Mercantile Ports & Logis... Share Discussion Threads

[phowdo] 18/3/2018 09:50

Perhaps they could try FPL for the next one.

You can make your own minds up as to what the F should stand for.

[diku] 18/3/2018 09:29

Think before they do another Placing for more money....maybe another name change for disguise purposes!!...

[pj 1] 16/3/2018 20:32

Somewehat off thread, but a connection. Also a warning to any shorts........and those who think II's know best and have ''inside information'' not privy to PI's

Investors champion

''Fund managers need a spell in the real world!
The first AIM calamity of 2018 - who might be next?
Shares in Conviviality (AIM:CVR), the wholesaler and distributor of alcohol and impulse, are now suspended as it considers the anticipated impact on its funding position of £30m due to HMRC, this after a dreadful trading update only a few days before.

As we commented in our Blog here, this business has looked questionable since an abrupt change of strategy several years ago. The facts were there for all to see, yet conveniently ignored by many swooning institutions who were happy to throw nearly £200m at this questionable, low-growth distributor of alcohol. These same institutions are now considering whether to throw more of their clients’ good money after bad – quite frankly they would probably be better off considering a more positive subject for their clients’ money. ''

[mount teide] 16/3/2018 12:14

PJ1 - 'Odds on a future Pump, Bucket shop Placing or Death spiral where the Companies goal becomes to sell shares rather than build another small part of a make believe market leading modern Port?'

Exactly - the £72m 2010 IPO and £37m 30th October 2016 Shareholders Circular were Mk1 and Mk2 of this scam - rest assured the incredibly thick skinned, self serving venal management will I'm sure attempt to raise more cash - makes sound commercial sense for them to try and get their hands another another multi £million windfall for them to 'spend' before the banks(who are owed £95m in capital and future guaranteed interest) and market says 'enough is enough' and finally elects to bring closure to this appalling scandal.

And don't bet against the shameless Nomad sticking around and collecting their fees until every last dime of shareholders cash has been depleted. Its costing them a pittance to 'manage' the MPL account, considering the MPL management have done very little over the last 8 years at Karanja and, since November 2016 have been keeping their heads well below the parapet.

Since the build out began they quickly learned to do otherwise only results in them being castigated for misleading investors and routinely failing by a totally unacceptable margin, to deliver Karanja construction progress updates that bear even the faintest relationship with any of their previous 'forecasts' and Company Statements AND a truly horrific and totally unbelievable cash burn that bears no resemblance whatsoever to any industry standard benchmark we've come across in 35 years of senior level experience in the global ports and shipping industry!


Any objective evaluation of the MPL cash burn and operational data suggests the management are either incompetent to a level that would completely defy human belief OR are operating a circa £100m scam worthy of the New York Mafia.

With the share price dropping from 250p at IPO to 4p today for delivery of a straightforward real estate project it would appear the market has made up its own mind as to what is going on here and priced the equity accordingly.

[pj 1] 16/3/2018 10:16

£20 million Market Cap. That would rule out many II's from ''investing'' I suspect.

Odds on a future Pump, Bucket shop Placing or Death spiral where the Companies goal becomes to sell shares rather than build another small part of a make believe market leading modern Port?

Most Death spirals only succeed though with massive PI holdings and little if no II shareholdings, , so maybe the II's here could prevent that?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out (although I'd probably wager on the NOMAD quitting to save the Directors immediate blushes.

[27ben] 16/3/2018 10:08

The first cut is the cheapest!

[kev0856153] 16/3/2018 07:31

Oh I don't think the end game is nigh. The cretinous institutional investors will throw another 30 million at this.

[diku] 15/3/2018 22:26

Is the fishy port for fisherman ready?...

[marvelman] 15/3/2018 15:46

The end game is nigh

[mount teide] 15/3/2018 13:54

What a difference two years of NO LONGER BEING AN MPL SHAREHOLDER makes!

It is a salutary lesson on why investors should consider ongoing research POST AN EQUITY INVESTMENT AS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEFORE MAKING AN INVESTMENT.

AND WHY IT IS IMPERATIVE TO CONTINUE TO; examine all research information and company statements EXTREMELY carefully and NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REMAIN INVESTED IN A COMPANY ONCE ITS MANAGEMENT IS CAUGHT LYING TO ITS SHAREHOLDERS AND THE MARKET OR FAILS TO HIT A MAJOR OPERATIONAL OR FINANCIAL TARGET!


After incurring a large five figure paper loss in March at circa 50p in H1/2016 as a result of the management being proven liars and issuing statements to the market subsequently indicating in the strongest possible terms they had carried out fraud by false representation, my industry friends and i took our medicine and sold out - re-investing the funds saved from further guaranteed heavy losses into mostly TAP(66%) and ARS(34%), which we aggressively averaged up during 2017 as the outstanding management of these companies delivered huge additional value materially strengthening the investment case:

Share-price comparisons since H1/2016:

+ 537% - ARS (2p to 12.75p)
+ 276% - TAP (105p to 390p)
- 91% - MPL (50p to 4.5p - with 0p guaranteed)

£100k invested in ARS(one third) and TAP(two thirds) is now worth £464K, while £100k left invested in MPL just £4.5k.
A 103 bagger turnaround in two years!


Moral of the story - NEVER GIVE A ONCE PROVEN UNTRUSTWORTHY MANAGEMENT THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT - NO MATTER HOW PAINFUL THE LOSS - IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES THE FIRST LOSS USUALLY HAS AN UNCANNY ABILITY OF TURNING OUT TO BE BOTH THE SMALLEST AND BEST LOSS!


AIOHO/DYOR

[dave4545] 15/3/2018 09:45

In a bull market maybe, but in this market even good profitable stocks are looking desperate atm.

[pj 1] 15/3/2018 09:45

p.s. All the above is well documented on this and the previous SPL thread as it was discovered

[dave4545] 15/3/2018 09:33

PJ1

You used to be enthusiastic about this stock once so it's below the belt to have a go at others for being keen on a stock.

[pj 1] 15/3/2018 09:31

I would have thought that any sniff of the SFO (or AIM Regulators) investigating or looking at the finances here would result in the Accountant quitting. Is he actually a paid employee or contracted? Being UK based they wouldn't want tarnishing with any dodgy dealings I would have thought.

Could that in itself lead to the NOMAD resigning?

[pj 1] 10/3/2018 22:23

Was Azalea part of the scam? I well remember his/her perma-bull comments and denial of the original photographic evidence showing no Port build in 2014/15.

I also remember a post from years ago that warned the only benefit form the project would be being able to walk from Karanja to xxxxx (I cant remember)via the new bridge. I did a quick search for the post but couldn't find it.

[mount teide] 10/3/2018 17:52

In terms of funds wasted/scammed as a percentage of funds raised - MPL are in a league of their own with daylight second, Sepp Blatter's FIFA and the EU a distant third.

I'm surprised the EU scam artists have not had a close look at MPL's management activities, spending and accounting - they could learn from this lot!

[escapetohome] 10/3/2018 15:57

Less of a scam though than euro bueaurocrats wasting and fiddling billions.

[mount teide] 10/3/2018 15:33

Was white collar criminal, Executive Chairman Nikitall Gandhi's Insider trading offences, publicly exposed following dawn raids on his company offices and family residences by Special Fraud Office investigators and the Mumbai Stock Exchange regulator, followed by Insider 'lending' at Mercantile Shareholder's expense?

SKIL/Mercantile 2012 Accounts - buried away in the accounts is a Loan at a highly preferential rate to an insider. Not just any insider but to a company controlled by our MPL's white collar criminal himself!

The main Mercantile shareholder, Nikhil Gandhi, at the time controlled 28.91% of the company. He also controlled another company (Grevek Investment & Finance Ltd), which in SKIL's accounts, SKIL had lent £1,732,665 as at December 2012 ("demand deposit"), up by £1,314,721 from £417,944 the previous year. It is unsecured with an interest rate of 5% per annum.

However, the company had interest income in 2012 of £5,114,000 and average cash balances of £63,813,000. This suggests an average cash deposit interest rate of 8.01% per annum.

Scandaloudsly, it would seem that Gandhi was using shareholders funds at the time to give a number of huge loans to an insider(himself), at a 3% interest benefit (at least) , in order to help finance his outside business and investment interests and activities.

Shortly after, SKIL/Mercantile raised £48m at an interest rate of circa 13.5% and the Company immediately drew down and 'spent' £17m on lord knows what because they did not get access to the site to commence land reclamation operations until the following year.

We can find no evidence in subsequent accounts that interest was paid on the loan or any of the Capital was repaid, or whether what remains with the bulk of Mercantile's cash deposits, has since been held with secure, well regulated and audited institutions.


AIOHO/DYOR

[mount teide] 07/3/2018 13:25

Cant wait to see what the Management's current 'carrying value' is for Karanja and the cash and bank loan drawdown remaining.

'During the six months ended 30 June 2017, the Group progressed construction of the facility and the carrying amount at 30 June 2017 was £ 116.12 million.'

'As of 30 June 2017 MPL had £19.16 million cash on hand (31 Dec 2016: £35.69m and 30 June 2016: £35.7m) and £21.4 million (31 Dec 2016: £25m) headroom in it existing credit facility.'


Such is the brazen nature of the SCAM, in H2/2016(The Monsoon season, more commonly known to MPL Shareholders as Management's 6 month fully paid annual leave), it subsequently came to light in Jan 2017 thanks to Management posting photographs on THEIR OWN WEBSITE CONFIRMING THAT NO WORK WHATSOEVER HAD BEEN CARRIED OUT DURING H2/2016 , COMPLETELY CONTRARY TO THE SHAREHOLDERS CIRCULAR TO RAISE £37M, WHICH CLAIMED WORK WAS PROGRESSING AT SUCH A PACE TWO BERTHS WOULD BE COMPLETE BY THE END OF THE 2016, the amount of cash stayed the same BETWEEN JUNE AND DECEMBER 2016 at £35.7m, DESPITE SCAMMING the LONDON MARKET FOR ANOTHER £37m!

WHERE DID THE £37M GO? Answers on a postcard to the Serious Fraud Office.

In June 2017, management claimed Karanja had a completely fantasy world carrying value of £116.12m - MPl had £40.4m of cash and loan drawdown remaining, and a bank loan and interest liability of £95m, with annual interest and capital repayments now running of at least at £10m a year, forecast to rise to near £13m a year.

The carrying value today is probably up to £130m if Management's past behaviour is a reliable guide, the cash remaining around £20m, the Bank Loan and interest liability around £90m and, have interest and capital repayments now running around £12m per annum.

We predicated in November 2016, if the £37m scam proceeded it would probably keep the lights on until latest Feb 2019 (when that years £13m interest and capital repayment loan payment falls due) - everything to date suggests that forecast is spot on.

That much of the £110million raised appears to have disappeared without trace is totally scandalous but when a significant portion of the remainder IS SHAMELESSLY USED to keep the management in the NINTH YEAR of the Taj Mahal white glove butler service lifestyle they have been accustomed to AT SHAREHOLDERS EXPENSE, it is BEYOND OUTRAGE.

AIOHO/DYOR

[my retirement fund] 07/3/2018 07:31

Nevever a truer word said regards the FCA don't give a dam. The UK do not have a fit and proper regulator and never have done.Thats why for example its taken 5 years to launch an investigation into the coop collapse and ban its druggie ceo.Meanwhile hundreds of millions of pounds are routinely syphoned off the London markets into the hands of foreign fraudsters.Its not as though the UK can afford to let it happen either. If you look at some of our wealth rankings we are tumbling further and further down them and when it comes to people on pensions we are one of the lowest rated in the whole of Europe.

[phowdo] 07/3/2018 07:11

Is anyone surprised that this sort of thing goes on after the revelations about Beaufort facilitating pump & dump and money laundering in the US?
Its almost inevitable other city firms are up to the same sort of shenanigans this side of the pond. Unfortunately it was the SEC that busted Beaufort, the FCA dont give two hoots about white collar fraud on AIM and in the city.

[escapetohome] 07/3/2018 06:43

Market regulators please put an end to this scam.

[mount teide] 07/3/2018 01:39

Well, well - the whistleblower was right the MPL management have done hardly anything at Karanja over the last 9 months!

"A picture is worth a thousand words" - It basically refers to the notion that a single still image conveys its meaning more effectively than a MPL RNS project update, full of Fraud by False Representation ever could.

The latest Google Earth images are now available for Karanja and the JNPT terminal developments and what a treasure trove of information they contain!

As predicted back in October 2016, MPL shareholders have since had their trousers pulled down and been bent over and given a right royal rogering.

Karanja - total land reclaimed 90 acres - same as in June 2017. This is just 15 acres additional to that achieved nearly 2 YEARS ago in May 2016!!!!!!

It without doubt makes the contents of the Shareholders Circular dated 31 October 2016 to scam the London market for another £37m of UK Pension Funds, AIM's Greatest Work of Fiction with Daylight second.

The top deck construction of the lightweight jetty is barely half finished and the jetty measures 380 metres in total, and that's being generous - with access only from one end, contrary to the recent video.

The total land area currently under final preparation for cargo storage is just 8 acres at best.

There is NO OTHER Port infrastructure yet in place - For management to forecast millions of tonnes of cargo throughput for 2018 with 70 % of the entire facility operational by the end of 2018, is as we predicted a total nonsense. They won't even achieve 20% of that and the start of the monsoon season and Managements next 6 month fully paid and £25k a month expensed holiday is only 3 months away.

The Karanja Scam is without doubt a racket worthy of the Mafia!


JNPT - in barely two years, they have built a now complete 1,000m heavyweight deep sea jetty capable of handling ships over 400m long and 40 times the deadweight of the maximum Karanja can handle, and reclaimed 225 acres of land in 20 metres of fast flowing water, of which at least 200 acres is now fully prepared to handle heavyweight container cargo.

The rail access into the port is complete, all essential port infrastructure is complete, 6 'super post pananmax' container gantry cranes installed on the jetty, and 25 port and rail side gantry cranes installed to handle containers into and out of storage.

Effectively, the port is ready to start FULL cargo operations across 90% of the site within 2 years.


Tell the story of the Karanja scam to the Brinks Matt Crew and they will be shaking their heads in total disbelief, realising they are in the wrong game! Why rob banks when you can put a suit and tie on and take the London markets for £110m!

The II's could have shut the Nick-it-all Crew's Karanja scam down in October 2016 but elected to ignore professional advice, preferring to rely two UK Non Execs that hold NO Ports or Shipping industry qualifications whatsoever and who have since quietly slipped away with over £300k each safety tucked away in their offshore bank accounts - THE INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS DESERVE NO SYMPATHY THEY HAVE BADLY LET DOWN THEIR CLIENTS.

THEY SHOULD HAVE ACTED ON THE ADVICE TO APPOINT A CONSULTANT MARINE CIVIL ENGINEER TO CARRY OUT AN AUDIT OF THE WORK COMPLETED UNTIL OCTOBER 2016 - IT WOULD HAVE EXPOSED AND SHUT DOWN THIS APPALLING, UNCONSCIONABLE SCAM IN ITS TRACKS AND SAVED ANOTHER £37M OF THEIR CLIENTS INVESTMENTS FROM DISAPPEARING WITHOUT TRACE LIKE MORNING MIST.

AIOHO/DYOR