Avocet directors face enforcement action

EXCLUSIVE by OUR BUSINESS STAFF

The three directors of an Avocet farming business who have repeatedly refused to assist or co-operate with the company's administrator face individual court actions under insolvency laws to force them to divulge information about the firm's complex financial affairs.

A new report to creditors from Emma Porter, administrator of Orrdone Farms Ltd. contains details of the legal proceedings which she hopes will be progressed in the near future following extensive court delays caused by Covid restrictions. 

The directors of the £1 company, which has debts of more than £5 million, are Martin Frost, Janet Orr Frost and Robert Jennings. Ms Porter's report makes it clear that all three have continued to ignore her requests for information as part of her investigation.

Ironically, Mr Frost has told Avocet shareholders on numerous occasions that the Orrdone administration team would be the subject of legal action by company lawyers in a bid to gain vast sums of compensation.

The administrator's report, covering the period January to July 2021, says: "The non-co-operation of all of the directors of the company has continued during the period. The administrator's work has been severely curtailed throughout the administration by the directors' failure to provide any satisfactory explanation as to the state of the company's affairs as at the time of the administrator's appointment".

And she adds: "As this is in direct contravention of their statutory duties as directors, the administrators are pursuing legal channels available to them under the Insolvency Act 1986".

The report explains that the latest audited accounts for Orrdone Farms Ltd. were for 2017. Numerous allegations had been made by the directors about both the assets and the liabilities of the company, none of which had been substantiated due to a lack of evidence provided.

"On the advice of her solicitors, the administrator is seeking individual court action against the directors to enforce their co-operation under the following sections of the Insolvency Act:

"Section 234 - Getting in the company's property; Section 235 - Duty to co-operate with office holders; Section 236 - Inquiry into company's dealings".

Ms Porter confirms she continues to be made aware 'from a number of sources' of extensive correspondence issued to a wide variety of parties commenting directly on the administration procedure or the administrators personally.

She comments: "The extensive correspondence continues to be at best often inaccurate and in many instances inappropriate. Our investigations suggest the primary purpose of these communications is to deflect attention away from the matters in hand in order to delay unnecessarily the progress of the administration".

But despite the unfortunate obstruction and deflection tactics employed by the directors, Ms Porter is able to report some progress with the administration, including the sale of Harcarse Hill farm, once the headquarters of Avocet's farming operations.

The contents of the farmhouse - said by Mr Frost to be worth several millions of pounds - were valued at just £33,000, according to the report. The Omega Infinite liquidator laid claim to these assets, and the contents are being held jointly by liquidator and administrator while inquiries continue.

Mr Frost has also claimed valuable family belongings have been lost from Harcarse Hill with other items suffering damage.

The administrator writes: "Numerous attempts were made to the directors requesting that they remove their personal items. However, they declined to make arrangements for collection".

The latest creditor statement dated July 31st 2021 shows the sum of £4,043,000 remains outstanding to the secured creditors including UK Agricultural Lending Ltd. Interest will continue to run on the debt until it is settled.

Meanwhile the following sums are due to Orrdone by other 'Avocet' companies: Avocet Faculties Ltd £88,864; Avocet Infinite Renewables Ltd £77,540; Harris Endeavour Ltd £194,031. And Ms Porter points out that money due from the former parent company Omega Infinite PLC (in liquidation) amounts to £1,900,605 plus VAT. This is in respect of the sale of the whole of the trading assets from Orrdone Farms on June 1st 2019.

"The vast majority of the 158 potential creditors identified have not submitted a claim or notified their intention to submit a claim", states the report. "This includes 29 companies associated with the Avocet Group. It therefore remains the view of the administrator that these companies are not genuine creditors". Unsecured creditors' claims totalling £915,544 have been received.

A further complication is a claim against Orrdone Farms of £10,395,737 received from Omega Infinite (in liquidation) earlier in August. This will require further investigation.

Borders nursing home rated 'weak' by inspectors

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

A Galashiels nursing home had to be given a deep clean after a team of inspectors discovered food debris  under tables and chairs and on the dining room floor, according to a report from Scotland's Care Inspectorate.

And the unannounced inspection earlier this month also found residents were eating and drinking from plastic plates and cups. The report states: "People having meals in their rooms were served their meal without any tray or table which resulted in them having to hold plate with one hand and using the other to hold cutlery and eat. This was despite bedside tables being available.”

Galashiels Nursing Home, which currently has 30 people receiving care is run by Edinburgh-based Pryce & Co. Ltd. 

As the Inspectorate report points out the home's mission statement declares: "Galashiels Nursing Home provides a safe and secure environment, and professional nursing care in homely, and comfortable surroundings. Individuality and independence are both assisted, and encouraged, with privacy and dignity being respected at all times. Residents in our care are encouraged to prolong vitality, with physical and mental activity". 

Following the inspection, carried out over two days, the three inspectors rated the home 'weak' in all aspects covered by the visit with a score of only two out of a possible six.

Some people living in the home who were able to give feedback said the staff were nice, very attentive, but always busy. There was a lack of meaningful activity, and they [the residents] had little to do.

"There were some people who said that staff sometimes had time to spend chatting with them, but this was generally not the case and we saw there were a number of people who spent the day in their room with little or no interaction out with care tasks. There appears to be an acceptance from people that this is normal."

The report concedes that staff were well-meaning in their actions and clearly wanted to take care of people. However, the care was routine, task led and not person centred. As a result, people did not always get the care and support that was right for them. The care staff were caring and considerate when engaging in direct care. There was a lack of meaningful interactions out-with fundamental care because there was not enough staff.

"Staff were too busy to spend quality time with the people they supported. This meant people were left by themselves, often in their rooms, for large parts of the day. This showed an overall lack of respect for the care of people supported and weak practice."

And: "People who experienced stress and distress, depression or anxiety were not always supported and cared for in a way that was right for them."

A section of the report concerning cleanliness includes the following statement: "The home was not cleaned to an acceptable standard. There was food debris under tables and chairs and on the dining room floor. Some mattresses and bedding were stained, and bedding was of poor quality. Not all bathrooms in use had soap in them, which is an essential part of handwashing. A deep clean of the home was organised after our first visit on 11 August."

A list of requirements has been handed to the home's management by the Inspectorate.

The service provider must ensure that people are treated with respect and dignity, says the report. In order to achieve this, by 30 September 2021, the provider must ensure that: "Mealtime experiences are improved for people living in the home, including where people choose to eat in their rooms.

"Any person who chooses to eat in their room must have an appropriate table to eat from. Appropriate crockery should be available. Crockery and cutlery should reflect people’s choice and promote their dignity, and plastic cups and plates should only be used if people are assessed as needing these.

"By September 30th - People (service users) are supported, have an opportunity to engage in meaningful activities and socialise with others in the home. - There are sufficient numbers of staff to support people’s (service user’s) preferences of activities, health, welfare and safety. This includes ensuring they are supported to stay connected with those important to them by facilitating open visiting and outings from the care home with no restrictions."

Insolvent firm's stock of £35-a-bottle bubbly

by DOUG COLLIE

With a combined estimated deficit of more than £20 million there appeared to be no cash to spare for management luxuries at struggling and insolvent Omega Infinite PLC and Orrdone Farms Ltd, part of the Avocet group of 'disruptive technology' businesses.

But now details of an incredible stash of top-of-the-range champagne, hundreds of bottles of wine and 120 bottles of spirits, stored at the company's Berwickshire HQ, have emerged as part of an inventory of 'stolen' goods drawn up by Avocet chairman Martin Frost.

The disclosure has sparked anger and disbelief among shareholders with claims the seven-year Avocet operation has been run for the sole benefit of the directors. Omega is in compulsory liquidation while Orrdone is in the hands of an administrator.

Mr Frost, in a communication sent to hundreds of Avocet investors, wrote: "In Harcarse’s back kitchen there was an expensive electronic wine cellar which contained over 120 bottles of fine wine belonging to me - some £4,000 in total. 

"In three other fridges there were 48 bottles of champagne belonging to Omega at some £35 per bottle – some £1,700: in addition, there were 500 bottles of general wine belonging to Omega costing on average £8 per bottle – some £4,000. Finally, there were some 120 bottles of spirits belonging to Omega costing on average £25 per bottle, some £3,000. Such does not include over 1,000 cans of mixers etc."

Harcarse Hill farmhouse was the location for Avocet's agricultural activities and was also set to become a demonstration and conference centre as part of plans which have yet to be implemented.

According to Mr Frost the entire contents of the Harcarse cellar have been stolen. His correspondence goes on to identify those he alleges removed the drinks cache together with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of other items, including articles owned by the Frost family. The total loss, says Mr Frost, adds up to £11 million as a result of theft and damage.

The vast inventory includes entries for decommissioned hand grenades, weapons and Titanic memorabilia. An extensive collection of machinery, jewellery, rare books and £10,000+ in cash have all gone, Mr Frost claims.

However, the revelations have failed to impress at least some investors who still await a return for their money, and who have consistently criticised the conduct of Avocet directors.

A contributor to the online independent Avocet shareholders' forum writes: "A quick review [of Mr Frost's inventory] shows the amazing breath (sic) of goods that apparently are necessary to operate an innovative start-up disruptive technologies company.

"One is immediately struck both by how much alcohol was required for Avocet’s successful operation, and the important role that more than £3 million worth of 'books and artifacts' played, to say nothing of two sets of antique Encyclopaedias Britannica!

"And of course, what modern day advanced technology company is without weapons? He [ Mr Frost] apparently has absolutely no idea how bad this disclosure makes him look! He really does consider Avocet to be his own personal piggy bank, and the shareholders’ money his to do with as he pleases."

One of the more unusual items on the list of property said to have been stolen from Harcarse Hill is valued at over £200,000. The entry states: "Dressed meat stocks in outbuildings (52 Piemontese @ £4000 per carcass) £208.000".

Here are some of the other items from the inventory:

Drinks loss to Frost - £4,000; Food loss to Frost - £1,500; Personal mementos - £50,000; Personal computers - £4,000; Personal papers & computer material - £100,000; unused children’s computers + children’s toys - £2,000

Unused grandchildren’s Christmas presents - £500; Clothes – damaged - £40,000; Clothes – stolen these largely consist of designer cloths - £30,000; Personal bedding loss – bed & mattress, sheets etc. - £6,000;  Personal tools - £1,000; Personal jewelry (sic) - £8,000; Personal medicines - £100; Riding equipment & personal belongings - £9,000; Cash - £10,000+ (including book safe); Curtains & personal wall coverings - £6,000.

A recent progress report from Omega Infinite liquidators Begbies Traynor showed creditors of the company were claiming £20.9 million with no receipts during the period covered by the report - April 2020 to April 2021.

In a section headed 'Alleged theft of company assets' the report stated: "We are currently liaising with the police and the former directors regarding an alleged theft relating to company assets, and the insurance position of the same.

"We are in the process of compiling a schedule of assets with a view to establishing ownership, and arranging collection and disposal of same. This task has been protracted due to the lack of records regarding the Company's assets and ambiguity regarding ownership. A painting recovered from the Company's accountant was being held as collateral for unpaid fees".

 

Major Avocet shareholders sell before AGM

from OUR BUSINESS DESK

A number of major investors in 'disruptive technology' business Avocet Natural Capital, including members of the Frost family, have apparently sold their shares to the mysterious outfit PCH Inc., it has been revealed, a month before a planned annual general meeting of the Avocet parent company.

And it has also been disclosed that the equally enigmatic 'Tim Carter', Parachute Holdings' representative in the UK, is set to become a director of ANC even though he has yet to make a public appearance.

It is now more than a year since Avocet chairman Martin Frost first mentioned the group was being courted by unnamed investors with unlimited financial resources. But there is still no sign that Avocet or its close associate Gennfros is about to produce a 'wonder fuel' to revolutionise road transport.

These latest developments are outlined by Mr Frost in correspondence circulated to ANC shareholders which gives notice of a scheduled AGM via web conference on September 30th. But the Avocet boss goes on to warn that he may not be able to participate in the proceedings "For medical reasons, I have major cancer treatment, so I have appointed proxies on my behalf".

Shareholders are told by Mr Frost: "You will be notified of significant share changes: in the main these ownership changes consist of the Frost family, along with other major shareholders having sold their shares to PCH.

"New director recommendations, principally the appointment of Tim Carter and / or other colleagues to the Board. Note a dividend in normal circumstances may only be paid out of profits: ANC Plc expects to announce profits of over £30 million prior to the AGM."

Avocet Natural Capital PLC has not produced annual accounts since 2018 when an operating loss of £10,149 was reported. Those accounts also told of an issue of share capital of £29.950 million.

The annual report added: "During the year intellectual property (IP) of £30 million was purchased from Avocet Infinite PLC (£20 million) and Avocet IP Ltd (£10 million), the shareholders of Avocet Natural Capital".

A set of accounts for 2019 should have been lodged at Companies House by December 2020. But those financial details are now eight months overdue.

According to Mr Frost's email to shareholders the main purposes of the meeting are to comply with statutory regulations, and to vote on the directors’ recommendation that ANC Plc issues a dividend. Prior to the AGM shareholders will be issued with documents including a chair’s review.

"Shareholders will be asked to make choices: Expulsion of members for breach of their NDA or other matters; support of Omega and support of third-party legal actions; the appointment of an auditor; consideration of the financial statements; the election of directors; determination and timing of issue of a dividend.

"Questions thereafter: note, all questions require to be set down in writing, seconded, and delivered to company secretary 7 days prior."

 

 

WANTED: Jargon buster - reward £10,000

by DOUG COLLIE

Scotland's public spending watchdog is advertising for help from editorial experts to shrink the word count of its reports and to make the documents more readable by 'minimising jargon and passive language'.

Audit Scotland, which employs 290 staff to oversee the accounts of and expenditure by dozens of public bodies including councils and health boards, published a contract notice on Friday which seemed to suggest their reports on a variety of topics require attention.

The notice was headed Plain Language Editing Service and included an estimated value of £10,000 (exclusive of VAT) for a job likely to last for three years. The agency itself spent £29.6 million in 2020/21. including over £20 million for wages and salaries.

According to Audit Scotland: "We require an experienced English-medium editing service that specialises in plain language techniques. The service will deliver editing suggestions that help ensure our audit products are well written in clear language that is easy to understand."

The watchdog does not specify which of their reports has prompted the move to call in the plain speakers. But perhaps this example taken from a recently published Scottish Borders Council Audit Plan for 2020/21 could be a cause for concern:

"Performance materiality – This acts as a trigger point. If the aggregate of errors identified during the financial statements audit exceeds performance materiality this would indicate that further audit procedures should be considered. Using our professional judgement, we have calculated performance materiality at 60% of planning materiality."

Work that one out!

Or perhaps candidates for the lucrative contract might wish to wrestle with this extract from Audit Scotland's Best Value Assurance Report on the Borders council, published in 2019:

"The council now needs to make better progress with its community planning partners in delivering crucial elements of their community empowerment obligations, including resourced locality plans which identify community need and help community wellbeing."

Hopefully, the successful contractors will be able to sort things out.

Whoever they are will be expected to deliver all of the following:

"We need a confidential, reliable, flexible and resilient editing service. The supplier will provide one or more editors who will personally review our confidential draft reports and:

"Suggest plain language edits to improve readability and structure. For example: minimising jargon and passive language, supporting simple and direct sentences.

"Make suggestions for tightening our report writing by shrinking the word count, ensuring this does not change the key messages and meaning of the report.

"Advise on compliance with Audit Scotland’s house style guide, including our report-writing style guide, to support high standards of syntax, grammar and punctuation. However, the overall focus of the editing service should be more on plain language advice than general proofreading."

It is unfair to single out Audit Scotland as the exemplar of jargon and gobbledygook. For there are glaring examples of opaqueness in written work churned out by many a public organisation.

Here, for instance, is a passage from a report entitled Place Making - The Next Steps which will be given due consideration by councillors at a local authority meeting here in the Borders later this week:

 "The aim of the proposals set out in this report is to make the Place Principle a reality for people in our communities and provide a baseline for how we recognise and value the importance of place in the way decisions are made. It provides a challenge to the assumptions that are made about places without community participation. It does this by asking for answers to straightforward questions before decisions are taken about what to do and what to stop doing."

You couldn't make it up!

'Theft and fraud' accused attacks Avocet bosses after tribunal win

by EWAN LAMB

The one time manager of farming activities for the Avocet group of 'disruptive technology' companies who has been repeatedly accused of possible involvement in thefts and frauds totalling almost £1 million has hit out at his former bosses after a tribunal judge upheld his claim of unfair dismissal.

Now Avocet Agritech Ltd., run by controversial businessman Martin Frost, has been ordered to pay Tristan Jeffrey more than £10,000 following a three day employment tribunal hearing which Avocet failed to attend and was not represented.

We recently reported on the case of Sarah Shotton, Mr Frost's former office administrator, whose claim for unfair dismissal and unauthorised deduction of wages was heard at the same tribunal session as Mr Jeffrey's in July. Ms Shotton was awarded at total of £9,588 by Judge Lesley Murphy, and now both claimants will attend a further hearing so that levels of compensation can be set for their unfair dismissals in April 2020.

Tristan Jeffrey, who told the tribunal he received an annual gross salary of £70,000 a year from Avocet to run the agricultural side of the multi-faceted operation at Harcarse Hill, Berwickshire, has been the target for repeated allegations made against him by Mr Frost in letters to shareholders following his redundancy.

In a written document submitted to the tribunal service last July Mr Frost wrote: "Claimant has been paid, indeed overpaid for the actual time worked.

"Claimant has not been charged with the theft of the items from Harcarse Hill farm though a report has gone to the PF (Procurator Fiscal) involving colleagues of the claimant re the theft of some £550,000 of items. That said, the claimant civilly is likely to be sued for perceived theft involvement as he left the keys in the vehicles which were stolen and attempted to erase the CCTV.

"Claimant is under investigation, along with his father, for another potential fraud from Avocet involving over £400,000".

After receiving the tribunal outcome, Mr Jeffrey told us: "“Throughout this ordeal the Avocet directors have either, lied, blamed each other, or totally ignored all requests for information.

"Eirlys Lloyd, the company secretary, was unable to tell me who dealt with payroll. There were also allegations in company emails which shockingly implied that I was on drugs.

"False accusations of harassment, blackmail, theft, fraud, and destruction of evidence, are all still ongoing, 14 months after my redundancy. These false accusations all because I asked for my unpaid wages, expenses, and redundancy payment.

"Away from my Employment Tribunal Avocet shareholders need to seek evidence showing where their £20+ million investment was spent.”

Judge Murphy found that Avocet Agritech had breached Mr Jeffrey's contract of employment and awarded damages of £1,604.69 for that breach.

Avocet also made an unauthorised deduction from wages and has been instructed to pay Mr Jeffrey £1,917.81 in relation to ten days accrued untaken holiday,

And a further unauthorised wage deduction - non-payment of salary during the period March 1 and April 17 2020 - will require a sum of £7,195.83 to be paid to Mr Jeffrey.

The judgment repeats information given in Ms Shotton's case showing that Avocet repeatedly failed to respond to emails and phone calls from tribunal staff.

According to Companies House records, Avocet Agritech has not filed annual accounts since 2017 with the lodging of subsequent financial statements more than 18 months overdue. The 2017 financial return records assets of £1,001, and the company had not traded during that year.

Former staff have claimed there was considerable confusion over which Avocet subsidiary actually employed them. Ms Shotton's claim was against Avocet Faculties Ltd.

"Devastating" posts on 'hate' forum

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

Avocet Group chairman and Genfro life president Martin Frost has branded the shareholders' forum which bears the company's name a "fraudulent hate contrivance" soon after the group's activities were roundly criticised by the founder of a share trading venue and by a former senior employee of Avocet.

Now, according to Mr Frost: "The Director of Public Prosecutions in England & Wales is reviewing the Avocet PUBLIC Forum as an illegal hate website. Obviously, all that frequent this hate website are monitored."

The controversial businessman has previously pledged to have the Forum shut down. And last week he referred to Not Just Sheep & Rugby as 'Bill Chisholm's loony blog'.

Until relatively recently Mr Frost was telling investors in the 'disruptive technology' business that shares would be traded on the Asset Match platform, a London-based concern set up and chaired by Stuart Lucas.

Mr Lucas personally holds 756,000 shares in Avocet Infinite PLC (now known as Omega Infinite) which was placed into compulsory liquidation during 2020. Liquidators Begbies Traynor say creditors of Omega are claiming a total of more than £20 million.

In addition Asset Match itself owns 104,000 Avocet shares while at the same time Loch Lomond Heritage Ltd., another company controlled by Mr Frost, has 52,084 shares in Asset Match.

The Avocet Shareholders' Forum on which critics of Mr Frost and his fellow directors frequently discuss the business's perceived failings has recently been abuzz with speculation over unidentified investors Parachute Holdings and their front man 'Tim Carter'. Mr Frost says PCH will invest many millions of pounds in the 'revolutionary' new fuel being promoted by Avocet and now Genfro.

There have been several emails sent out to shareholders recently "from the desk of Tim Carter".

A post published on the Forum last week asked Mr Lucas if he'd ever met 'Tim' or the mysterious investors.

Mr Lucas posted the following response at the weekend: "I don’t think you need a degree in Stylometry to note the identical writing styles. I asked for a Teams call with Martin & his alter ego ‘Tim’ but that ‘simply put’, can obviously never take place.

"Asset Match has closed its files on these companies, as they never completed our admission documents. As of 4mths ago I no longer consider I have a financial interest in any Avocet entity, just some share certs. I’ve written everything off in my tax returns, or marked to zero anything not in administration.

"I did not do appropriate levels of due diligence 4+ years ago and have paid a price. It’s been a bad trade but I was never dependent solely on these entities. I generally find it difficult to engage with pseudonyms or even worse a desk of..!"

That was quickly followed by a contribution from Sandy Jeffrey, Avocet's former agricultural operations manager who Mr Frost has frequently accused of possible criminal activity.

Mr Jeffrey wrote: "I made a serious error of judgement six years ago and trusted in Frost believing that Avocet growth and development was a real gamechanger on climate control and a route to renewable or self sustainable agriculture. It took two years of considerable effort and contribution to fully understand that the stated agenda did not exist and never had. There was an ulterior motive.

"Over the past two years my company has written off 61,000 Avocet shares. My family value their 60,000 shares at zero. A further 100,000 shares were illegally removed from the register".

In a swift response, Mr Frost told shareholders in a further 'news letter' : "As a man, I like Stuart Lucas. He has his views. Avocet & Genfro shares have value. During the last month I have sought to sell some 50,000 Asset Match shares which Stuart advises me are worth £6 per share. Surprise, surprise, not even Stuart himself would buy them at £0.50p. It’s a funny old world! 

"Thanks to last Monday’s court determinations, Sandy Jeffrey shall shortly be in receipt of a writ. The directors of Avocet would be failing in their duty not to recover the £500,000+ Sandy has clearly defrauded you, Avocet Shareholders, from. Personally, I do think genfro.com will outperform Asset Match when it comes to share sales."