Ventus Vct Share Discussion Threads

[timbo003] 13/2/2006 20:35

I've now applied for £6Ks worth of shares in the westmil co-op, (EIS windfarm opportunity). Westmill should qualify for EIS, in which case, Gordon (the moron) will have to give me back £1.2K in income tax and let me defer £2.4Ks worth of CGT liabilities (luvverly jubberly)



Weatmill have now raised over £2M, so I'm reasonably confident that the wind farm will go ahead. Meanwhile, I see that Ventus2&3 are up to 1.4M invested, very close to the minimum required to proceed, so time to invest very soon, fill yer boots!

[timbo003] 01/2/2006 20:14

Key data income VCT 1&2 (the other windfarm VCT) reported today:



At the time of their interim results back in October, they reported that they had made no investments, now it looks like they have committed the lot! This certainly bodes well for Ventus 1 and Ventus 2&3 meeting the Inland Revenue VCT requirements

[timbo003] 29/1/2006 08:30

A couple of weekend press articles on windfarms, it's a shame that not everone shares my enthusiasm. Perhaps the moaners would like go without electricity as fossil fuels run out.

[timbo003] 25/1/2006 17:23

So, according to todays RNS, we have a 0.75p interim divi to look forward to at the end of Feb, although hopefully it should be 5 times that in three years time. Then shareholders can start looking forward to wintery nights at home, with the wind howling and blowing a gale.

[timbo003] 22/1/2006 08:07

See article on wind farms in today's Sunday Herald. Ventus get a favourable mention



Climate Change Capital defrays the costs of setting up small projects by pooling them. "The trouble is that it costs the same to set up a small wind farm as a large one; there are the same costs to set up a power purchase agreement, get debt, fund the application process," says Hall Thornton. "We have all the debt lined up, the power purchase agreements all done, so the costs are pooled. The fund raised £15m with which to do it, which was the second biggest amount raised by any new specialist fund last year."

[timbo003] 16/1/2006 19:02

david

Yes, Cavendish (still) refund all the commission (on any one VCT investment application) for a fee of £35.

The total Ventus 2 / 3 commission rebate (to the FSA and the investor) is 3%, so it makes sense to go through Cavendish if you are applying for more than £7K worth of shares.

[david77] 16/1/2006 18:51

I suspect that www.cavendishonline.co.uk will be a cheaper deal - not checked lately - but they haven't got the Ventus funds on their website yet.

[timbo003] 16/1/2006 18:43

So Ventus 2 / 3 are now open to subscription (as of today)

Bestinvest have done a brief summary here:



Allenbridge have the prospectus available for download here:



Both Bestinvest and Allenbridge appear to be offerring a 2.5% discount.

Fill yer boots, I'm going to!

[timbo003] 06/12/2005 19:20

Well, if the Chelseafs web site are to be believed, it looks like the launch of Ventus 2 will now be delayed until mid Jan 2006.



Gordon Brown's indecision concerning the likely tax benefits for VCTs in the next tax year cannot be helping any of the prospective VCTs with respect to their launch plans/timings.

Come on Culpability, get on with it and just tell us all what the new rules will be, so we can get on and plan for the future.

[timbo003] 01/12/2005 20:43

Hi A000

I guess I'm being ultra, ultra cautious, even though Ventus have committed 40% of the pre-requisite 70% of funds, there is still a (very small) chance that things could go wrong, i.e. the investee companies could get into trouble for whatever reason and as a result Ventus (quite rightly) would pull out.

Anyway, I'm now looking forward to investing in Ventus 2, should a new offer be forthcoming.

[a0002577] 30/11/2005 11:17

Good morning timbo003 : Actually they have done better than you think. From 15 March 2005 to 31 August 2005 (i.e. in less than 6 months) they have invested 40% of what they have to invest before the end of another 2 and a half years. Which is incredibly good. The relevant part of the report is :

This represents approximately 40% of the amount required to be invested in qualifying investments by March 2008 in order for the Company to comply with Inland Revenue VCT regulations.

The report goes on to say the Manager expects that it will require another 18 to 24 months to invest fully the Company's funds and a further 12 months before all the portfolio companies are operating at projected capacity. So within three years you should be getting your 8%

[timbo003] 29/11/2005 18:41

Ventus interims today:



It looks like everything is going to plan, I confess, before today I was slightly concerned that they might be finding trouble in investing the dosh, especially after reading the Keydata interims last month, where it sounded like they may be struggling to find suitable investments



and we now know that the Inland Revenue intend to clamp down hard (withdraw VCT status?) on VCTs who do not meet the investment criteria of >70% invested in qualifying investments within 3 years.



So, Ventus are now committed to investing 40% of the fund by March 2008 (the deadline for 70% investment) which is good news indeed, and I like the reassuring statements concerning the high level of activity in the small wind farm market and that they are still on track for the 8p annual (tax free) divi.

Hopefully we will hear about the proposed Ventus 2 offering before the end of the year. Based on what I've read today, I'm even more inclined to subscribe again, if I'm given the opportunity.

[timbo003] 25/11/2005 20:26

You can now download the prospectus for westmill (which I did earlier today)

I've read the prospectus, the shares will not be traded and will be very illiquid, but the likely EIS tax status and the prospective yield; 5% initially, 12% on average over the life time of the company (25 years) is just too much for me to resist.

[david77] 20/11/2005 11:39

Thanks Timbo

[timbo003] 20/11/2005 07:19

Here's another interesting windfarm investment opportunity which I found in todays Observer (you will have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to read the article)



The westmill web site is here:



On the minus side it sounds like the shares will be unquoted (and probably not easily tradable), and it will be set up as a co-op, i.e. someone with 500 shares will have the same voting rights as someone with 10,000 shares

On the plus side, it looks like the shares will qualify for EIS tax reliefs and there is a prospective big, fat (escalating) divi.

I have ordered my prospectus and may very well apply for a few.

[timbo003] 25/10/2005 16:58

Declan Curry did a small piece on windfarms on todays BBC breakfast on BBC 1, click link below for the video clip.

[timbo003] 15/9/2005 07:00

This must be quite a alarming statistic if you are not a recipient of the subsidies, but I'm quite happy to take my little slice of that £6Bn at the expense of the taxpayer, that's in addition to the £10K the taxpayer stumped up to subsidise my initial purchases of 25K shares.

[timbo003] 23/8/2005 20:34

So, the AGM will be on Thursday Sept 22nd. I'm hoping they give us an update on investments so far, but I'm not holding my breath on that one, it's still early days. I will not be attending this AGM, I've got a good excuse this time, as I'm off on hols from Sept 15th for three weeks.

[timbo003] 20/7/2005 20:52

Blimey! Even my old favorite, UK Coal (alas, I no longer hold) are getting into windfarms now, see link and abstract below:



Harworth Power, UK COAL's power generation subsidiary with 32 MWe of installed
methane power generation capacity, has identified opportunities to submit planning applications in respect of former colliery and surface mining land for
the erection of up to 40 wind turbines with a capacity of 80 MW. The
applications are currently being progressed and will be determined over the next two years. Harworth Power is further developing its generation capacity with the addition of renewable generation capacity utilising vegetable and other organic
waste oils.

[timbo003] 19/7/2005 19:32

This is related to Windfarms and VCTs, but perhaps not directly to Ventus

There was a brief article in the Sunday Telegraph concerning (unquoted) Eclipse Energy (wind farm/gas turbine hybrid offshore powerstations) which is preparing to float on AIM in the near future:



It looks like Invesco Perpetual Aim VCT (yes, I own a few) have dived in early with a pre IPO investment, see their latest portfolio update here:



I now expect to follow Eclipse Energy's post float fortunes with considerable interest.

[timbo003] 12/7/2005 18:16

It looks like Ventus may either do a top up later this year, or start a new "Ventus 2" (thanks to dawar on the Alkane thread for the link)

Ventus VCT, which launched earlier this year, invests in wind farms. Although it is now closed to new investors, it is planning to offer another round of shares in the same or a similar fund later this year.



Good! I'll almost certainly be subscribing.

[david77] 26/6/2005 11:17

"The radar returns from the turbines' moving blades are typically similar in size to a light aircraft."

A ground radar transmitter sends out pulses and a receiver looks for reflections. Wind turbine blades can be as big as a small aircraft or helicopter. If the radar is supposed to detect an aircraft, then it is no surprise that it detects the turbine blade.

"To confuse the radar further, the tip speed - though not that of the whole blade - is just below the speed of sound, much the same as an aircraft."

I suspect that "is just below the speed of sound," is not relevant. Ground radar is required to detect slow aircraft.

"On radar screens the signals generated show up as multiple objects that pop up and then disappear unpredictably."

A wind farm will have several rotating blades - not synchronised together and certainly not synchronised to the radar pulses, and with direction of the blades determined by the wind.

The radar pulse is reflected by metal objects - I suppose fibreglass or carbon fibre isn't strong enough without some metal reinforcement - or alternatives cost more.

[timbo003] 26/6/2005 10:54

The article in todays The Business "BAE uses fuzzy logic to make wind farms vanish" is worth a read.

I confess that I hadn't realised that there was a potential problem with wind farms and air traffic control systems and I certainly had not appreciated that the turbine tip speed was similar to that of a light aicraft propeller tip speed, which happens to be just under the speed of sound!

[timbo003] 20/6/2005 20:41

For anyone (like me), who has been waiting for their tax year 2005/2006 share certificates, I phoned the registrar today and I was informed that share certificates (and tax certificates) will be sent out this week. Meanwhile whilst we wait for news on Ventus investments, I find it very comforting to see that the price of crude oil remains reassuringly high (circa $60/barrel) which will do no harm whatsoever to Ventus's future prospects.