Mercantile Ports & Logis... Share Discussion Threads

[mount teide] 05/9/2017 11:41

Azalea - according to latest research, India is the most corrupt country in Asia, and apparently the Market regulator prefers to deal with criminal offences such as Insider Trading, not by huge fines or imprisonment but OUT OF COURT NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENTS.

It probably goes something like this:

"Now sir, you have been caught bang to rights committing insider trading. Although this offence would usually attract a hefty fine or imprisonment, in YOUR case i am able to offer a little flexibility. In return for generously writing out a cheque for my daughters school fees for the next 5 years at the new British staffed Eton franchised Taj Mahal Independent school, i can reduce your fine which would have been £XXXXXX to just £XXX"

Insider trader writes out personal/company cheque and hands it to the market regulator official

"So nice doing 'business' with you sir - i'll pop the small invoice for the fine in the post"

AIOHO/DYOR


Why is it overwhelmingly males that carry out white collar crime ?

[mount teide] 05/9/2017 11:24

MPL Annual Report - June 2017:

'In November 2016, we were successful in raising £36 million of equity funding, supported by both existing and new investors.

During the year, the Company made progress on site across all work streams and, as at 31 December 2016, the Group had cash resources of £35.69 million with a subscription commitment of £3million which was received in January. There was approximately£25million still available for drawdown at the year-end under the Company's banking facilities.'

So, WITHOUT the £37m Placing and Open Offer, by Dec 2016, MPL WOULD HAVE BEEN OUT OF CASH COMPLETELY WITH JUST £25M OF BANK DEBT FOR DRAWDOWN LEFT and HAD COMPLETED THE LAYING OF RECLAMATION MATERIAL ON JUST 37% OF THE LAND TO BE RECLAIMED AND HAD LAID JUST CIRCA 100 SHALLOW WATER BERTH PILES!

Looks like our forecast from last year that all shareholders will see once the £148m of cash AND BANK DEBT CARRYING 13.5% INTEREST runs out, IS NOT THE 200 ACRES OF PORT DEVELOPMENT AND LOGISTICS PARK SERVICED BY A 1,000M FIXED ALL WEATHER QUAY THAT WAS IN THE 2013 ARDEN NOTE, AND ON THE COMPANY WEBSITE UNTIL MANAGEMENT WERE RECENTLY FORCED TO REMOVE FOLLOWING A COMPLAINT TO THE NOMAD BUT, around 100 acres of reclaimed land and a 350m weather affected, lightweight, open barge and coaster jetty 'serviced' via an access channel 'dredged' to just 3.5m on the sea side and a heavily potholed, unlit, single lane dirt track on the landward side, that routinely floods and has parts of it wash away during the monsoon season. A facility that could be built for comfortably less than the £49m bank debt which has a lien over it, and is probably worth barely half that on the open market in a fire-sale.

How did they get away with it?

Answers on a postcard to the Nomad, AIM Regulation and the SFA.

AIOHO/DYOR

[azalea] 05/9/2017 11:19

Unless i have missed the event of the Exec Chairman being fined or sent to jail by a court, all these allegations have yet to be proven?

[mount teide] 05/9/2017 11:10

Imagine some of YOUR retirement investment funds with an Institutional Fund Manager had been recklessly invested at IPO in a company called Scam Ports & Logistics, which had subsequently seen its market value plummet by a disastrous 96% post IPO, as a result largely of activity including but, very far from just the following:


March 2017 Project Update

'THE COMPANY IS CONFIDENT OF COMPLETION OF ITS FACILITY BY THE END OF THIS YEAR'

'As at today's date, some 79 acres (40%) of the overall reclamation target has been achieved, although the Company is pleased to report that an estimated 60 per cent of the total reclamation material required to complete the facility is now on site.


Just three months later:

June 2016 - Annual Report

THE MANAGEMENT NO LONGER EXPECT THE FACILITY TO BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THE YEAR'

'However, depending on the length of the monsoon and other factors beyond its control, management is confident that two berths will be operational'

'Reclamation continues apace(15 ACRES in 12 MONTHS) and circa 90 acres of land have now been reclaimed. In addition, sufficient reclamation material for at least a further 10 acres of land is on site, with this material currently being used for the surcharging process.'

By my maths 90 + 10 = 100 which is 50% of 200.
So, between March and June 2017 the market has gone from being told there was an estimated 120 acres of reclamation material on site to just 100 acres. And, as in the previous two years that reclamation work would stop for the duration of the monsoon season.


HOW COULD SCAM PORTS & LOGISTICS (with any integrity) SAY IN MARCH 2017, IT WAS CONFIDENT THE 200 ACRE FACILITY WOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF 2017,(AFTER PREVIOUSLY CLAIMING IT WOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF 2015, AND NUMEROUS OTHER DATES THROUGH TO END OF H1/2017), WHEN THE REALITY IS BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION, THERE WILL ONLY BE ENOUGH MATERIAL ON SITE WHEN THEY REMOBILISE THE WORKFORCE AFTER THE MONSOON SEASON TO COMPLETE AT BEST 50% OF THE LAND RECLAMATION BY YEAR END!

THIS IS OF COURSE YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MANAGEMENT BLATANTLY MISLEADING INVESTORS BY ISSUING STATEMENTS THAT CREATE A FALSE MARKET IN THE SHARES - SOMETHING THE REGULATOR REGARDS AS FRAUD BY FALSE REPRESENTATION


Some further examples from the rich smorgasbord of material previously generated by Scam PORTS AND LOGISTICS 'management':

Throughout 2014 management falsely claimed in company statements, the port build-out was underway and land reclamation progressing in line with management expectations. The port build-out did not in fact start until Dec 2014, because site access for aggregate vehicles had been physically impossible since 2003, after monsoon rains washed away part of the access road outside the port, leaving behind a fast flowing 50m wide tidal creek that would require bridging in order to enter the site.


From June 2016 to Jan 2017, the management falsely claimed land reclamation and berth piling were progressing without interruption and the first berth would be completed by the end of 2016. In addition, they embellished and carefully burnished these since exposed fraudulent claims by publishing a £37m Placing and Open Offer Document containing entirely fictitious land reclamation and berth development 'progress' targets - SINCE THE MANAGEMENT PLANNED NOT TO CARRY OUT ANY LAND RECLAMATION WORK OR BERTH DEVELOPMENT WORK WHATSOEVER DURING THIS PERIOD - WHICH IS STRANGE BECAUSE THE COMPANY ACCOUNTS APPEAR TO SUGGEST ANOTHER CIRCA £21M OF SHAREHOLDERS CASH DISAPPEARED WITHOUT TRACE IN Q4/2016.


What would you think, if your fund manager had invested further of your retirement funds in the £37m Placing & Open Offer at a 96% discount to the IPO price, without carrying out any DD worthy of the name and, following the revelation in the Business Press that the Executive Chairman had been exposed as a white collar criminal(insider trading) and was recently the subject of writs alleging the siphoning of tens of £millions out of a company he had previous executive responsibility for, into companies controlled by him and his family, for which they are all now being investigated by a high level department of the Special Fraud Office?


AIOHO/DYOR

[pj 1] 04/9/2017 17:27

Also, DO NOT look at Darren Mercers remuneration....... shocking

[mount teide] 04/9/2017 17:19

agoe104 - indeed, it would probably be safe to assume regular business/first class flights to/from the UK, together with, courtesy of a UK Fund manager, £1,000 executive suites with white gloved butler service at the exclusive Mumbai Taj Mahal!

And to think they refused to fund my economy return ticket from the UK, to discuss a list of technical matters with ITD on-site management, as a result of their inability to provide anyone in Mumbai who appeared to understand, never mind answer the long list of straightforward (for an industry professional) technical questions that my colleagues and I requested information on!


phowdo - shocking developments at BNN - however, like the MPL Executive Chairman, the BNN MD is clearly a dodgy character with betting industry insider trading 'form':

Darren Mercer, a successful Manchester stockbroker, became the highest profile owner to feel the force of the Jockey Club's crusade against racing's equivalent of 'insider trading' when he was warned off for six months yesterday after laying his own horse to lose on a betting exchange ...


Trust them at your peril!

[igoe104] 04/9/2017 16:58

id love too see a break down of the travel expenses MT.

[phowdo] 04/9/2017 16:28

BNN suspended today.
It also has a Lord as a NED to make it appear respectable.

[mount teide] 04/9/2017 14:58

Cenkos off the bid, presumably out of ammunition(clients looking to take exposure to a company with an appalling executive board that has a perfect track record of destroying shareholder value; trashing the share-price from 250p to 7p, while paying themselves handsomely for 7 years for doing very little other than running up £2m plus of travelling and luxury hotel expanses, at an average of £25,000 a month.

Simply amazing how they could run up such a high level of expenses working for MPL, when the two senior members of the Executive Board spend so much time setting up and running other businesses for themselves.

Enough to bring a blush to the cheeks of a New York crime boss!

[mount teide] 02/9/2017 13:42

IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THE MPL MANAGEMENT HAS ALREADY BEEN FORCED TO AMEND THE WEBSITE BY THE NOMAD, AS A RESULT OF MAKING HUGELY EXAGGERATED AND MISLEADING CLAIMS REGARDING THE KARANJA TERMINAL SPECIFICATION:

Its interesting to note MPL'S CLAIMED BUSINESS STRATEGY according to the website:


'Maintain REGULAR communication with ALL stakeholders.' LAUGHABLE!

'TIMELY completion of Karanja Port build out and establish efficient port operator practices.' RISIBLE!

'Maintain a strong in-house project management team to ensure completion within BUDGET.' PREPOSTEROUS!

'Identification of suitable locations for MORE Ports and Logistics facilities.' LUDICROUS! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME - YOUR CREDIBILITY IS TOTALLY SHOT!

Sounds like the Company Board can't help itself, and is once again putting itself at SERIOUS RISK OF RECEIVING LAWSUITS FOR MAKING FALSE REPRESENTATIONS!

[mount teide] 01/9/2017 15:20

Poacher45 - in these situations shareholders are entirely reliant on the investigations/activities of third parties - AIM Regulator and SFO.

However, as Harry Markopolis found out over a period of 10 years - you can only lead a horse(SEC) to water - if they choose not to drink(investigate and act on the evidence), there is little you can do.

Regardless as to what the AIM Regulator and SFO may or may not choose to do with our evidence and investigations, our long industry senior management experience strongly tells us there is NO remotely plausible operating model for a £148m build cost Karanja Port Terminal with £49m of debt loaded with 13.5% interest, that suggests anything other than a very unhappy ending for investors that supported the £37m/10p placing, never mind those who took the disastrous investment decision to support the project at IPO, or vainly tried to catch the falling razor sharp Mercantile knife welded by management to a 2 tonne anvil all the way down from £2.50.


AIOHO/DYOR

[poacher45] 01/9/2017 14:46

Mount Teide after all your evidence and investigations when do you expect anything to be done to bring justice for the shareholders or is it just going to be swept under the carpet.

[pj 1] 01/9/2017 12:33

So, the 'Pump' allowed someone out then. Brokers wh.

[mount teide] 01/9/2017 12:09

800,000 of large sells this morning that were worth £2m at IPO, but now sadly, after the Gandhi scamming crew have weaved their 'spending magic' for 7 years, worth just £56k.

MPL - AIM's best ultra high'spending', low cash and low asset value falling knife!


AIOHO/DYOR

[mount teide] 01/9/2017 11:56

'Both NEDs were called before the photos were published. One said running the company was nothing to do with NEDs (!) and the other asked for all the photos, expressed his unhappiness and promised to investigate. It was obvious that neither NED had been to the location to check on whether progress that had been reported in previous RNS's was true or not. Neither had the nomad, advisors, brokers etc.'

What makes this scam worse is that the Nomad's representative has in fact visited Mumbai and the port site on numerous occasions, including pre and post the £37m cash raise, and actually phoned me(as he promised he would), while standing on the reclaimed land to provide some technical feedback from the ITD Site Chief Engineer who was standing alongside him, concerning the ZERO progress during the 6 months from June 2016 and Jan 2017.

Consequently, how could the Nomad not have been aware they were supporting a £37m placing fraudulently claiming that work had not only continued uninterrupted from Oct 2015 but was progressing apace, and that they expected a further 65 acres to be completed by Jan 2017 - a blatant lie, since it was a physical impossibility when MPL had knowingly and deceitfully stopped all reclamation work but, not'spending', as a further circa £21m of shareholders funds, disappeared like morning mist into the Indian subcontinent ether during Q4/2016).


AIOHO/DYOR

[someuwin] 01/9/2017 10:32

Thanks MT.

[mount teide] 01/9/2017 10:31

someuwin - the recently reported hit GPH took to revenue and cash flow, clearly a result of geopolitical issues/risk from operating cruise ports in Turkey and the Eastern Med, might suggest over a 2-3 year outlook there are probably better alternatives in the sector.

AIMHO/DYOR

[someuwin] 01/9/2017 09:41

Mount Teide - what are your thoughts on Global Ports (GPH) now?

[pj 1] 30/8/2017 20:23

For info I'm also sure he/ she posted that nothing was happening on site at the time, but that's from memory, so caution with my post required

[pj 1] 30/8/2017 20:21

Totally imagination but I well remember a poster here some years ago thanking SPL for building the bridge that improved transport links from Karanja to the Industrial park area.

Maybe the bridge wasn't actually built just for the Port?

[mount teide] 30/8/2017 19:01

fft - thanks for your research note comments.

From memory, our research found the last km of the access 'road' into the Port site has never been more than a poorly maintained compacted gravel track. Until circa 2003, it ran parallel to the foreshore, across the tidal creek immediately outside the Port, along to Karanja Town.

During 2003, the section across the tidal creek was completely swept away by flood waters, leaving a circa 50m gap. The washed away section was never replaced, presumably because of cost and that it was used by few other than a handful of local fisherman.

As we know, MPL took the best part of 15 months during 2013/14 to build a small bridge across the deepest section of the 50m tidal creek to enable aggregate vehicles and heavy machinery to finally gain access to the terminal.

The gravel track regularly floods during the monsoon season and parts of it get washed away making its use problematic at best at that time of the year. In 2016, post the monsoon season, MPL had to carry out extensive repairs to it before heavy vehicles and machinery could regain access to the site - it is almost certainly one of the reasons why ZERO land reclamation has been carried out during the last three monsoon seasons, as it is probably too dangerous for heavy aggregate trucks, which could easily slide off into the mangrove swamp/tidal floodplain alongside.

How they expect third party goods vehicle to use this as the primary means of access to what is supposed to be a 'modern' £150m port development simply beggars belief.

Most goods vehicle operators will expect a safe, well maintained, well lit access road servicing a busy port - not a heavily pot holed, unlit, monsoon affected gravel track, which is in breach of the requirements of the Port Operating Lease.



old punter - congratulations on your first ever post on ADVFN.

With respect, i've set out my views in great detail here and to the AIM Regulator, Nomad and SFO, as to why this Company is completely un-investable, and should be investigated for regulatory/governance failings.

Also, have provided plenty of information/data to show why it will fail to generate anywhere near the revenue and profit required to avoid losing its only asset to the Indian banks that have a lien over it via a £49m loan loaded with 13.5% interest.

In light of what we know now, would be fascinated to hear what you're basing your views on, that this management is capable enough, never mind trustworthy enough, to continue to be worthy of further support from the investment community.

Trust is an enduring bond that links the executives of the most successful companies to its investors. As enduring as that bond may seem, it can be as fragile as glass when it is broken.

When anyone in a position of authority or influence badly messes up or is caught out lying, their credibility immediately comes under scrutiny. And when investors feel they don’t trust you, why would they follow you, let alone invest in your company?

That is a lesson for anyone in a position of executive power.

Trust comes from earning the respect of investors by setting the right example and being self accountable.

While credibility can be a little elastic – that is, investors will occasionally give a management the benefit of the doubt – it is not unbreakable. Serious ethical transgressions sever all credibility, and once credibility is severed, trust and the share-price simply bleeds away.

In such circumstances as Harry Markopolis memorably suggested, "the first loss is usually the best loss!".


AIMHO/DYOR

[my retirement fund] 30/8/2017 18:14

Libel. I don't think anything MT is saying is libellous. I suggest you look the word up !Jees old punter, more like Old Fool.

[old punter] 30/8/2017 16:46

it is very interesting that virtually all the contributors to these articles are either old bears or failed holders.
I have alsolost a lot on this share but from past experience have learned that bad ones can turned right,
in fact I had one stock recently which went down by 98% then I bought 100 times my holding back,
the stock then recovered 11times so I finished up making a very large profit,
the trouble with people who love the sound of their own views are too arrogant to admit that they are not always right forever.Mt Tiede is obviously one of those.
Give up you libel and admit that things do change

[fft] 30/8/2017 16:20

MT,

In my long talk with Pavan on 26th Nov 2014 (1 week after James Sutcliffe and Peter Jones had sent the aerial photos to Pavan) one of the issues I raised was land for the access roads.

The relevant part from my notes are as follows :-

11. Land. Dont need to buy the land, as local authority agreement to co develop roads. Unclear as to whether contract in place and when i mentioned the ipo document and multiple owners, it came back to local authority agreements. (Shame as i was hoping some money had been spent on buying land).


I had a lot of ground to cover in that chat so didn't push it. I think he was being very disingenuous as the roads through the business park are local authority roads, whereas the last km to the port probably isn't.