Liquidator unpaid for nine years' work costing £100,000

by OUR BUSINESS EDITOR

The research and development company which preceded the evolution of the worthless Avocet group of businesses headed by now bankrupt 'entrepreneur' Martin Frost is to be dissolved after a nine-year liquidation process.

But AFS Ventures Ltd., just like several other entities involved in the non-development of a wonder fuel, will leave unpaid debts as well as an unsolved mystery concerning the fate of its intellectual property (IP), said by Mr Frost to be worth £4 million. 

The patents were sold to Omega Infinite PLC, the Avocet parent company once chaired by Mr Frost, but subsequently the subject of a compulsory liquidation order and with financial deficits running into many millions of pounds.

Reports prepared by AFS Ventures liquidator Eric Walls, of KSA Group, include an entry of £680,000 for an 'Intellectual Property Settlement'. 

However, in a statement of receipts and payments submitted to the Registrar of Companies earlier this year, Mr Walls declared that the final level of consideration in respect to the IP sale had not been paid.

He wrote: "It had been unclear as to whether any further funds would be realised in respect of the company's IP due to the complexities of this matter, and the compulsory liquidation of Omega. 

"Having reviewed the latest progress report of that liquidation, I now consider that the likelihood of any realisation in respect of the amounts owed for the IP are extremely remote. I therefore now intend to bring my administration of this case to an end".

Mr Walls was appointed voluntary liquidator of AFS Ventures in February 2015, a month after Mr Frost, in his capacity as a director of the firm, signed a Declaration of Solvency which affirmed the company would be able to pay its debts in full together with interest within 12 months.

According to the Declaration, the patents were worth £4 million while liabilities totalled £2.85 million.

But a Statement of Affairs produced by Mr Walls in 2021 included a sum of £493,000 as the book value of the IP. But the actual amount the patents would realise was described as "uncertain".

In a Final Account Prior to Dissolution, published today by Companies House, Mr Walls reveals details of a first and final dividend of 2.07 pence in the £ paid to preferential creditor HMRC. The revenue had lodged a claim for £100,650 which means it will receive approximately £2,083.

Unsecured creditors who will not receive a dividend of any kind are law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, owed £75,000 and KSA Group, due £100,000 for Mr Walls' remuneration.

The liquidator repeats earlier statements that he has complied with his obligations under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. The Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has requested that the contents of the report remain confidential.

Mr Walls adds: "This is an extremely complex matter, further complicated by the compulsory liquidation of Omega and the bankruptcies of certain individuals connected to or associated with both the company and Omega".

Formal dissolution of AFS Ventures will occur automatically approximately three months from now.