited [previously called Avocet Farms, and now insolvent]".

He stressed that Orrdone Farms did not purchase the three farms from Hamilton Orr Limited in 2016, as reported by joint administrators of the farm business. He added: "Regrettably, I, my fellow directors, and company accountants and auditors were misled into thinking that Orrdone had purchased the three farms."

The last set of published accounts for Avocet Farms Ltd - those for 2017 but not approved by the directors until February 2019 - mentions on page 13 that the company has 'other loans' of £3.25 million outstanding, the same amount as shown in the firm's 2016 accounts. The money is said to fall due in two to five years time.

So-called tangible fixed assets at December 29th 2017 are shown as £6.480 million plus plant and machinery valued at £1.138 million.

An accompanying note to the accounts states: "Subsequent to the period end a dispute arose regarding one of the company's freehold properties. As a result of this dispute the directors have reassessed the value of this property and charged an impairment against it, to reduce the value to the lower of value in use and net realisable value".

And the 2016 annual accounts, also available on the Companies House website, show Avocet Farms had tangible assets of £6.480 million compared to just £900,000 in 2015. Freehold property is listed as being worth £5.811 million.

'Other loans' of £3.25 million is an item included under Creditors with the explanation "Other loans are secured against the freehold property. The loan attracts interest at a rate of 12% per annum, and is repayable in March 2019".

The Avocet Farms Ltd. file also contains details of a charge (borrowing arrangement) between the company (the borrower) and UK Agricultural Lending Ltd.(UKALL the lender) dated September 22nd 2016.

This document makes it clear 'this is a debenture over all your assets' and was Executed and Delivered as a Deed with the names of Mr Frost and a representative of UKALL appended, and witnessed by an Edinburgh solicitor.

The paperwork goes on to say: "If any of your debts or liabilities secured by this debenture are not paid when due UKALL can appoint a receiver, or take possession of the assets charged by this debenture and sell them".

In their report published in March of this year, Orrdone Farms joint administrators Emma Porter and Joanne Brown wrote: "In or around September 2016 the Company entered into a contract to purchase farms owned by Hamilton Orr Ltd held under two titles in the Scottish Borders namely, Harcarse Hill Farm and Sunwick Farm, including part of Greenwood Farm. The dispositions both state that consideration was for certain good and onerous causes. In September 2016 a loan of £3.25 million from UK ALL was secured. The loan provided was for a period of 30 months and due for repayment in March 2019."

A number of investors have taken to the pages of an Avocet Shareholders' Forum to express their views on recent events. 

In a post concerning the controversy over farm ownership, the contributor wrote: "By your own admission, you have known for 21 months that Avocet did not own the three farms in question, but you have neglected to provide this very material information to Avocet’s shareholders until just now.

"By your own admission, you knew in early October 2018 that Avocet did not own the three farms, but in an Information Memorandum issued by Avocet a month later through Asset Match for the purpose of raising funds, the appended financial statements clearly show Avocet Farms holding fixed assets of £8,321,044 in the fourth quarter 2018, which could only be the farms in question." 

Investors shocked by latest Avocet revelation

by EWAN LAMB

Shareholders who have invested millions of pounds in the Avocet group of 'disruptive technology' businesses have been told the company has never owned three Berwickshire farms, valued at between £8-£10 million in documents circulated by the firm's directors in 2018.

The shock disclosure is contained in the latest letter to shareholders from Avocet chairman Martin Frost; he describes it as a 'rant', and pledges to resign as soon as possible. The farms in question were earmarked for ambitious agricultural projects by Avocet.

Earlier this year Avocet subsidiary Orrdone Farms PLC (previously called Avocet Farms) was declared insolvent with joint administrators appointed to take control of the company's affairs.

In a report to creditors the Orrdone Farms insolvency team of Emma Porter and Jeanette Brown stated: "The company is recorded at the Scottish Land Register as owning Sunwick Farms, part of Greenwood Farm [Houndwood] and Harcarse Hill Farm. There are a number of allegations and assertions regarding the ownership of these properties and the existence of leases, which are currently being investigated."

UK Agricultural Lending Ltd. claim they are owed £3.2 million - a loan said to have been made to Avocet Farms in 2016 to purchase the farms from another company called Hamilton Orr Ltd.

But Mr Frost has now told Avocet's 650 shareholders that the 'planned loan' from UK Agricultural Lending Limited "never happened to Orrdone Farms Limited".

He states that Orrdone Farms Limited did not purchase the three farms from Hamilton Orr Limited in 2016, adding "regrettably, I, my fellow directors, and company accountants and auditors were misled into thinking that Orrdone had purchased the three farms." He had only discovered this in 2018.

Avocet’s Edinburgh lawyers had advised it was no longer possible to proceed with an Orrdone purchase because Hamilton Orr Limited had been struck off the Company Register. And Mr Frost writes: "Wrongly, I was advised to restore Hamilton Orr Limited to the Company House register and thus the purchase transaction could continue...I confused the position and Hamilton Orr Limited was incorrectly restored with the current situation that all three farms remain Crown Property." 

"Late in 2018, two further faults occurred – namely incorrect property transfer consideration values were shown, and the Edinburgh lawyers wrongly backdated the property transfer to 2016. In 2019, when Avocet was unable to sell the farms due to title problems, I was advised that a court judication (sic) was required to sort out the resultant title and tax mess."

Companies House records show that an application to restore Hamilton Orr Ltd to the Register of Companies was lodged by Mr Frost on October 5th 2018. The company had been dissolved on July 10th 2018.

However, a source who contacted Not Just Sheep & Rugby this week pointed out that in an  Information Memorandum to the Asset Match shares platform dated November 2018, a month after Mr Frost says he became aware that Avocet did not own the farms, Avocet Farms Ltd. is shown to  have assets of £8,321,044 in the last quarter of 2018 rising to £9,121,044 in the first quarter of 2019.

Our attention was also drawn to an Avocet shareholders’ letter of March 2018 which included the text of a lengthy email to Stuart Lucas, a director of Asset Match, dated 5-3-2018 in relation to a forthcoming visit by Mr Lucas to Harcarse Hill for meetings on 7th and 8th March 2018.

Mr Frost wrote: "Note: The Harcarse Hill, Houndwood and Sunwick farms that you will see are being developed to be show pieces of Avocet technology."

And later in the message: "Asset value: as an astute entrepreneur you asked what Avocet’s assets are. Taking tangible assets first – Avocet’s directors as at 5 March 2018 estimate:

Land and farm buildings would fetch £8-£10 million on the open market. Eight cottages and two farmhouses would fetch over £2 million on the open market; plant, machinery and saleable fixtures £1.5 million."

There are a number of other items listed including development land and recreation area. It is then stated: "Against the above Avocet has some £4 million of secured borrowing and trade creditors.".

In his June 28th report to shareholders, Mr Frost tells them: "I fear I have not served you well, but in turn I have been ill-served by some of Avocet’s advisers. Admittedly extreme ill health coupled with both mental and physical attack...curtailed my ability to protect Avocet.

"ANC [Avocet Natural Capital] Plc remains a solid and potentially very highly profitable company despite Avocet generally suffering over £20 million of losses and interest from its agricultural activities. Broadly, some £5 million of this loss may be put down to experimentation and learning, the balance down to the perceived wrongdoing of the Orr family and their acolytes."

And in conclusion, Mr Frost writes: "Going forward, ANC Plc does not need this legacy, as soon as is possible I shall resign – that said, I shall devote the remainder of my life to ensure that justice is done."

Allegations of Avocet 'Ponzi' schemes dismissed by directors

by DOUG COLLIE

The management of the Avocet Group of businesses took the opportunity to strongly refute allegations they were running so-called Ponzi schemes and indulging in theft and VAT fraud following a petition seeking to liquidate their flagship company.

A 'private and confidential' letter sent to hundreds of shareholders in early February also revealed the likely extent of the indebtedness of Omega Infinite PLC, (previously called Avocet Infinite) including some £1 million owed to two law firms with more than £2.5 million said to be due in total to trade creditors.

The eleven-page letter running to some 5,000 words sought to explain the reasons why Avocet's directors had decided it was "publicly best" to allow Omega Infinite to go to the wall. It had been at the forefront of the Group's activities which include 'green' fuel and revolutionary crop and livestock production.

Despite its parlous financial state in the early months of 2020 the Infinite brand was still being regularly featured in Parliamentary Review, a Westminster-based publication which charges businesses up to £4,000 for inclusion in its 'Best Practice' pages. The outlet is chaired by former government ministers Lord (David) Blunkett and Lord (Eric) Pickles.

In the February letter Martin Frost, Avocet's chairman, told shareholders: "Omega Infinite Plc is to go into some form of insolvency. A winding up petition initiated by lawyers Fieldfisher for some £400,000 is to be heard on February 12th in London; likely now to support this petition are lawyers Womble Bond Dickinson for another some £600,000 along with various other creditors for £300,000. 

"The total trade creditor indebtedness of Omega Infinite Plc is likely to reach some £2.5 million, and on top of which there are private Avocet controlled loans in excess of £10 million. Despite this debt Omega Infinite Plc is an absolute (sic) solvent company which should eventually provide each recognised shareholder with over a tax effective £2 return per ordinary share.

Investors were also informed that from both personal and company resources the Omega insolvency could have been prevented. But the directors decided it was "publicly best that the world should see the nastiness of the Scottish Borders rumour mill".

The letter continued: "In recent weeks the directors of Omega Infinite Plc are accused of theft and fraud. It is alleged that the directors have stolen all the money out of Omega, that we engage in VAT fraud, that we are running Ponzi type schemes with our master franchise companies."

Mr Frost, who recently gave notice of his intention to raise legal actions against 'naysayers' and some shareholders, added: "I can confirm that Omega has indulged in an extensive ‘fact find’ so that the miscreants can be identified, reviewed and then appropriately dealt with – and to this end Avocet is allocating substantial resources."

In April joint liquidators were appointed to Omega Infinite which was also the subject of a Winding Up order by the courts. The investigation into that company's affairs is ongoing.

An assurance was given that the value of shares would not be diminished by Omega Infinite's insolvency. The company had issued 22 million one pound shares prior to court action being instituted against it.

According to the February document: "Both your demerged shareholding in Avocet Bio Solutions Plc (an Irish-based subsidiary) and Avocet Natural Capital Plc (Avocet’s new flagship company) are worth at least the face value of your share. In real terms for each pound invested in Omega Infinite Plc there will be a collective return of over £4 – which on balance is excellent."

Avocet's recent decision to switch shares in Omega Infinite to Avocet Natural Capital [ANC] resulted in a 50% uplift in each individual shareholding.

Investors were told in February: "On ANC Plc there are realistic plans to increase the issued share capital to 350 million one pound fully paid shares. The bulk of this new investment coming from the Middle East with China a useful second. Currently, there are 50 million ANC Plc shares – holders of these shares are likely to receive a bonus share for each share legitimately held – this will then bring the issued capital to 100 million on top of which Middle East, Chinese and institutional investors will take a further 250 million shares for cash."

"Because of the magnitude of the perceived net worth of Avocet, a full Dublin Stock market listing is expected in 2020. That said interim arrangements are being put into place for ANC Plc to shortly trade on Asset Match [London based investment specialists] from April 2020."