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Culver Street (Trading) Ltd, Vinsignia Ltd and the WIA

August 6, 2014, 10:32 am
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Château Gazin, Pomerol

Below is an anonymous comment left on the post about Premier Cru and Cult Wine Ltd. I'm not posting it there because it is not relevant. Instead here is a separate post covering Culver Street (Trading), Vinsignia Ltd and the Wine Investment Association.    

'Hi Jim,

A curious thing: having checked the Wine Investment Association website it seems that Culver Street Trading are no longer a registered member but that another company of which Hugo Rose (chairman of the Wine Investment Association) has miraculously taken its place. On further investigation, it seems that Culver Street are now in liquidation

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/2172343

So, the chairman's company is in liquidation and ghas been replaced by the WIA by another company he has an interest in. This raises many questions, least of which is, if Amphora Portfolio Management, who's membership has been "pending" for almost two years have not in that time had their audit and passed their initiation into the association, how on earth have this new company had the time to suddenly pass the audit? Have the WIA simply sneaked this company in through the back door? And is it a glowing recommendation of the WIA that the chairman of the association's company has gone into liquidation?'

Anon
Thanks for your comment. 

Firstly Hugo Rose MW was never a director of Culver Street (Trading) Ltd. He was a consultant to the company. His consultancy ceased in June 2014. You are correct that Culver Street (Trading) Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation. 82-year-old Richard Wheeler is now the sole director in post. 

Vinsignia Ltd was formed on 15.12.2009 but not with that name. The company name changed to Vinsignia on 21.2.2012 and Hugo Rose MW was appointed as a director on 12.11.2012. The last accounts were filed on 31.12.2011 as a dormant company. The company's latest accounts have been overdue since 31st March 2014, although Hugo Rose says they have recently been filed.

I understand that Vinsignia Ltd and another company have taken over Culver Street (Trading) Ltd's customers and their stocks. This includes stock in the UK as well as in France. 

As far as Vinsignia Ltd and the WIA is concerned I assume a new audit has been carried out – given that Rose has been a director since November 2012 there would have been time for this to be done. 

I would agree that it does not reflect well that Vinsignia Ltd's accounts have not been filed on time and that a First Gazette was published on 1st July 2014, which was subsequently cancelled on 12th July. 

It is also curious that Amphora Portfolio Management Ltd's full WIA membership remains pending. As is the case with a number of wine retailers the WIA needs to bring its code of practice into line with the contracts legislation, which came into force across the EU on 13th June 2014.  

  
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Pass the Portfolio: explanation from Cult Wines Ltd to Premier Cru investors

August 7, 2014, 4:44 pm
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Below is an email message sent on Thursday 7th August by Cult Wines Ltd to a client of Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd. 

It is clear from a number of messages that I have received that some clients of Premier Cru are not happy with the situation they now find themselves in. One area of unhappiness is the increase in the annual management fee from 1.75% with Premier Cru to 5% for the first two years with Cult Wines. It may be that the answers and explanations Cult Wines Ltd offer below provide the reassurance they want.

There are, however, some crucial pieces of information missing that would assist Premier Cru investors in deciding what is their best option. 

These include: 
the name of the company making the arrangements for Premier Cru to go into liquidation. It would appear that the creditors' meeting is on 14th August when a liquidator will be appointed. 

Will the liquidator be prepared to release wines in Premier Cru client accounts to individual investors if their ownership can be clearly established. It would appear reasonable to assume that they will as the individuals' stock rotation numbers were included in the letter sent out by Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd on 31st July 2014. Furthermore Cult Wines Ltd' proposal to manage the stock held in bond by clients of Premier Cru also assumes that ownership and title of these stocks is clearly established.  
 
If the liquidator is prepared to release these wines to investors, then Premier Cru clients will have various options: opening their own account at a bonded warehouse – EHD would be the most logical in this instance as the wines are currently stored there and their fine wine facilities are good. Alternatively, as an alternative to the Cult Wines Ltd, they could consider dealing with storage/management companies like Arc Reserves, Nexus or Private Reserves – see my previous post here. Clients wanting to sell would be in a position to approach a number of merchants to see who is offering the best deal. Though be warned the prices have been falling since 2011, so now is not an ideal time to sell.

Wine funds 
There is a further option that Premier Cru clients may want to investigate  – exchanging the value of their wines into shares in a wine fund. This possibility has been suggested to me by Miles Davis, a director of Wine Asset Managers (WAM). These funds are similar to a unit trust and as they are collective investment schemes their management is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  The FCA insists that certain criteria have to be met before someone is allowed to invest in one of these funds.

This means that there would be a minimum sum required – Davis has indicated for WAM this would be £10,000. Among other criteria a Premier Cru client would have to show that they are a 'sophistcated' investor and that they understood the nature of collective investment schemes. Naturally WAM or other funds would only be interested if they wanted your wines.

Clearly any investor considering transferring into a wine fund would want to do their own due diligence to establish whether this is a viable and attractive option for them.     

What is the total shortfall of stock? Does this solely relate to en primeur orders that have yet to be bottled and delivered to the UK? Or is there a shortfall of bottled stock that should have been in Premier Cru client accounts? If the shortfall includes wines from more highly regarded vintages, such 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux, how is offering the inferior 2013 as a replacement an attractive proposition. 

From the Cult Wines email (below):  
'-  Is it possible to receive alternative wines to that of the Bordeaux 2013 that is being offered to make up my shortfall?
No, only wines from the Bordeaux 2013 vintage are available to be supplied in order to make-up for the shortfall in your account.'

This suggests that there is a shortfall in bottled wines that should be in clients' accounts at EHD. Why are these wines missing?

Update (14.45 8.8.2014) 
One Premier Cru client reports that in late May/early June 2014 £3000 worth of stock was moved out of his in-bond wine portfolio and sent to Asia without his knowledge and permission. It is not known whether this is an isolated incident or whether there is a large black hole in the wines that should in portfolios held by Premier Cru.    
       
'From: "Premier Cru"<premiercru@cultwinesltd.com>
Date: 7 August 2014
To:  
Subject: Premier Cru - Important Information

Following the recent communication that you received from Premier Cru advising you of their decision to close the business due to ill health, we felt it appropriate to contact you and provide greater clarification of the terms being offered by Cult Wines should you choose to move your account under our management.

This particular option is of course very relevant to those clients who may have been advised of the stock or cash shortfall which exists on their account, we have also noted several questions relating to the fee structure and therefore thought it timely to summarise those key points which will help to clarify the term on offer.

FAQ
-         Are Premier Cru able to sell my wine holdings for me?

-          Premier Cru are currently closed, have ceased trading and are not in a position to fulfil their commitments
-          Premier Cru cannot therefore facilitate any sale of stock on your behalf
-          Premier Cru are unable to meet any shortfall in cash or stock that apply to your account as advised in the email or letter
-          Premier Cru cannot fulfil any payments due for ‘cash on account’
-          Premier Cru are not in a position to offer any services relating to your current holdings

-         If I don’t want to move over to Cult Wines and want to liquidate my investment, how can I do this?

If you don’t want to accept the terms offered by Cult Wines, then you will remain a client of Premier Cru which following 14th August will move into liquidation. Depending on the number of clients that remain and amounts owing to creditors the company will go into either a solvent or insolvent liquidation.
  
As a remaining client you will have to liaise with the liquidators in order to access the stock stored in your reserve account under your name. Once you have received the stock belonging to you from the liquidators, you will then require a wine company to sell your wine for you. Typically the charge for selling wine is 10%.

-          Are Cult Wines able to facilitate the sale of my stock if I want to exit the market?
If you agree to the transfer of your stock to Cult Wines, then we will be able to help facilitate the sale of your wine stock. We will charge a reduced fee of 5% to liquidate your wines through us, this having paid the initial 5% 1st years’ management to transfer your account to Cult Wines.

-          How much are my current holdings worth? Can I have a valuation?
Upon transfer of your account to Cult Wines we will create an online account for you, whereby you will able to log-in and access live market valuations of your stock provided independently by Liv-ex.

Unfortunately due to time constraints and the large volume of enquiries we can only confirm the stock currently held in your name.

-          Are the Cult Wines fees based on initial purchase price or current market price?
The initial 5% first year’s management fee will be based on the total valuation of your holdings once Cult Wines have filled any shortfall you may have with stock. This will be calculated using the mid-market price as provided by independent valuers liv-ex.

-          If there is a discrepancy on my account, how can I best solve this?

With regards to any discrepancy that you may note with reference to the holdings as detailed in the communication, please note that we will be undertaking a full reconciliation & valuation on all accounts for those clients that transfer to Cult Wines Ltd

-          I don’t have cash shortfall, if I decide not to move over to Cult Wines what are my options?

As explained earlier, you will remain a client of Premier Cru, which will move into either a solvent or insolvent liquidation depending on the uptake of clients to Cult Wines’ offer.

It will be your responsibility to then liaise with the liquidators to gain access to your holdings and arrange for any en primeur orders to be delivered.

-          If I do have a cash shortfall and I don’t want to move over to Cult Wines what are my options?
You have a cash shortfall on your account, Premier Cru will be unable to pay this back in cash or assets, therefore you will need to apply as a creditor to the liquidator to try and attain some of what is owed to you.

The stock held in your EHD account, will still remain in your ownership and you will have to again liaise with the liquidators for the release of this stock to you,

-          Is it possible to transfer my wines to another wine company?
If you decide to reject the offer from Cult Wines and move your stock to another wine company, as stated above it will leave you as a client of Premier Cru and you will need to make arrangements with the liquidator for the release of your stock.

-          Is it possible for EHD to release my wines to me, so I can store in my own account?

As the client accounts are sub-accounts of the main Premier Cru umbrella account, it won’t be possible for you to have EHD release your wines without permission from Premier Cru. As PCI is moving into a liquidation it will then be the responsibility of the liquidator to make these arrangement for you.

-         If I have En Primeur in my portfolio, how will I take delivery of this?
If you have outstanding primeurs which require delivering to your account upon physical bottling in the Spring of next year, if you become a client of Cult Wines we will arrange the collection of your stock from the supplier in Bordeaux and have it transferred to your account.

If you don’t become a client of Cult Wines, you will have to make arrangements with the liquidator to take delivery of your stock when it becomes physical in 2015.

-          Why are the fees so high moving to Cult Wines?
Service Fees – In order to explain the rates being quoted for years 1 & 2, our 5% annual charge for years 1 & 2 are linked to a reducing liquidation fee so should you decide to exit on either year 1 or 2 the total cost will not exceed 10% which matches the current cost for liquidating your portfolio at the prevailing market rates

By Year 3, the fees will revert to the original service charges offered by PCI of 1.75% p.a & 0% fee to liquidate.

-          When are fees payable to Cult Wines?
Upon transfer of your account to Cult Wines, we will issue you an invoice for fees which will be payable by the end of September 2014.

-          What service are Cult Wines offering?
Our proposal is linked to a range of market leading services which are included in the annual charge, but our main focus is on providing each client with a full assessment of their current holdings, a strategy for moving forward with a dedicated portfolio manager to ensure you receive a full private client service.  You will also receive access to oru online portfolio management tool which will allow you to see real-time valuations of your wine portfolio as provided by an independent valuer (Liv-ex) as well as access to your stock holding information.

If you decide to move your account to Cult Wines and wish to re-balance your portfolio through recommended sales and re-investment, Cult Wines will levy no charge for doing so.

-          Can I offset my shortfall against fees owing?
Unfortunately, all client shortfalls will be made up with stock to the market value of that shortfall and this cannot be offset against fees.

-          What are the costs if I don’t move to Cult Wines?

If you don’t decide to accept the offer of moving to Cult Wines, you will remain a client of Premier Cru which as a company will move into a liquidation following the transfer of the remaining client accounts to Cult Wines.
It will then be the responsibility of each individual client to liaise with the liquidators in order to receive the wines being held in your storage account at EHD.

-          The deadline is August 14th, can I have longer to consider my options before making a decision?
Due to the deadline needing to be met for Premier Cru to move into a solvent liquidation, clients are required to make a decision before August 14th as to how they wish their account to be handled.
It is therefore imperative that you provide a response no later than August 14th to ensure you retain the opportunity of accepting our terms & conditions as currently offered to Premier Cru clients
-          Is it possible to receive alternative wines to that of the Bordeaux 2013 that is being offered to make up my shortfall?
No, only wines from the Bordeaux 2013 vintage are available to be supplied in order to make-up for the shortfall in your account.

-          Who is the best person to speak to about my account and answer any questions I have about the proposed transfer?
Please direct your phone calls to 0208 332 9386 where our team are waiting to assist you, emails should be directed to premiercru@cultwinesltd.com
Please be aware we endeavour to answer every client as quickly as possible, but with the volume of enquiries received it may take us a bit of time to get back to you, please bear with us.


We trust clients will view our proposal in a positive manner and look forward to discussing your portfolio with you personally.
Best Regards,'


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Premier Cru: the questions Cult Wines Ltd declined to answer

August 9, 2014, 9:50 am
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This post covers questions sent to Cult Wines Ltd yesterday as well as a look at who has legal control over the wine portfolios held by Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd.

Questions to Cult Wines Ltd: 
Yesterday I sent request to Philip and Tom Gearing, the directors of Cult Wines Ltd, to answer some questions. As is their right, they declined to answer the questions at this time. Chris Mercer at Decanter magazine was later told that Cult Wines are bound by a confidentiality clause until 15th August. Unfortunately clients of Premier Cru have until 14th August to accept the proposal from Cult Wines Ltd ...

Questions I put to Philip and Tom Gearing of Cult Wines Ltd:    
a) Cult Wines Ltd will be charging Premier Cru clients a 5% management fee for the first two years? Are there additional advantages to being with Cult Wines that have not been covered in the emails received by clients of Premier Cru?
b) Has Cult Wines Ltd paid Premier Cru for the right to handle clients portfolios? If so what was the sum involved and when was this agreement concluded?  If no money was involved when was the agreement made?
c) What is the name of the company that is handling the arrangements to put Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd into liquidation?
d) Do you have any indication how the liquidator will view the wine in Premier Cru clients' accounts?
e) In your email to investors (7.8.2014) you mention a shortfall in some of Premier Cru clients portfolios.
What is the value of this shortfall?
Is this shortfall down to en primeurs that have yet to be delivered or is there a shortfall in bottled wine that should be clients' portfolios? If this is the case do you know why wines are missing and how much is missing? To what value?
f) If there is bottled wine missing is it ethical for Cult Wines Ltd to be offering 2013 Bordeaux en primeur as a replacement?


•••


Further reflections and questions including who has legal control over the wines:
A further question I could have asked is: what have you been told by Premier Cru about the 'shortfall' in clients' portfolios? What reasons for the shortfall have you been given?  

One well-placed observer has commented that the handover 'appears to be a shambles'.
It is not at all clear that Premier Cru Fine Wine Investment Ltd is actually going into liquidation. The only mention of a liquidator in any correspondence I have seen is in the email sent from Cult Wines Ltd to Premier Cru clients sent on 8th August.  The letter from Premier Cru (31st July 2014) makes no mention of a liquidator. 

Nor is it entirely clear who has legal control over the wines stored at EHD in the Premier Cru account. It is crucial to know as whoever has legal control over the wines can move the wines. So, for example, whoever has control can release the wines to Premier Cru clients assuming that title was clear.  

From the Premier Cru letter (31st July 2014) it would appear that Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd still has legal control over their clients' wines stored at EHD as the agreement with Cult Wines Ltd is not due to be finalised until 14th August.

'We have therefore undertaken a review of our market competitors and have concluded that Cult Wines, who are currently the UKs leading fine wine investment company as the best positioned to assume management of your portfolio and on this basis we are finalising an agreement to migrate our private clients to Cult Wines (PCI) Limited which we hope to complete by August 14th 2014.' 

It is interesting that there is no mention of a liquidator here. It appears that Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd has legal control over the wines until 14th August 2014. After that date legal control will be with Cult Wines Ltd assuming that the agreement is finalised as envisaged.

Assuming that title to their wines can be established, then Premier Cru ought to be able to release wines up to 14th August to their clients who do not want to accept Cult's proposal and want to make their own arrangements. From 14th August it would appear to be Cult Wines Ltd, who will be able to release wines.  

From Premier Cru to their clients (31st July 2014):
'To help us complete the transition to Cult Wines as quickly and as smoothly as possible, please confirm your agreement to the transfer of your account to Cult Wines by no later than August 14th 2014.  All you need to do is reply to this notice indicating that you would be content to transfer your account to Cult Wines.  If we do not receive any reply to this notice by August 14th 2014, we will assume that you do not object to this transfer.'

The advice from Premier Cru to their clients not wishing to accept Cult Wines Ltd's proposal is to contact them (Premier Cru) 'no later than August 14th 2014 declining Cult Wines Ltd's proposal and asking for their wines to be transferred to whatever arrangements individual clients are making. This notification may have to be done through Premier Cru's registered office.      
      
The address of Premier Cru (Fine Wine Investments) Ltd registered office is:
Barnes Roffe LLP 
3 Brook Business Centre 
Cowley Mill Road 
Uxbridge 
Middlesex UB8 2FX 







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Encarta Fine Wines Ltd into liquidation

August 12, 2014, 11:58 am
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Canary Wharf – getting a reputation for scams  

Yet another wine investment company, Encarta Fine Wines Ltd, has just gone into voluntary liquidation with sums due to creditors estimated at between £3.5 to £3.8 million. The creditors’ meeting was held today at the Marriott Hotel in Bexleyheath, London.

Encarta has around £1.7 million worth of stock held at London City Bond, which is estimated to realise about £1.3 million.  

Encarta was set up in July 2009 with 35-year-old Dean Doughty and 39-year-old Matthew Hart as directors. 

(More to follow)
 
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Abbott Fielding are currently handling the liquidation of several wine investment companies including Canary Wharf Vintners Ltd, which went into liquidation on 23rd July.

Formed in May 2006 the company changed its name from Strategic Land Acquisitions Ltd in September 2010 to Canary Wharf Vintners. The sole director is 55-year-old Enver Deen.

The deficit is thought to be less than £500,000 with only some 20 creditors. The major creditor is an elderly woman, who is owed some £200,000. She is believed to have been caught by a number of other wine investment firms and subjected to repeated hard sale tactics.

Deen is currently offering wine investments as well as art, diamonds, land and metals through Belgravia Alternative Assets Ltd. He is the sole director.   

 
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Premier Cru/Cult Wines: paying a 5% management will release wines?!

August 14, 2014, 4:05 am
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investdrinks was contacted yesterday by a client of Premier Cru Fine Wines Investment Ltd. They had just been told by Cult Wines Ltd that their portfolio, which has a small 'shortfall' could be transferred into their own account if they set one up. However, they would have to agree accept Cult Wines proposal which includes the 5% 'why so high' management fee.  If they don't sign up with Cult then apparently it will be down to the liquidator, if the remnants Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd goes into liquidation, to decide whether the wines can be released to the remaining clients of Premier Cru.

I find it intriguing that the payment of a 5% management fee to Cult Wines Ltd establishes title, whereas if a client declines to sign up to Cult Wines, then it will be down to a possible liquidator in the future. This doesn't appear to be entirely equitable....  

It is, however, clearly advantageous for clients to be move their portfolios into their own accounts so that they have full control over their wines and are not dependent upon a company whether it be Premier Cru, Cult Wines Ltd or any other wine company. 
  
A number of Premier Crus clients have said that they feel trapped between a rock and a hard place – I can well understand what they mean. I am extremely relieved that I declined on several requests from Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd to list them as a company from whom I would consider buying wine.

Update: seeking legal assistance?
Yesterday, on a recommendation through twitter, I referred a client of Premier Cru to Michael Clark (mclark@nash.co.uk)of Nash & Co solicitors in Plymouth. Tel:01752-664444.

Although I don't know what the fees are, Michael is prepared to have a free preliminary chat with investors seeking advice. 
01752 66 44 44
 

 

 





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Investing in case of 2005 Lafite in 2010 could mean a loss of nearly £5K

August 15, 2014, 2:40 am
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Château Lafite, Pauillac

There are claims that wine consistently out-performs other investment assets classes and that £10,000 invested would provide an annual profit of over £2000 over a ten year period.

 'Over 10 years an investment of £10,000 would 
earn you on average over £2,000 every year'

Initial capital of £10,000 
chart giving average 10yr rtn 
showing £16,247.10 after 4 years 

It appears that Cult Wines Ltd base their projections on The Liv-ex Fine Wine Investables Index


'From the Liv-ex site: 'About the Index
The Liv-ex Fine Wine Investables Index is designed to track the wines commonly found in a wine investment portfolio. The index consists of Bordeaux red wines from 24 leading chateaux. The component wines date back to the 1982 vintage and are chosen on the basis of their score from Robert Parker. The wines are priced using the Liv-ex Mid Price with various scarcity weightings applied to account for older vintages and wines produced in smaller quantities.


The index dates back to January 1988 and was rebased at 100 in January 2004. Liv-ex has been calculating Mid Prices for selected wines from 2001 onwards. Component prices prior to that date are the result of an extensive collection of historical price data from leading fine wine merchants.'

I thought it would be interesting to put these claims to a small test. Using wine-searcher I looked at the prices of a case (x12) of 2005 Lafite over the past four years, which could have been bought in June 2010 for £10,000 – the cheapest UK price (We love wines) shown. 


2005 Lafite: profit and loss account
Col 3: merchant on wine searcher offering lowest price 
Col 4: annual increase or decrease on price 
Col 5: net profit or loss on year 
Col 6: loss over 4 years
   

The investor's Lafite that cost £10,000 in June 2010 could be bought on 9th August 2014 for £5750 from Cavex – down by £4250. This loss is compounded by £60 for annual storage and insurance charges (figure taken from Cult Wines Ltd' charges as stated by Premier Cru in their 31.7.14 letter to their clients). Loss climbs to £4310. If the case had been with a wine investment management company and assuming an annual management charge of 1.75% (as charged by Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd) on the value of the portfolio, then a further £588 must be factored in. This brings the total loss over the four years and two months to £4898 or £1224.5 a year some distance away from an annual profit of 'over £2000 a year'. Even the worst performing Cash ISA would have performed better.

Obviously there are some caveats here. The Lafite's performance is charted over 4 years and not ten. 2011 to 2014 has seen the worst wine bear market for many years. I have looked at just one wine and not a balanced portfolio albeit that Lafite, especially a vintage like 2005, is a popular choice for wine investment.  

••

Cult Wines Ltd: projection £10,000 could 
on average become £23,380.70 in 7 years 

  

2005 Lafite European auction prices: Jan 2007 - July 2014
Col 2: auction prices 2007-2014
Col 3: prices including Buyers Premium and sellers commission
+ net 
Col 4: storage at £15 a case per year
Col 5: management fee of 1.5%
assumes that wine is held through investment 
company that charges a fee

Taking a longer view (7 years) using auction figures on 2005 Lafite (January 2007- July 2014) from wine-searcher makes this for the moment a better investment, although still far from an average profit of over £2000 a year.  

The wine-searcher figures show that the 2005 Lafite bought at auction in January 2007 for £3700 (£4329 with buyers premium of 17%) could have been sold at auction in July 2014 at £8784 (£7905 with seller's commission deducted – calculated at 11%). This gives a gross profit of £3576. Take away the cost of seven years storage (£15 a case as charged by Cult Wines Ltd = £105) – profit is reduced to £3471 (£496 a year). This is still a very decent profit over the seven years but nowhere close to £2000 a year. 

Had the investors entrusted their case of 2005 Lafite with a company charging an annual management fee at 1.75% (like Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments or Cult Wines Ltd) the net profit would be reduced by a further £1327.69 to £2143 (£306 a year). Still far better than a Cash ISA but the investor will be offering prayers that the wine bear market ends soon, otherwise their profit will be further eroded.           


 

       



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9 year ban Ofosuherne Ofrori-Duah of Vintage International Ltd

August 15, 2014, 1:48 pm
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9-year director's ban for boss of scam investment company: Vintage International Ltd, which collapsed in October 2012 with debts of around £1.2 million. Ofosuherne Ofrori-Duah's Vintage International Ltd continued to trade for over a year despite being insolvent. 
  
From the Insolvency Service:
The director of a wine investment firm has been disqualified from acting as a company director for nine years.

Ofosuherne Ofrori-Duah of Vintage International Limited was found to have caused the company to trade with undue risk to clients, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The investigation found as of 30th June 2011, eighteen months before the company entered liquidation, there were outstanding customer orders of at least £293,056 – half of which had been placed at least six months earlier.

By this point the company was already insolvent and lacked the necessary funds to purchase stock and complete customer orders.

However, the company continued to take new customer orders totalling £917,410 between 1 June 2011 and the date of liquidation.
 
Vintage International entered voluntary liquidation in October 2012, owing £1,063,424 to clients in outstanding orders. The company’s total assets were valued at £21,789, with a shortfall including trade and other creditors estimated to be £1,121,546.
 
Mark Bruce, a chief investigator at the Insolvency Service said: “The director of Vintage failed to ensure proper corporate governance was in place to clearly monitor client orders and the financial position of the company. 

“The Insolvency Service will always look to remove from the business community those directors who act below the standards that should be expected of them given the circumstances of their company’s trading.”
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Twelve-By-Seventy-Five Ltd: not for me thanks!

August 19, 2014, 1:03 am
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This is yet another recently formed wine investment company: Twelve-By-Seventy-Five Ltd was set up on 24th January 2014. Its two present directors – 27-year-old Sultan Mahmood Rashid and 29-year-old Riccardo Tullio De'nardis–were appointed on 8th April 2014.  

 
'We are experienced wine merchants & brokers'
'We have firmly established contacts with French négociants'

For a company formed in January 2014 they have gained experience and contacts with remarkable speed...  
 
'Fine wine is an excellent alternative investments.
'The fine wine is booming picking the right wines 
gives significant opportunities for incredible tax-free returns.' 

Fine wine, especially Bordeaux, is not booming as prices have been dropping since 2011. 

Incorrect claims of fine wine investment is free from capital gains tax.
No mention of inheritance tax  

 'Its official Classification (Appellation d'Controlee) 
dates back to 1855 at Napoleon 3rd's request.'

Twelve-By-Seventy-Five Ltd confuse Appellation Contrôlée (started in 1936) with the 1855 classification. 

'We store our wine in London City Bond's (LCB) 
bonded warehouse: Vinothèque in Barking' 

Rather alarming – LCB's Vinothèque is in Burton-on-Trent around 150 miles north-west of Barking! 

 How much are the storage charges? Our strong relationship 
with London City Bond (LCB) gives us 
highly competitive storage rates with two options: 

'highly competitive rates'!

Sultan Mahmood Rashid and Riccardo Tullio De'nardis claim a 'strong relationship with London City Bond' but Twelve-By-Seventy-Five Ltd has no company account at LCB. The 'highly competitive storage rates' claimed by Twelve-By-Seventy-Five are LCB's standard rates from private customers:

LCB's standard charges for private account holders 


The last thing the fine wine trade needs is another 'wine investment' company making false claims. I'll certainly avoid Sultan Mahmood Rashid and Riccardo Tullio De'nardis new Twelve-By-Seventy-Five Ltd, which I hope will be both short-lived and unsuccessful.   





 




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Farr Vintners buys Magnum Fine Wines

August 19, 2014, 2:10 pm
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Farr Vintners has today announced that they have bought long established Magnum Fine Wines Ltd, which was founded in 1985. Alan Rayne, who has been a director of the company since 1992 and its managing director for many years, has decided to retire, which is fair enough given that he was born in the great vintage of 1947.

Magnum has been a properly run wine investment company and had there been more Magnums the image of wine investment today would surely not be sharing the floor with carbon credits, coloured diamonds and the like.

Message from Stephen Browett, chairman of Farr Vintners  
'Farr Vintners is delighted to announce that we have purchased Magnum Fine Wines following Alan Rayne’s decision to retire from the wine trade. I have known Alan for nearly 30 years and feel very honoured that he has chosen to entrust Farr Vintners to look after his customers and their wine portfolios in the future. Alan is rightly proud of the business that he has built up and a key part of his decision to pass the company on to Farr Vintners was that he knows that his customers will continue to receive exemplary and professional service.  

Farr Vintners, like Magnum Fine Wines, holds all of its stocks and customer reserves in the outstanding underground cellars of Octavian Vaults. Magnum’s customers can rest assured that they will continue to have their precious wines stored in the world’s best wine storage facility.

Over the last 5 years alone, Farr Vintners, based in Battersea, South London, has sold nearly £600 million worth of fine wine and is now the world’s leading Fine Wine Wholesaler, storing well over a million bottles of wine on behalf of its customers, who are based in many countries all around the world.

Farr Vintners was the first UK wine merchant to open an office in the Far East when Farr Vintners Asia was established in Hong Kong nearly 20 years ago. Our sales teams in both London and Hong Kong will be very pleased to assist Magnum’s customers and offer genuinely informed and expert advice on all aspects of wine buying, selling and storage. The first contact for Magnum customers in the UK is Farr Vintners Director Tom Hudson (tom@farrvintners.com) and in Asia Jo Purcell, Managing Director of Farr Vintners Asia (jopurcell@farrhk.com). However Alan Rayne will be pleased to help and advise customers until he leaves the company at the end of September. 

Over the coming weeks we will be working hard to integrate Magnum Fine Wines’ customer information into our own system and once this is completed we will be able to offer customers access to their portfolios online as well as the wealth of information available to our existing customers. We will contact customers once this process is complete with further details.'

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1947 Musigny Vieilles Vignes – 'serious reservations'

October 21, 2014, 2:19 am
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Message received this morning from Corney & Barrow expressing serious doubts about some 1947 Musigny Vieilles Vignes

'Good morning,

As the UK agents for Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé we would like to make you aware of the following:

A quantity of 1947 Musigny Vieilles Vignes appears to be being offered to the trade. It is suggested that it comes from a private European cellar and to have been released from the Domaine in the 1980’s.

The Domaine and Corney & Barrow are  aware of this and have serious reservations as to the authenticity of these bottles/cases. Should you be offered this wine we would be most interested to hear from you.

Yours sincerely

Will

Will Hargrove
Associate director and head of fine wine
DL: (44) 020-7265 2418
M: (44) (0) 7879 818693
E: will.hargrove@corneyandbarrow.com
corneyandbarrow.com
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ADT Brokerage: not for me thanks!

October 21, 2014, 3:29 am
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Introduction to ADT Brokerage 'a privately-owned 
and operated wine merchant'from their home page


I recently came across ADT Brokerage – sometimes called ADT Brokerage Ltd and decided to do a spot of due diligence on the company. So first a look at the website (http://www.adtbrokerage.com): 


'ADT Brokerge is a privately-owned and operated wine merchant, involved in the buying and selling of fine and premium wines from traditional European wine regions as well as South America and South Africa for sale primarily to our Asian client base.

The majority of our staff are wine experts with a plethora of working experience within the Fine Wine Industry, as well as having a team of regional specialists from most of the major wine producing regions of the world. When sourcing En Premier Wines for our clients, we aim to present rare, interesting and ultimately, wines that will become investment must-haves.' 

ADT Brokerage's site has plenty of guff but little substance. I assume by En Premier they mean En Primeur, which is correctly spelt in the explanation.  

A Paul Morrison is said to be the Business Director of ADT Brokerage Ltd. But hang on the picture of a bald chap purporting to be Mr Morrison appears familiar. A search on Google Images shows that the same Mr Morrison is apparently involved in many companies such as Krapf Chiropractic Associates, AEC Factory, Injury Demands, Assurity Staffing Group, Chodosh & Chodosh, Pipsco, Matik Financial (where he is called Scott Neve, international sales manager, and many more. 

Although doubtless Paul Morrison is multi-talented, this is a stock photo for businesses as are other photos on the ADT Brokerage site. 

The ADT Brokerage site does not include Terms & Conditions. The contact address: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX is a mailing address. No contact details are given for Asia although the company claims that its sales are 'primarily to our Asian client base'. 

ADT Brokerage Ltd is not a registered UK company. Copyright on their website is dated 2012 but the website was registered very recently – on 5th October 2014 in Denmark. ADT Brokerage Ltd's website registrant is Jason Chambers, 191C Seven Sisters Road, London N4 3NG. 44-year-old Jason Chambers became the sole director of Viprix Solutions Ltd (described as a 'Software Consultancy') on 5th June 2014 – this is Chambers' only directorship.   
 


Registrant: Jason Chambers   

Given the lack of solid information about the ADT Brokerage including whether the company has any track record or expertise in fine wine, ADT Brokerage Ltd is not for me thanks! 
  


 


 
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The further adventures of Barry Gamble

March 1, 2015, 3:53 pm
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ESW Exports (UK) Ltd - headings' menu includes 'Our Sparkling Wines' 
Menu changed during afternoon of 6th August 2013

Barry Gamble, ex-director of The London Vines Ltd and Imperial Wines of London Ltd (Gamble was appointed as a director on 30.5.2008 and resigned 13.1.2009 an was company secretary from 30.5.2008 - 26.7.2010), appears to have lost interest in wine investment and has moved into drinks distribution through ESW Exports (UK) Ltd and GPW Global Distribution Ltd.

ESW Exports (UK) Ltd was founded on 16th August 2012 and claims to be a specialist in the export of English sparkling and UK Whisky worldwide. The company is registered and said to trade from 85 Leonard Street, London EC2 4QS, telephone: 020-7998 0525.
     
ESW Exports (UK) Ltd list a number of English sparkling wine producers* as 'our sparkling wines'. This is without the agreement or permission of at least one of England's leading sparkling wine producers. ESW Exports (UK) Ltd had approached this producer and was told that they were not interested in their services. The producer is now looking to get their name and details of the ESW Exports (UK) Ltd site as quickly as possible. 

Although, when visiting English vineyards, Gamble has apparently introduced himself as a director of ESW Exports (UK) Ltd, there is only one director of ESW – 47-year-old Anthony Richardson. He is also a director of Arlington Wine Portfolios Ltd. 42-year-old Robert Phillips (aka James Morrison?), the current director of London Vines Ltd, was previously a director of Arlington Wine Portfolios Ltd.

Gamble says that he has only ever introduced himself as head of operations. However, the English wine producer who initially contacted me about ESW Exports (UK) Ltd described Gamble as director. When one of the UK's leading producers contacted ESW Exports (UK) Ltd (6.8.13) to demand that their name be removed from the 'our sparkling wines' list, they were told that 'they would get their MD Barry Gamble to phone me back'. 

Gamble was a director of GPW Global Distribution Ltd (founded 5th March 2013). Gamble was appointed on 3rd July 2013 and resigned on 30th July 2013. GPW Global Distribution Ltd are 'distributors of premium beverages, lagers, craft beer, spirits and unique non-alcoholic drinks'. According to the company's website 'the team and their partners have an extensive background of import and export, a vast knowledge within the distribution sector.'    

The London Vines Ltd, which offered wine investments, seems to have recently disappeared leaving some of its clients short of the wines they bought. The company used cold calls and very aggressive sales tactics to sell overpriced wines often targeting the elderly. See here and here. Investors concerned about their investments with The London Vines Ltd may well want to contact Barry Gamble at ESW on 020-7998 0525. 

investdrinks has been informed that 'the London Vines Ltd set very strict parameters before potential leads could be called. A third party marketing company would call the customer twice before The London Vines Ltd paid for a lead. Most of these leads would be aged between 35 and 55 years, actively investing and they were all seeking alternative investment markets. Once these parameters were met The London Vines would call the potential customer to offer them a brochure. The allegation that the wines were overpriced is not the case, in fact, for a period of time they were one of the cheapest on the market.'

If I was English sparkling wine producer I would be extremely wary about doing any business with ESW Exports (UK) Ltd or GPW Global Distribution Ltd. Nor would I want to gamble the good reputation of my brand with any association with either GPW Global Distribution Ltd and ESW Exports (UK) Ltd. 

GPW Global Distribution Ltd   

Update: 6pm 6.8.2013
*: the list of English sparkling wines was removed from the ESW site shortly after this post went live. The GPW site was also amended with the mention of and link to ESW removed.

Compare and contrast: 


ESW Mk2: 'Our sparkling wines' has disappeared leaving whisky 


GPW Mk2: only coconut water and lager remain, ESW Exports has gone



A response from Barry Gamble: 
Last Friday I emailed Barry Gamble to ask what the current status of The London Vines Ltd is and whether all of the wines ordered by its clients had been purchased. As I received no reply I sent an email to his address at ESW Exports Ltd. This time I received a reply (6.8.13):

'I am in receipt of your email dated Friday 2nd August 2013.

I have also been made aware that you have posted a blog concerning ESW and GPW, giving out ESW details for London Vines clients to call. You are hereby instructed to immediately remove that blog as well as your previous blogs mentioning my name as it is clear that your intention is to destroy my reputation in whatever way you can.

I confirm that my solicitor will be sending a formal letter before action to you tomorrow on this matter setting out my position fully.

Yours sincerely,

Barry Gamble'

I would have thought that Gamble would have thanked me for assisting concerned investors, who have sunk life savings with The London Vines Ltd, to contact him, so that he could reassure them that their wines had indeed been purchased. This would appear not to be the case.Gamble has promised me a letter from his solicitor 'setting out my position fully'. Gamble was the founding director of The London Vines Ltd – being appointed on 26th January 2010 – resigning on 09th April 2013. 

Update: 7th August 2013: Barry Gamble doesn't work here:
Message received from TP, a concerned wine investor with The London Wines Ltd: 
'I have just spoken to a person on the number you provided who was very irate saying that Barry Gamble did not work there and he was not ESW Exports (UK) Ltd. He asked who provided the number and mentioned you name. He asked for my name which I refused to do as if Gamble does not work there then it is of no business of his. He gave the impression that he had been getting a lot of calls?

As a "heads up" he did mention that he would see you in court over this and I just put the phone down.'

All very curious as Barry Gamble has also been the point of contact for several English sparkling wine producers, even as late as last Friday. Gamble has also visited their vineyards introducing himself as a director of ESW Exports (UK) Ltd.

ESW Exports (UK) Ltd
Please contact us:
Contact: Mr Barry Gamble

Detail from above taken from the International Beverage Network

Is Barry Gamble so desperate not to take calls from concerned clients of The London Vines Ltd that staff at ESW Exports (UK) Ltd have been instructed to deny that Gamble has any connection with ESW Exports (UK) Ltd? Or is it true that Barry Gamble has indeed no connection with ESW Exports (UK) Ltd and instead has been passing himself off as a director of the company. If it is the latter possibility, then I assume that Anthony Richardson will want to see Gamble 'in court over this'.    




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Electus Wines Ltd – rises from the ashes of Vinance plc.... or does it?

November 7, 2014, 11:14 am
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It was nearly two weeks ago that a comment from an anonymous source alerted me to the existence of Simon Ford's Electus Wines Ltd:
'Jim, after the Vinance debacle am stupefied to see that Simon Ford has set up a new wine investment firm.'

Following Vinance plc's collapse into liquidation on 17th May 2013, Electus Wines Ltd was set up on 16th July 2013. It has two directors 37-year-old Simon John Ford, based in Ottawa, Canada and 69-year-old Timothy Graham Ford (Simon's father) based in London SE3. Electus Wines Ltd is registered c/o Lester Aldridge LLP, WSP House, 70 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1AF. Timothy Ford is a consultant to Lester Aldridge LLP and is the Chairman - Reading University Pension Fund.See his Linkedin profile.

Electus Wines Ltd gives 33 St. James’s Square. London SW1Y 4JS as their UK contact address. This is a serviced/virtual office building. Electus' website was registered on 23.7.2013 at 33 St.James's Square.  

Simon Ford's Electus Wines Ltd does not lack ambition: '…a staging post for the finest wines from the world’s greatest terroirs, and a good friend to customers seeking exceptional value and quality wines that “wow”!' 
(I fancy a few of Vinance plc's creditors have thought "wow" what happened to my pension pot!)  



Simon goes on to boast:
'In 2002 Simon founded what became the UK’s largest specialist wine investment company...'  No mention that this company was Morgan Aston Ford that later became Vinance plc, which went bust in May 2013.  

An update (23.10.14) on Vinance plc from Chris Herron, Joint Liquidator at Herron Fisher.
 
'As regards general progress, Vinance PLC went from Administration to Liquidation on 17 May 2013.  This is normal where there is money to pay to creditors and the liquidation facilitates that distribution.  We have paid creditors 15p in the pound so far and expect to pay a second, smaller distribution in the new year.  The total creditor figure is approximately £15M.
 
Completely separately from this, we have returned perhaps £20M worth of wine to investors, having followed the audit trail and established that they owned it rather than the company. We remain puzzled as to why other insolvency practitioners appear not to have always taken this approach in other cases, where they have sometimes simply sold all the wine, even that owned by third parties, to put “in the pot.”'

The liquidators are required to report to The Insolvency Service on the conduct of directors of bankrupt companies. It would not be surprising if Herron Fisher's report on the directors of Vinance plc is not entirely complementary. The Insolvency Service can then decide to take action to disqualify someone from being a director. 

In February 2013 two of Vinance plc's directors – 59-year-old Simon Earl and 52-year-old Michael Wallen – were sent to prison for their part in running a brothel called Freddy's. Earl got two years and Wallen two years and five months. Details here and here.  


Yesterday I emailed Simon Ford some questions about Electus and am grateful for his rapid response:    
a) On the Electus website Lillian Kawasa is described as 'Director and Special Events Organiser'. However, she is not listed as a director at Companies House and appears to not to be a director of any UK company. Why then is she described as a 'director'.  

SF: Lillian Kawesa is a director of our Canadian company, as am I. 

b) There are two directors of Electus – yourself and and your father – Timothy Graham Ford. Why is your father not mentioned on your website? After all he has had a highly distinguished career both in law and outside – hospitals and Reading University.
SF: As you correctly say, my father Timothy Ford has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the law and continues to enjoy one in public service; we couldn’t see the relevance of this to our wine buying audience.
c) 'In 2002 Simon founded what became the UK's largest largest specialist wine investment company...' Why no mention here of Vinance PLC, which went bust on 17th May 2013 with debts of around £15 million. To date your creditors have received 15p in the £ and can expect a smaller distribution early in 2015.
SF: 'Our principal business is that of a wine merchant to customers in Africa, North America, and Asia. Vinance’s business has no relevance to this.'
d) Will you be running Electus from Ottawa?

SF: 'I shall be running Electus from Ottawa.'

e) You and the other directors of Vinance were severely criticised by the Herron Fisher, the administrators (later liquidators), in their report of 17th December 2012 (investdrinks):

From the report: ‘We have asked the directors to prepare a summary of the company's estimated financial position as at 16 November 2012, which is known as a statement of affairs, but they have not yet prepared it. We understand that the reason for the delay is that there is too much uncertainty about the company's financial position and in particular the wine for which clients have paid.’

‘It was apparent that the company's records were inadequate and that the position of each individual client was not recorded properly.  The directors could not easily work out which clients were short of wine they had ordered and paid for or what the extent of the shortfall was.  The clients themselves were unaware that there was any problem, although many of them thought (and stated) that the company's systems left something to be desired.’

What measures have you put in place to ensure that Electus Wines Ltd is not Vinance plc Mark 2 please? 
SF:'Electus and Vinance are two quite unrelated businesses. I will be putting my business experience at Electus’s service and we will will not be managing clients’ cellars.

You may be interested to note that we are only offering our cellar advisory service, where we help our customers source rare wines and spirits, because we have been invited to do so by individuals with first hand experience of Vinance who came to us, not by us seeking them. Indeed I haven’t approached anyone to buy wine from us, and nor do I intend to. Our customers have found us with no encouragement at all.'
Simon Ford explains that Electus' principal business will be with customers in Africa, North America, and Asia, so they allegedly would not be interested in the fate of Vinance plc. He may be right. However, if it is relevant that Simon Ford founded a wine investment company in 2002, then it is equally relevant that it went bust in 2013 to the tune of £15 million.

SF: 'my business experience at Electus’s service'– given Vinance's record keeping and the £15 million bust this may not be good news for customers of Electus....
SF: 'I shall be running Electus from Ottawa.'
There is nothing on the Electus Wines website (as of 7th November 2014) to indicate that the company is being run from Canada – no Canadian contact details or company number. Indeed it gives the impression that the company is run from London and is UK based:

'Three years in the making, Electus Wines was formed in London in 2013'. Electus Wines Ltd is a UK registered company and its contact details – telephone and address – both are for Central London. I asked Simon Ford whether there was a separate Canadian website but so far have received no reply.    

I understand that Simon Ford may soon be offering brass necks as an investment.... 

Update: 8th November 2014

A response received today from Simon Ford following me asking whether they have a Canadian website:


Dear Jim,

You're most welcome.

I have not completed the process of assembling the business in Canada for our Canadian company and am completing new site content including addresses etc and I'll let you know when it's finished if you like?
I’m very keen to bring a fresh approach with our cellar advisory service. It will be a new business model never before seen in the marketplace. As I said in my last email we're not managing customers' cellars, rather we intend to market our knowledge, experience and know-how regarding identifying value which we have learned over the last decade at work in the market and which has proven hugely successful as well with 5 year average price growth of 130%. As your recent posts on the Premier Cru / Cult Wine story show, even the longest established wine managers aren't immune to problems bound up in these managed business models and it may be the case that we're coming to the end of an era. We may be seeing the last days of these Aston Lovell type front and back end commission outfits, perhaps even of wine funds with their performance fees and management fees, and, who knows, maybe even of merchants and their margins as well? In the wake of Premier Cru's collapse there is certainly much to ponder for us all. We will certainly avoid repeating oft-made mistakes with our cellar advisory service approach and bring real evolution to the market. You will appreciate I am constrained by commercial confidentiality presently, but once we start accepting customers it would be great to think that you might be able to help us reach wine investors who look to you for guidance with news of our new business model because it will be of real interest to them. I think you'll be very interested in our novel approach too. I shall keep you informed of developments at any rate if you wish? There is much still ponder but when it is completed our new model will represent true evolution and real value for customers. For example, Simon Staples of Berry's has predicted major bidding wars for first growths in the coming decades - he's even gone on record stating Lafite 2005 may be changing hands at £10 million a case by 2058 - do you think this might happen? How do you see the market developing? And will investors be trading Chinese and Indian fine wines on Cavex in a few years do you think?  
I'm very much enjoying the move to the merchant side of the market; much more interesting and enjoyable. Please let me know if you can recommend some entry-level Loire wines for our African and Chinese customers. So far we've been focussing on the S.W. France of course, as pricing there is most suitable for our customers' purposes. We’re always looking for more great examples of French terrors and you obviously know a thing or two about the Loire region. Let me know if you’d like to help us?

All good wishes,
Cordialement,

Simon Ford
Director
Electus Wines Limited
33 St James's Square
London SW1Y 4JS
Tel +44 (0) 20 7129 1265
Mob +1 613 301 7776
Email simon.ford@electuswines.com
Web www.electuswines.com


 














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Paramount Vintners Ltd – amazing 'list' for 2 year old company!

November 29, 2014, 8:11 am
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Paramount's Twitter profile

Although only founded in August 2012, Paramount Vintners Ltd offer an impressive list of fine wines as they say at 'competitive prices'. The company's sole director is Croydon-based 28-year-old Marvin Roberts.  Following its first set of accounts (31.8.2013) Paramount has a net worth of £12,200. Its registered address is Suite 4B, 43 Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London W1J 5FJ, which is rather popular due perhaps to the number of nightingales in the square. There are 41 companies registered at Suite 4B including Africa Health, Tim Johnson Brokerage and UK Dental Tourism.   

Just to whet your appetite Paramount Vintners have 429 pages of Burgundy going back to a 1919 Beaune Les Avaux Bouchard Père et Fils, 481 pages of Bordeaux, 38 pages of Champagne and 57 pages of white Bordeaux. 

Paramount Vintners Ltd has three bottles of 1919 Beaune Les Avaux Bouchard Père et Fils (£1500 per bottle) and manages to undercut the price by Fine & Rare Ltd – £1522. It is not clear whether Paramount intend to obtain this 1919 from Fine & Rare or have an alternative source for the 1919 Beaune Les Avaux. I can't imagine that there are many bottles of this wine still available.

Similarly the 1934 Pommard from Leroy is available from Fine & Rare for £21620 but is listed by Paramount for £21,365. Again Paramount has three bottles available and this is a pattern that repeats itself page after page of their list of wines. Perhaps Paramount's accountant has advised that three is a magic number and that they should try to keep their offer to three bottles or cases to limit the amount of stock the company holds. 

Unlike the rest of the fine wine trade Paramount Vintners Ltd 
are pushing 2013 en primeur with 7 pages of available wines. 

-->

It looks like Marvin Roberts has failed to read The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (in force from June 2014): 

'11. CANCELLATION OF ORDERS

11.1. Once an order has been accepted and confirmed by Paramount Vintners by the issuance of an invoice, an order shall be non-cancellable, and is a binding commitment by the customer to purchase. Such orders may be cancelled by the discretion of Paramount Vintners only. In the event of non-payment of an invoice within the specified terms, Paramount Vintners reserves the right to cancel the order a charge a cancellation fee of up to 20% of the outstanding sum.' Paramount Vintners Ltd – terms & conditions


Under the new contract law wine bought over the phone or the internet has a 14 day period of cancelleation starting the day after delivery. Only en primeur sales are exempt. Failing to give customers correct information can mean that the cancellation period is extended by a further year. 

Paramount Vintners Ltd has an account at London City Bond's Vinothèque at Burton-on-Trent. Curiously  for a company with such an extensive list of stock Vinothèque is misspelt on their website – Vinoteque:


Presumably Marvin Roberts (Paramount Vintners Ltd)
thought this was Vinothèque – it isn't!
Barking – Roberts!  

Furthermore the photo Paramount chose to illustrate their 'wine storage' section shows a warehouse at LCB's Barking facility – not Vinothèque. They do, however, offer storage for private customers at £8.28 ex VAT, which sunstantially undercuts the LCB rates. Unless Paramount has cut a very special deal they will be losing money on every case.   

I suspect that London City Bond are not impressed! Nor am I.... 

•••

Update 2nd December 2014
wine-searcher removed Paramount Vintners Ltd from their wine and merchants' listings last Friday.








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Prime Trading 5 Ltd: not for me thanks nor Santander!

December 2, 2014, 11:58 am
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From their website: Prime Trading 5 since 2006
(misleading website was set up on 3rd November 2012)


Château d'Yquem: the 1998 is favourite investment 
wine offered by Prime Trading 5 Ltd

Prime Trading 5 Ltd is an off-the-shelf company that was formed on 24th May 2006. However, it was dormant until at least the end of May 2012. The current sole director and sole shareholder (£100) is 25-year-old Aaron Scott Britten. He was appointed on 23rd October 2012 and the company website was registered on 3rd November 2012. 

Prime Trading 5 Ltd claims on its website, agreements and in conversations to its clients that it has been trading since 2006. This is clearly false as the company actually started only two years ago and not eight as it likes to mislead its clients. 

On its website the company address is claimed to be: Prime Trading 5 Limited 3-15 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1DU. However, the more likely trading address is: Onega House, 112 Main Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 6NE.

investdrinks has received two complaints about this company. Both relate to its blunt and repeated refusal to refund money sent to the company to buy wine and then subsequently cancelled. Prime Trading 5 Ltd has refused to accept that bottled wine is covered by The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which came into force on 13th June 2014. 


Prime Trading 5 Ltd's attempt to get 
clients to sign away their statutory rights 

From the agreement:
'I confirm that the above order details are correct. I confirm that I have read & understand these terms & accept these in full for the above order. I understand that by signing below a legally binding contract will be in force.

In view of the Product, I understand and agree that I do not have any rights to the statutory cooling off period.' 

They have further maintained that the client can sign their statutory rights away (see above). According, in a phone conversation recorded on 1st December, Michael Scott, Prime Trading 5's Compliance Officer, told an elderly client's daughter (AB) that if you 'sign the agreement you don't have a leg to stand on'. 

Michael Scott, which may or may not be his real name (Aaron Scott Britten?), is right about not having 'a leg to stand on' but it is the company who is legless and not the client as you cannot sign away your statutory rights– in this instance the right of cancellation. One has to question Mr Scott's qualifications to be the Compliance Officer as he appears to be relying on law invented by Prime Trading 5 Ltd and not the law of England & Wales that their T&Cs say governs the client agreement.

Aaron Scott Brittten is relying on part of Paragraph 28 d of the Act. However, all three of the clauses (i, ii, iii) have to apply for there to be an exemption from cancellation for bottled wine. Crucially the wines that Prime Trading Ltd are selling can be delivered within 30 days (as set out in clause ii) as Michael Scott assured AB that all three cases purchased were in Prime Trading 5's account at LCB.  

Prime Trading 5 Ltd is now trying to insist (see email below) that AB sets up a private account at LCB and arranges to transfer the wines out of Prime Trading 5 Ltd's account into theirs. Instead of this pantomime Aaron Scott Brittten and Prime Trading 5 Ltd should refund the money in full in the statutory 14 days from receipt of the cancellation order.   

Email from Prime Trading 5 Ltd 19.29 2nd December 2014:   
-->
“Following the conversation with your daughters Prime Trading 5 can confirm that for us to proceed in any way the stock needs to be transferred into your personal account. We have spent many hours explaining the same thing and we still haven managed to achieve anything.  Prime Trading 5 request William Newell opens his account asap so we can transfer stock into his account. We at prime trading 5 achieve to offer customer service which is second to none but we cant spend over 3/4 hours on the phone explaining the same thing over and over again. We will have no further contact until your account is opened which will allow us to proceed in managing stock in the future.” 


Actually the only way to proceed is for Prime Trading 5 Ltd and Aaron Scott Britten to comply with the law and refund the money. It is bizarre that they are being so obdurate over this!     
 
Another client (JH) has contacted me  It appears that it isn't just some of clients of Prime Trading 5 Ltd, who have issues with the company. JH paid an initial deposit £2000 and then arranged for the balance (£48,000) to be processed through his bank – Santander. However, the bank was suspicious – stopped the payment and referred the transaction to their fraud investigation team. JH then demanded his £2000 back from Prime Trading 5 Ltd, who appear to be treating it as a non-returnable deposit. Again the company is in complete contravention of 2013 The Consumer Contracts Law. Sole director Aaron Scott Britten might find it illuminating to read Chapter 2: Offences. 

Just received (3.12.14) Prime Trading 5 Ltd's agreement with JH, which he refused to sign. Just to show how 'professional' this company is they couldn't even spell his name correctly! When Santander blocked the balance Prime Trading 5 told JH it would take two weeks to process the refund. This is now due – Mr Aaron Scott Britten.       


 
'We arrange for your Product to be stored in our bonded 
warehouse account at London City Bond, Olympus 91-101, 
River Road, Barking, IG11 0EG ("Facility"), 
which specialises in the long-term storage of fine wine' 
      
In their terms & conditions 'Bonded Warehouse' Aaron Scott Britten and Prime Trading 5 Ltd show their grasp of how the fine wine market is organised. They tell clients that their wine will be at River Road in Barking. It won't as LCB's specialist fine wine storage is a few hours drive north at Burton-on-Trent.    

I'm going to follow Santander's keen instinct and have nothing to do with Prime Trading 5 Ltd.  
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Land-banking scammer disqualified as director for 14 years

December 30, 2014, 1:37 pm
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Director disqualified for £1.7 million landbanking scam that left customers with virtually worthless land
A company director who ran an extensive landbanking scam through his three companies that misled members of the public into parting with at least £1.7 million for small plots of land of little value has been disqualified from being a company director for 14 years.

A company director who ran an extensive landbanking scam through his three companies that misled members of the public into parting with at least £1.7 million for small plots of land of little value has been disqualified from being a company director for 14 years.
 
Eren Metcalfe, formerly known as Eren Cemal Ibrahim, was the sole director of Natural Wealth Solutions Ltd, Proctor Capital Ltd and Land Security Management Ltd, three companies that were wound up in the public interest by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, after an investigation carried out by Live Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, following complaints by members of the public. 

Examination of the companies’ affairs by the Official Receiver after the winding up orders showed that, between them, Natural Wealth Solutions Ltd and Proctor Capital Ltd received at least £1.7 million, the proceeds of a land banking scheme which misled members of the public in order to induce them to buy plots of land as an investment, when it was not.

The companies’ salespeople represented the plots of land that they marketed as being suitable for development and having a realistic prospect of obtaining planning permission. However, the land sold to customers had little, if any, value for development purposes and was sold at mark ups of between 18 and 63 times the purchase price per acre. None of the land had planning permission, and had little prospect of obtaining it. Neither Mr Metcalfe nor the staff had any expertise in assessing land, and made no enquiries as to the likelihood of planning permission being granted. 

Commenting on the disqualifications Paul Titherington, Official Receiver at The Insolvency Service’s Public Interest Unit, said:
As with all the other land banking companies that the Official Receiver has dealt with over many years, these companies have brought misery to unsuspecting members of the public, who were persuaded to part with their savings in exchange for virtually worthless plots of land. In over 7 years of dealing with land banking scams I have not seen a single piece of land that has been sold in this way actually go on to obtain planning permission.Every single customer has lost their money in what was a horrendous investment. (Bold by ed)


Although for a relatively small total 'at least £1.7 million compared to the £35 million involved in the Countrywide Land £35 million fraud, it has some of the same hallmarks – land sold on the virtually impossible promise that it would be rezoned and investors systematically misled by a boiler room  telesales staff.
 
Countrywide Land sold plots of land that were touted as an investment. In reality they were worthless of next to worthless. Some of the ringleaders of this £35 million fraud were jailed on 8thMarch 2013, although Andrew Dunne is believed to be still in Northern Cyprus. 

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/jail-beckons-for-the-countrywi.html

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bromley-boiler-room-scams-key-2332486

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/jail-beckons-for-the-countrywi.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2290363/Gang-conned-investors-paying-35MILLION-worthless-plots-land-jailed-26-years.html
 
   
 
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BDS Fine & Rare Ltd – no thanks!

January 2, 2015, 7:45 am
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'BDS specialise in sourcing the finest 
Premier Cru Wines from Bordeaux' 

About us– from the BDS Fine & Rare website:  
'BDS specialise in sourcing the finest Premier Cru Wines from Bordeaux.

'Our company offer guidance and support at every stage of the Wine purchasing process, from the purchasing of high quality rare Fine Wine to the actual sale we  are with you. Our services not only include portfolio management, but also the re-selling of existing portfolios.'


 
BDS Fine & Rare Ltd was founded on 11th March 2013, while its website was registered on 12th February 2014. It has one director – 28-year-old Lee Alan Barnett, who is also the sole shareholder with its £1 of share capital. 

   
BDS Fine & Rare Ltd are clearly having problems filing their statutory documents with Companies House of time. Their first annual return due to be filed in March 2014 wasn't filed until 16th July 2014, presumably prompted by a First Gazette being published on 8th July 2014 presumably for non-compliance. Their first accounts are now slightly overdue as they should have been filed on 11th December 2014.  
  
 
Contact address: 8th Floor, 6 Mitre Passage, 
Greenwich, London SE10 0ER
is a virtual office


To date the company's two addresses have been virtual offices – the present one is in Greenwich, while the previous address was 86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE. 

  'You can cancel your invoice at any time for any reason 
within 7 days of signing the Pro forma or 
Purchase Invoice. Your payment will be returned in full.'  
Not in line with current legislation.  

Lee Barnett and BDS Fine & Rare Ltd appear not to be aware of the 2013 Consumer Contracts legislation which gives buyers a statutory cancellation period of 14 days from delivery. Under the legislation if consumers are not properly informed of their rights then the cancellation period is extended by a year. So it would make sense for BDS Fine & Rare Ltd to sort out its T&Cs. 

BDS Fine & Rare are not authorised 
to give investment advice etc.  

All in all BDS Fine & Rare Ltd is another wine investment company I shall be avoiding.
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Barry Gamble (The London Vines Ltd): judgment in default – £741,647.45

January 5, 2015, 1:48 pm
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The London Vines Ltd 
Today I received a copy of the liquidator's progress report on the first 12 months of the liquidation of The London Vines Ltd, a 'wine investment' company, where the shareholders did rather better than their clients. The report was prepared by Alisdair Finlay, the liquidator and covers 31 October to 30 October 2014.   

It certainly made interesting reading.

The headline story is that Barry Michael Gamble has been hit with a judgment in default to pay £741,647.45 related to the misfeasance claim brought by the liquidator. Barry Gamble was the sole director of The London Vines Ltd from 26th January 2010 to 9th April 2013.

Further details here:
'Settlement re Misfeasance Claim
Following analysis of the company bank statements for the period 1 February 2012 to the date of liquidation it was discovered that large sums of money had been paid to the shareholders and relatives of shareholders for which there were no records to substantiate the payments. Despite writing to each of the shareholders involved, none were able to provide satisfactory responses and as such I instructed solicitors to commence recovery proceedings. A claim was drafted against Barry Michael Gamble, Robert Scott Phillips, Amanda Sarah Gamble, Sylwia Phillips and David Phillips. A offer of £27,000 was made and accepted in respect of the claim against David Phillips in the sum of £33,776.

A settlement has been reached with Robert Phillips and Sylwia Phillips that a payment of £90,000 will be made by 16.00hrs on 19 January 2015. This settlement has been agreed based upon the available equity in the matrimonial property. This settlement is in respect of claims mad against Robert Phillips in the sum of £152,802 and Sylwia Phillips in the sum of £123,294. 

Barristers were instructed to give advice on the merits of obtaining an injunction against the assets of Barry Gamble. Searches on property websites showed that the matrimonial home was on the market for sale. Unfortunately no application for an injunction was made as Counsel weren't confident of success and an unsuccessful application could have resulted in a costs order against the liquidator for which he could have become personally liable.*

A judgment in default was obtained against Barry Gamble in the sum of £741,647.45. An application has been made to court to apply for a charging order against property held in the defendant names. We are still awaiting confirmation from the Court of Judgment in default against Amanda Gamble in the sum of £179,263.61. 

Directors Loan Account 
Robert Phillips has agreed by way of consent to repay a Directors loan of £35,926 over a period of 71 months payable by 71 monthly instalments of £500 and one final instalment and one final instalment of £426. As at the date covered by this report £1200 had been collected.'   

Robert Phillips, who was appointed sole director of The London Vines Ltd on 9th April 2013, reported that 'In addition due to a dispute between shareholders, the Director, Robert Phillips claimed that he was unable to access any of the client information from the computers held at the trading premises as the passwords had been changed by Barry Gamble.' 

*: Barry and Amanda Gamble's house at 6 Rowan Close, Banstead was sold on 16th September 2014 for £631,000. The house had been bought for £470,000 on 16th June 2009.             
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European Fine Wines Ltd (EFW): warning scammers very active!!

January 22, 2015, 10:52 am
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 The former premises of European Fine Wines Ltd in Bromley
– now in liquidation

There are currently a rash of white knight scams linked with European Fine Wines Ltd, which went into liquidation on 25th June 2014, when Nedim Ailyan of Abbott Fielding Limited was appointed as liquidator. 

The scams include letters, using a European Fine Wines Ltd letterhead, sent   to clients of European Fine Wines Ltd as well as phone calls from people claiming to work for Abbott Fielding or to have been appointed by them or in the instance below from someone claiming to be the ex-financial director of European Fine Wines Ltd.  

Comment received for investdrinks yesterday (21.1.2015):
'I've just received a call from European Fine Wines ex financial director??? They are back in business and trying to sell me insurance to protect me from the company brought in as liquidators from only giving me 5p for every £1 invested. I actually own the wine and have it stored, is this true or a scam - help feeling very confused as thought I was one of the lucky ones?'

investdrinks understands that Rothstein Capital & Partners are among the companies contacting clients of European Fine Wines Ltd. I understand that Grant Thornton as well as Abbott Fielding have reported the activities of Rothstein Capital & Partners to the Police.  

All these are scams as Nedim Ailyan, the liquidator, explains:        

'In recent weeks, a company has been writing to the creditors on European Fine Wines letterhead alleging that they are the company and trying to obtain money from them.
 
In addition, a third party has been ringing creditors alleging he works for my office and that for a small payment, he can get people's wine.
 
Needless to say, anyone who passes any money to both these parties receives nothing. European Fine Wines Limited is in liquidation and any and all correspondence, that clients receive will be received from Abbott Fielding only.'

Don't fall for these advance fee frauds, they will only increase the losses you suffered through European Fine Wines Ltd.

If you have the slightest doubt contact:  
Abbott Fielding Limited, 142/148 Main Road, Sidcup, Kent DA14 6NZ  
Tel: 020 8302 4344

Fax: 020 8309 9178
www.abbottfielding.co.uk

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Wine investment Embassy Wine (UK) Ltd shut down in public interest

January 25, 2015, 7:24 am
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Embassy Wine (UK) Ltd, whose sole director was 28-year-old Jonothan (sic) Piper was compulsorily wounded up in the public interest on 3rd December 2014 on petition by the Insolvency Service. The Insolvency Service reported that Piper 'treated company bank accounts as effectively his own personal accounts'. I hope this means that The Insolvency Service will in time apply for Piper to be banned from serving as a UK company director.  

Press release from Insolvency Service:   

Embassy Wine (UK) Ltd, which claimed it was ‘a fine wine broker’, was wound up in the High Court on 3 December 2014, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Embassy Wine (UK) Ltd, incorporated in June 2011, claimed on its now defunct website, www.embassywineuk.com, that:
  • It was an expert within the wine industry
  • That investors could see 30% returns on individual bottles purchased
  • The company offered a diverse portfolio of wines for purchase, storage and onward sale on behalf of its customers.

The court found that those claims were baseless, and that the company had failed to pay promised returns to customers who had paid the company directly for wine or who had transferred their wine portfolios to be managed and sold on by the company.

The company also took in substantial deposits from customers, on the false basis that those deposits were required to lodge wines in bonded warehouses or upfront fees in order to sell on wine portfolios. No deposits and no upfront fees had been returned to any known customers. In a number of instances customers, including a 94 year-old victim at the time of his dealings with the company, had paid over sums of over £30,000 to the company. 

The court found that the company had substantively been run for the benefit of its sole director, Jonothan (sic) Piper, who treated company bank accounts as effectively his own personal accounts. Mr Piper had no previous experience in the wine industry, having been a labourer. Mr Piper failed to provide any meaningful co-operation with the investigators, and was found to have lied to investigators in respect of a number of matters, including as to how many company bank accounts there had been.

Giving judgement, Registrar Jones stated that the grounds in the Secretary of State’s petition for seeking to wind up the company were fully justified, and on that basis the company was compulsorily wound up.

Notes to Editors
Embassy Wine (UK) Ltd, Co. registration number 07686061, was incorporated on 28 June 2011.

The petition to wind up the company was presented in the High Court on 3 October 2014 under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS).

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