Mercantile Ports & Logis... Share Discussion Threads

[mount teide] 06/7/2017 17:02

MRF - 'What a bloody scam. AIM should hang its head in shame as should all connected parties ti this fraud, quite how some people sleep at night is beyond me.'


A luxury lifestyle of multi £million properties, 7 series & S Class Mercedes, privately educated children, high maintenance mistresses, First Class Air Travel, 5 Star Hotel Executive Suites, Michelin Star Restaurant Accounts, and wardrobes of designer clothes can help some to develop extremely thick skins and show complete indifference, when it is funded by the retirement investments of hardworking taxpayers!

[marvelman] 06/7/2017 14:50

Yes indeed. The reality of the markets and its consequences to individuals and their families cannot be better illustrated than by this gut wrenchingly awful company and the scum that run it. If that 1 million was not an institution then that hit would surely have hurt someone badly. If only there was a means to inflict likewise pain on the villains that have caused this to happen. This has to have been a plan from the beginning as no one could have caused such a disaster just through sheer incompetence. This was made to happen plain and simple.

[diku] 06/7/2017 14:20

Somebody done a runner here....1mln dumped at 2.5p is where the price will be heading....any chance of a High Court judgement against insiders if foul play is going on....

[my retirement fund] 06/7/2017 12:19

Wow someone managed to dump 1 mill at 2.5pence.There broker must have sweated buckets to find an idiot to have taken the other end of that one. LOL !On a more serious note one could easily be looking at a pension fund trustee there who has just crystallized a 2 Milllion pound loss for their clients whom will mostly be hard working honest folk.What a bloody scam. AIM should hang its head in shame as should all connected parties ti this fraud, quite how some people sleep at night is beyond me.

[escapetohome] 06/7/2017 12:07

I wouldnt even touch this one.

Maybe at 0.5p for a gamble?

[someuwin] 06/7/2017 11:12

What looks like buys could well be shorts closing before they get locked in by suspension.

[orinocor] 06/7/2017 11:10

Where are the institutional investors who bought in the placing at 10p? Obviously 3.75p is a bargain or is it that even for these clearly clueless investors the penny has finally dropped.
Where's James Sutcliffe? The NED whose presence is supposed to reassure shareholders there is an independent expert keeping an eye on things. LOL.

[marvelman] 06/7/2017 10:23

It would appear that there are actual buyers of this stock today despite the basket case that it has demonstrated it to be. It sure takes all sorts of investors to make a market.

[phowdo] 06/7/2017 09:32

Is it possible to stoop without a backbone?

[pj 1] 06/7/2017 09:15

-23%. Couldn't possibly be a leak of suspension or NOMAD resignation? Cenkos would never stoop so low............

[marvelman] 06/7/2017 09:10

In its final death throws today it seems. Amazed there are still shares held by PI's that are still to be sold.

[phowdo] 06/7/2017 08:42

Soon the Nomad's "plausible deniability" will look tenuous even for the city...

[waterloo01] 06/7/2017 08:22

Great letter MT. At some point they might actually take action.

[mount teide] 05/7/2017 23:18

'Where is deepvalueinvestor who was very bullish buying all the way down from 100p...insider maybe?...'

No, he is a genuine investor who was sadly duped by the management of a company whose accounts appear to suggest, they may have burnt through £44m(think nearly two Brinks Matt heists)BEFORE, starting any on-site land reclamation or berth development.

And who elect to stop all land reclamation during the 6 month monsoon season for the third year in row - while loan interest payments totalling £6m a year are currently running at Shareholders expense!

Shareholders will recall, just 5 miles away at JNPT, ITD managed to reclaim 225 acres in 21 months which included two full monsoon seasons and tidal waters up to 21m deep! However, JNPT has professional management, who would have initiated crippling contractual financial penalties against ITD, if ITD failed to resource the Port Development project in line with, the two year construction timetable for the marine civil engineering elements of the build out.


AIOHO/DYOR

[mount teide] 05/7/2017 22:44

British Pensions Funds would have paid £110k at IPO for a shareholding the size of that 44k that went through earlier today.

Its now worth £1.8k! Barely 2 days of management's average travelling expenses over the last seven years - which have totalled £2m since IPO; during which they have destroyed shareholder value on an almost unprecedented scale, reducing the share price from 250p to 4.25p. For which shareholders have not seen resignations but, Board promotions!

The management were so embarrassed about shareholders publicising the scandal of their travelling and 5 star hotel expenses, they stopped reporting that information in the latest set of prelims, presumably because it has continued to rise and they want to keep the little perk of office and continue living in the lifestyle they have become accustomed to at shareholders expense.



Some more details have emerged with respect to Sunny Varkey, the billionaire education entrepreneur and philanthropist, and Unesco Goodwill Ambassador serving writs on former Everonn Education directors Nikhil Gandhi and P Kishore(MD) in connection with allegedly carrying out fraudulent transactions and siphoning off huge sums of funds from Everonn, of as much as £12m:


MPL Executive Chairman Gandhi's immediate family have been implicated in the alleged fraud and cases filed against them too.

The matter is now being investigated by the Serious Crime Branch of the Special Fraud Office following a formal complaint from a livid Sunny.

Following Sunny's takeover of Everonn Education, his accountants found the company's books to be a work of fiction and the accounts manipulated.



Talking of works of fiction - despite TWO reminders to the NOMAD, we are still to see any developments with respect to the Shareholders Circular to raise £37m being in breach of the Port Operating Concession:


Here is the latest reminder to the Head of Compliance at the Nomad Cenkos:


Good afternoon Ms Wood,

Thank you for the long overdue clarification by way of RNS, of the situation with respect to Mr N Gandhi’s subscription shares. Although, in view of Grant Thornton’s involvement as Mercantile’s auditors, it would have been a little more re-assuring if the RNS had also included confirmation that the funds had actually been received in the Guernsey bank account, as stated in the Jan 2017 RNS.

You may recall Grant Thornton audited AIM fraud Globo's accounts. Shortly after Globo issued an audited financial statement cheerfully claiming the Company had circa £100m on deposit, it proved to be a total fabrication. In light of this, i recently wrote to Grant Thornton asking what methodology they use, to ensure cash funds claimed by the management of Companies like Mercantile, that they get paid extremely well to audit, are actually in the bank accounts. I received the following rather unhelpful reply:


Thank you for your email enquiry.

We owe a duty of confidentiality to our client and cannot discuss any details relating to the client about which you are seeking information.

Your sincerely

For and on behalf of Grant Thornton (UK) LLP


You will recall i also sent you the following email message on 16 June 2017:


'There is an Risk Factor detailed in the IPO document, concerning a condition of the Karanja Port Operating Dead of Lease, which has been breached by the management when they elected to proceed with the £37m cash raise in October 2016. For which we are yet to find a Company statement confirming this matter has been satisfactorily dealt with, in order to protect shareholders interests.'

'IPO - Risk Factors

Reliance on SKIL as the promoter of the Project:
'It is a condition of the Deed of Lease that SKIL, KIPL and their respective promoters and affiliates retain a minimum 26%, directly or indirectly, in the Project (the ‘‘Minimum Threshold’R17;). If that interest is not maintained the MMB may seek to terminate the Deed of Lease, which would have a material adverse effect on the Group’s business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as acting as a potential deterrent to potential acquirers of the Company.'

'The Board believes it is unlikely that the Minimum Threshold will be breached in the foreseeable future. In the event that a transaction was proposed in the future that would be likely to cause a breach of the Minimum Threshold, the Board would have to determine whether or not to proceed with such a transaction, taking into account all of the circumstances at that time. The Board believes that it may be possible to reach agreement with the MMB in the future with respect to reducing or eliminating the Minimum Threshold ONCE THE PROJECT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AND IS OPERATIONAL,ALTHOUGH THERE CAN BE NO ASSURANCE THAT ANY SUCH AGREEMENT WILL BE REACHED.'


Incredibly, the breach was news to the your account representative Stephen Keys when i first brought it to his attention many, many months ago. Yet, as detailed in the IPO documentation, despite the breach carrying the risk of loss of the Operating Concession and, the total loss of all shareholder value, it is simply extraordinary that some 8 months later, after completely overlooking its importance and significance in the production of the Shareholders Circular to raise £37m in October 2016, for which Cenkos were extremely well remunerated, shareholders are still yet to see an appropriate response from the Nomad/Company, in line with their duties and responsibilities with respect to the UK Corporate Governance Code and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisors.

I would politely remind Cenkos that during this period, the market capitalisation of Mercantile Ports & Logistics has dropped by some 60% - do you think that shareholders might consider the lack of regulatory oversight from the Nomad in this connection, despite it being repeatedly brought to its attention, may have been a contributing factor in the appalling loss of shareholder value since October 2016 and indeed, at other times since IPO, where a lack of due diligence by the Nomad has resulted in RNS, Financial Statements and Shareholders Circulars being issued by Mercantile, that the late Alan Clarke MP might, with the benefit of hindsight, describe as being extremely ‘economical with the actualite’.


Kind regards,


AIOHO/DYOR

[diku] 04/7/2017 23:13

Where is deepvalueinvestor who was very bullish buying all the way down from 100p...insider maybe?...

[mount teide] 04/7/2017 15:45

Serious Fraud Office Tel: [phone]/7011
Email: [e-mail]

Aim Regulator Tel: [phone]
Complaints relating to an AIM company or a Nomad’s compliance with the AIM Rules,
e-mail: [e-mail]

[mount teide] 03/7/2017 11:54

Annual Report - confirmed a £55m cash burn in 2016.

Comprised of circa £40m cash plus £15m bank loan drawdown

Work Completed during 2016

65 acres of land reclaimed
80 shallow water jetty piles laid
Some Channel Dredging in H1 (scope yet to be confirmed)

Laughably, the market is told that little lot cost a totally implausible £55m of shareholders funds - just £2m less than ITD' successful tender offer to build a 200 acre terminal with 6 berths on a fixed quay wall, with the 3 mile Karanja Creek dredged to a minimum of -4.5m.


Progress - June 2016 to Dec 2017

June 2016 - 75 acres Land and 58 Piles

Oct 2016 Shareholders Circular - Nominated for AIM's Greatest Work of Fiction
Stated a Jan 2017 target of:
140 acres and 2 berths complete - actual result ZERO additional acres and No berths

Stated a June 2017 Target of:
200 acres and 6 berths(4 operational) - actual result 15 acres in a year(90 acres in total) and NO berths

Prelims now state a totally pitiful Dec 2017 target of:
90 acres and 2 operational berths - however even this has the heavy caveat of (depending on the length of the monsoon and other factors beyond company control!)


Prelims

'Conclusion'

'The Company has experienced the sort of minor interruptions to activity that often impact projects such as this in India.'

Nonsense. The company knowingly with circa £4m/year of debt interest payment running, stopped all Land reclamation for 6 months (June-Dec 2016) - despite fraudulently telling the market otherwise while raising a further £37m - by claiming full time work on-site had continued without material interruption since Oct 2015, and to expect 65 additional acres of Land reclamation by Jan 2017. (A complete Fraud, since NO Land Reclamation work was taking place).

'The cumulative effect of these minor and unforeseen interruptions is that management no longer expect the facility to be completed by the end of the year.'

Nonsense. The cumulative effect of the Board misleading the market by fraudulently claiming land reclamation work and berth piling was continuing apace from June to Jan 2017, when it had actually been shut down, means that the Company only completed 10% of the June 2017 land reclamation work target, and just 20% of the berth piling and construction target, despite having a cash burn many, many multiples of that reasonably expected for achieving so little. And now, with all Land Reclamation shut down in H2/2017 means, since June 2016, MPL will have achieved just 10% of the stated June 2017 land reclamation target by Jan 2018! Fraud by False Misrepresentation on a truly industrial scale.


'However, depending on the length of the monsoon and other factors beyond its control, management is confident that two berths will be operational and the facility will be generating revenue by the end of the year.'

By Dec 2017, management will have completed a totally unacceptable 15 acres of land reclamation since June 2016, despite claiming in the Shareholders Circular to raise £37m that they expected to achieve an additional 125 acres by June 2017 and have 6 berths complete with 4 operational).

The sorry tale of SPL/MPL is one of industrial scale Board incompetence that clueless II's should have dealt with in no uncertain terms long ago, and fraud by false representation to raise a further £37m from the market. A crude and unsophisticated fraud that could and, should have been stopped in its tracks by the Nomad, who failed to carry out even the most basic due diligence to confirm the accuracy of the contents of the Shareholders Circular, thereby aiding and abetting the Company to engage in conduct brazenly crafted to mislead.

The Nomad, after failing to carry out the necessary due diligence to protect shareholders and prospective shareholders interests, compounded this failure by missing a second opportunity to prevent the fraud by false misrepresentation via the Interims. Where, a statement unwittingly went out, indicating that NO Land Reclamation had been carried in the there months since late June 2016, despite the Interims claiming full time work on site resumed in 'late October 2015, and has continued uninterrupted since'.


Why has ITD been able to reclaim 225 acres in 21 months(which included 2 full monsoon seasons) at JNPT in tidal waters up to 21m deep. Yet at Karanja has not carried out any land reclamation at Karanja in tidal waters up to 5m deep, during most of the last three Monsoon seasons, despite MPL fraudulently claiming otherwise in the Shareholders Circular to raise an additional £37m?

As we correctly predicted at the time, anyone relying on the accuracy of the contents of the Shareholders Circular is going to be massively disappointed, since it is a work of fiction, that is likely to result in shareholders getting 20% of the progress management claim at best, should shareholders fully support the £37m cash rise.

Sadly for shareholders how right we were, although, even we were shocked to see that much less than even our dire and totally unacceptable progress prediction had actually been achieved, principally due as it subsequently came to light, by the Company fraudulently claiming to have been carrying out land reclamation work for a 6 month period at at rate far in advance of anything previously achieved, when IT WAS IN FACT KNOWINGLY CARRYING OUT NO LAND RECLAMATION WORK WHATSOEVER.

Those who relied on the Shareholders Circular to raise £37m being an accurate document, and have since found themselves 60% down, on top of the 95% fall in the value of their IPO investment during a period when other false statements were made(easily verifiable with the passage of time from Google Earth historic images, photographs on the MPL website and obtained by shareholders via a hired light aircraft repeatedly flown over the site), clearly have suffered a material loss for which the Company and its representatives should be held to account.

Like us, MPL shareholders and anyone else concerned with the behaviour, integrity and probity of the Company and its representatives, should make their concerns known to the AIM REGULATOR and SFO by way of a call, letter or email.


AIOHO/DYOR

[diku] 01/7/2017 22:35

What was the main reason for name change?....and was that the hint all is not well...

[kev0856153] 01/7/2017 22:03

The Brits did more good than bad in India so I don't know where that comes from. The world's biggest railway network was constructed under British rule. We also gave them the English language. India would be at the same level as Indonesia now if it wasn't for the Brits.

[my retirement fund] 01/7/2017 10:22

OrinocorThe lead Indian bank in the loan will most probably be well briefed on this scam from the start. They know the connected parties will take over this fraud once the money runs out and repay them.I once worked with an Indian fella and we became quite close. Remember him fondly. Navin was his name. Anyway he explained that in middle and upper class Indian society, the British were considered fair game to cheat and defraud because they feel we raped the country in our colonial past and its akin to getting ones own back. In India, folk who successfully do this are seen and thought of as heroes. Contrast that to most other countries were they would be considered criminals.The fact of the matter is, once this scam has played out, they will be local heroes and higher positions in local and national government will await them.You can shout all you want to but India is a very long way away from the grubby functioning of London's AIM stock exchange.