Ventus Vct Share Discussion Threads

[timbo003] 11/9/2006 20:42

Well {as anticipated), this seems to be more of a blog than a BB thread, so I reckon I might as well post on my recent investment experiences concening Westmill windfarm.

You may recall Westmill are a (wannabe) windfarm co-op who recently raised money through a public subscription to fund a Windfarm near Swindon, they tempted me with EIS tax benefits, which I doubt very much will be forthcoming. Westmill's web site is here:



Westmill Co-op launched their share offer in November 2005. The objective was to raise £3.75M from the share offer, which combined with a bank loan would fund the £5.8M required to purchase and commission 5 X 1.3MW turbines. There was also a contingency plan which required £2.65M from the share offer, which combined with a bank loan would fund the £4.15M required to purchase and commission 5 X 0.85MW turbines.

Rather than allocate shares on a first come, first served basis, the co-op stated that they would prioritise certain categories with respect to share allocation in the event of an oversubscription. For example, investors living within a 50 mile radius and members of other Energy4all co-operatives would get prioritised over other applicants. It is fair enough having priority applicants, I don't have any problems with that, but structuring they offer in such a way gave no incentives for non-priority applicants (such as myself) to apply early for shares, as a result, the share offer got off to a very slow start. In fact, I didn't send my application off until 10 days before the offer closed. What Westmill should have done, is state that a certain percentage of shares would be allocated on a priority basis and the remainder would be on a first come,first served basis. If they had done this I (and I'm sure many others) would have applied for shares much earlier, i.e. during November rather than waiting until February.

On March 28th they wrote to shareholders stating that they raised £4.3M, however, Seimens could not supply the 1.3MW turbines in a "reasonable time frame" and that although an alternative 1.3MW turbine was available, it was not well suited to the Westmill site. They stated that they intended to persue the contigency option, scale back applications for non-priority applicants and had enclosed a refund cheque with the letter.

On April 28th Westmill wrote to shareholders again, stating that construction was due to start in September 2006 based on 5 X 0.85MW turbines.

On 26th July they wrote again, informing shareholders that they had instructed the co-op's advisers to negotiate terms with Gamesa, but Gamesa had suddenly advised them that the delivery time had increased from 9 months to three years.



I do find it astonishing that Westmill refunded the money in March, before they had checked that the 5 X 0.85MW project was still viable within an acceptable time frame. By sending out the refunds they effectively ruled out the (preferred) 5 X 1.3MW option unless they initiated a further time consuming fund raising.

Finally, one last gripe: in the prospectus why on earth did Westmill state that they intend to pay shareholders annual interest (taxed at 20% for ordinary rate taxpayers and 40% for higher rate taxpayers), rather than dividends (taxed at 10% for ordinary rate taxpayers and at 32.5% for higher rate tax payers)?

Needless to say, I now regret investing in Westmill, but, what a relief that I got scaled back in my application.

Why didn't I stick all my Westmill investment in Ventus instead, Doohh!

[timbo003] 29/8/2006 19:26

I found this at the Climate Change Capital Web site, it's dated August 2006, so I'm not exactly sure on which day it was released.



So, it looks like all 3 Ventus funds have now invested in the Craig farm project (which is excellent news) with a total of £2.7M invested between the 3 funds. Construction at the Craig farm site should commence this month, with electricity generation commencing summer 2007.

[a0002577] 07/8/2006 09:35

Well Timbo003 - I would never invest in a a company where the Chairman signed himself as Chair. Sorry about this - it will cost you a lot in lost tax relief. Hope it turns out well in the end - kind regards - A000

[timbo003] 06/8/2006 10:53

There's a bit of news in today's Scotland on Sunday concerning Craig Windfarm, which is one of the Ventus investments. They intend to start construction next year, let's just hope they can get hold of the turbines by then!

[timbo003] 31/7/2006 20:36

I recently invested in a windfarm co-op; Westmill windfarm (see earlier posts), hoping to bag some EIS benefits and some nice big divis , their web site is here:



Westmill recently sent memebers/shareholders a business update (see below), it seems that they are having big problems sourcing suitable turbines leading to inevitable delays.



I only have a modest holding in Westmill (£2.4K), so I'm not too concerned about my Westmill investment, however, it does increase my concerns regarding Ventus 1, 2 and 3 fulfilling the investment criteria for VCTs in the required time span.

[timbo003] 17/7/2006 21:07

Geotrupes are going for an IPO shortly (July/August) and are looking to raise around £6.5M after expenses. Ventus currently hold a 15% stake (cost: £351K) in Geotrupes

You can download the prospectus and apply for shares here (you will have to register first)



Geotrupes may well qualify for EIS tax reliefs, but the minimum investment is £35K, so probably not one for me.

[timbo003] 22/5/2006 19:55

Ventus and Ventus 2/3; steady as a rock throughout the recent stock market turmoil, not that anyone would sell anyway due to loss of tax reliefs.

Until very recently, I had forgotten another advantage of VCTs, i.e. in order to fund them I have to cash in some of my other liquid stock market investments (near the market top so it would seem for my recent VCT investments), so avoiding lots of nasty loses that would have otherwise been incurred over the last couple of weeks.

[timbo003] 19/4/2006 19:29

Note to self: Crude oil now at $73/barrel, you can only pump it up once, $200/barrel here we come, yippee!

[timbo003] 10/4/2006 19:55

Interesting to see that Ventus is one of only two VCTs which are currently open for tax year 2006/2007 (another specialist fund: IBIS is the only other one):



Unlike almost all of the other VCT funds on offer earlier this year (especially the AIM funds), there is still a reasonable investment case for Ventus, even under Gordon's new kill-joy VCT rules.

However, I will not be investing any more, as I've got plenty already (£54K in Ventus 1, 2 and 3).

Note to self: Crude oil now at $69/barrel, you can only pump it up once, $200/barrel here we come, yippee!

[timbo003] 06/4/2006 18:31

The Ventus 2/3 2005/2006 is now closed, they raised £20.7M (between the two companies), not bad for a specialist fund.



They are staying open for the 2006/2007 tax year, although I suspect demand will be very, very subdued and I will definitely not be adding to my holding (29K plus a few free ones) under Culpability's new spoil sport reduced tax reliefs

[timbo003] 05/4/2006 20:56

See link below to listen to article on Radio 4 today program earlier today, Is wind power a reliable source of energy?, for Britain the answer is apparently: yes



On a related matter, Ventus 2/3 subscriptions are now up to £19.6M (according to Hargreaves Lansdown)

[timbo003] 30/3/2006 20:16

Ventus 2/3 now up to £12.6M subscriptions (according to Hargreaves Lansdown), £29K's worth of them are mine, it would have been more but I have now run out of income tax to reclaim.

Oil is now at $67/barrel and going forever upwards (you can only pump it up once!) the pound is down the toilet vs the dollar and its likely to go lower IMHO, so fill yer boots, you have until April 4th to get the 40p in the pound income tax relief, thereafter, it's only 30p in the pound. You know it makes sense!

[timbo003] 29/3/2006 17:22

There was a piece on radio 4's "You and yours" this lunch time entitled "More problems for wind farms" which you can listen to here



It highlighted the difficulties that some "would be" windfarms are having getting connected to the Grid. A bit worrying, but presumably not a problem for any of the Ventus investee companies, or they would have told us about it, wouldn't they?

[Abuse team] 23/3/2006 18:05

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[timbo003] 23/3/2006 18:03

A couple of things:

Ventus2/3 are now up to £8.5M according to the Hargreaves Lansdown web site, I've done £26K in them to complement my £25K in Ventus 1 (last year)

The Epic codes for Ventus 2 and 3 are VEN2 and VEN3 respectively (what a surprise!), ADVFN haven't figured this out yet, but (the old uk-wire site) lists their announcements.

As mentioned higher up, I applied for shares in the (EIS qualifying) Westfield co-op windfarm, but I read today that I've been scaled back to 40% (£2.4K from £6K) of my original application.



The main reasomn for this is that the intended supplier of the turbines could not supply them on time, the co-op have therefore opted to go for smaller turbines which are currently available in the desired timeframe. It's a sign of the times I'm afraid, which reminds me of the old stockmarket adage: when's there's a gold rush, invest in a business selling picks and shovels. Alas, I do not think there are any UK listed companies manufacturing wind turbines.

On the positive side, the scale back in Westfield means I can probably do a bit more in Ventus2/3 (another £3K max) to ensure that I claim back virtually all my income tax for tax year 2005/2006. On the negative side, I better extract my digit and find some more EIS opportunities, or else I'm going to get very close to paying CGT (for the first time ever!)

[Abuse team] 17/3/2006 18:46

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[timbo003] 17/3/2006 18:45

Ventus 2/3 are now up to £6.7M (according to Hargreaves Lansdown), I'll be putting my applicaton in for £26Ks worth this weekend

Why not take this opportunity to hedge against forever rising leccy prices, Fossil fuels are running out and that's for sure, you can only dig them up/pump them up once, fill yer boots with Ventus, you know it makes sense.

[wiganer] 02/3/2006 16:52

Those Cumbrian nimbies really take the biscuit. I suppose they'd rather have another nuclear rector than a beautiful wind farm. Insane.

[timbo003] 02/3/2006 16:49

Small wind farms seem to be the way to go



Meanwhile Ventus 2/3 are up to £2.4M, fill yer boots!

[Abuse team] 16/2/2006 13:10

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