Member Info for horace678

Hi, I have held BCB indirectly since buying shares in Belize Holdings International (BHI) quoted on NASDAQ in 1997. BHI became Carlisle Holdings which demerged to form BB Holdings and then finally BCB Holdings. Naturally, my holding has been diluted during the course of the demergers, but I have been topping up over time and have now (by my standards) a substantial holding. Other companies that have been spawned as a result of the demergers have been WIHL (the majority of Ashcroft's Caribbean interests), Carlisle Group (now Impellam), OneSource, Cockleshell, Shellproof and maybe some others that slip my mind. I believe the strategy of isolating the Belize Bank into BCB Holdings is in preparation for selling the bank to one of the big American banks (possibly Royal Bank of Canada whom it was bought from in 1987). I think the SP will rise multiple times when this happens. I think this will happen any time between very shortly and the next couple of years.

See today's news. So Cheryl Jones is the new chairman. I have great faith in her as she brought about the transformation of IPEL. Met her at the IPEL shareholders' meeting in 2009.

I have a very small holding in DODS so any gains are interesting but insignificant as far as my portfolio is concerned. Looking at the fundamentals, it looks as if the NAV of the business indicates that the shares should be worth around 11p each, so clearly they have been undervalued. With the appointment of Cheryl Jones to the board this year, the business could be undergoing some kind of revival. I have no idea about all the buys. There are 339m shares in issue, so there are lots of shares to trade!

Good luck with IPEL. I had to get out, only because I needed the money. As you know, my big hope is with BCB.

Looks like it's brightening up here. Interested to note that Cheryl Jones upped her holding recently by another 500k.

Big buy today if 95,040 shares!

Wonder if this is Ashcroft buying up the shares on the cheap. Probaby no need to disclose the deals, unlike on the main market.

Interesting, that is almost 2% of the shares. Wonder who bought them and who sold them. Presumably unrelated to the death of Andtew Wilson today (

The change of broker could be a sign that things are hotting up. Cenkos are indeed the advisors to Impellam (I went to the IPEL AGM there in 2009). Cenkos have also been the advisors to other Ashcroft companies in recent times (Shellproof, Shellshock etc). This could be taken as a sign that a deal is in gestation, with Cenkos helping to make it. But first they need to get rid of the island, and tie up any loose ends of litigation with the Belize govt and outstanding loans.

Another thought. The shares are also traded on the Bermuda Stock Exchange: http://www.bsx.com/CompanyDisplay.asp?CompanyID=1099937818 Looks as if there have been a couple of recent trades (March 2014). With the Bermudan dollar being pegged to the USD, with WIHL at a price of 55 cents, it looks as if the shares are even cheaper than in London (55 cents = 33p as of writing). Wonder if your broker can help you out here.

Thanks for the info. It looks as if buying WIHL is like stirring treacle. I wonder how they find willing sellers. If BCB gets sold off, I'll be topping up with WIHL. Let me know how you get on with buying any. Take a look at the latest results at www.wihl.com. Definitely a bargain if you're prepared to wait.

Shares continue to rise, but now can be classified as overvalued. I'm clinging on to my last 500, so any gain is equivalent to a family shop in Tescos.

If you look at the news from 26/11/2013 for Dods, you will see that the Net Assets (aka Total Equity) are £29.679m Given that the market cap is only £9.77m, it's fair to say that the shares are undervalued. Therefore, if the shares in Dods were fairly valued, they would be trading at about 9p. The reason I'm hesitant in investing more in Dods is because Ashcroft lacks a majority holding (42.9% last time I looked). As for the gradual drip-drip of sells, I wonder if this is Ashcroft gently pushing the SP down so that he can launch a dawn raid when the shares are mega-cheap, taking his holding above 50%. If he had a majority holding, I would be all over Dods like a rash.

You're entitled to your opinion. I'll buy you and everyone else a drink when the shares of BCB and WIHL shoot up.

Farewell indeed IPEL. Think it's worth selling as the shares are above asset value. Next stop BCB and WIHL. Presumably you saw the news about Caye Chapel island not having sold yet. At least they are aiming in the right direction.

Re DODS, I'd not noticed as I only have a small holding in the company. The only precedent I can think of is when Carlisle Group merged with Corporate Services Group in 2008, prior to this there was the same pattern of frequent and smalls sell in CSG which eventually made the share price trickle down from 9p to 2p, sufficiently low, it would seem, for a certain Lord to make an offer. I remember thinking at the time that the sells had been made by the Lord, who at the time owned 29% of the shares and was therefore teetering on the edge of making a full offer for the company. Re Dods, is it not 40-something % owned by his Lordship, i.e. not owned outright?

A further point: of his investments, the UK-based IPEL must be one of Ashcroft's safest and a long-term hold by his family.

Hi, I've sold most of my IPEL, partly because I need the money. Regarding our recent discussions at BCB, it occurs to me that IPEL must be the 10% of Ashcroft's wealth that he is planning to leave to his descendants. The Lombard Trust has 58% of the shares and is on behalf of Ashcroft's children and "remoter issue". At the current share price, this would value the Lombard Trust at around £100m, which could be interpreted as 10% of Ashcroft's wealth if he is worth £1bn. Interestingly, when Ashcroft transferred his shares to the trust in 2010, the shares were only worth £17m, which may indicate that Ashcroft foresaw that the IPEL share price would multiply. In addition, given that the other 90% of his wealth is destined for charity, this adds fuel to my theory that BCB, WIHL and his other investments are destined to be sold off.

I am putting my funds into BCB (and have persuaded 3/4 friends/relatives to do the same). WIHL is also massively undervalued (1/4 of asset value), but the technical difficulty of dealing on the LMMX (typical Ashcroft beneath the radar!) puts people off. At 40p per share, against an asset value of 160p per share, the shares are even below par value of $1.00. Not a single share in WIHL traded in 2013. I will invest more in WIHL when BCB has come good, but I think it will be a while before WIHL shows us a result (5-10 years). Since Ashcroft's son is on the board, I wonder if WIHL will constitute the 10% of his wealth that Ashcroft is planning to leave to his family (the other 90% going to charity). Conceivably Ashcroft could split WIHL again and sell bits off. Ashcroft signed up last year to Bill Gates' charity fund so presumably at the age of almost 68 Ashcroft wants to get some funds across to that. Note that he recently sold his holding in Restore. If Ashcroft sells BCB, as I think he will, he'll have a cool £80-£100 to give to Gates (or spend on Victoria crosses). Alternatively, IPEL could be the fund that Ashcroft passes to his descendants, especially since the 50+% holding that he owns is in fact held in his family's name, not his.

Hi Buyat20, BCB should be seen as the splinter company, with WIHL as the main company, i.e. it contains everything else of his in the Caribbean and has the larger size (assets of US$269m as of the last results). I suspect that Ashcroft is storing his personal money in WIHL (or at least the British Caribbean Bank which is part of WIHL). Confusingly, BCB holds the Belize Bank. The share price of BCB is so low because Ashcroft likes it that there is a disconnect between the share price and the market cap. Since he owns 75% of the shares, he can have the final say in any outcome. I think Ashcroft is preparing to sell off the Belize Bank (see how he is divesting the island) and that WIHL will be his remaining long term interesting in the Caribbean. I have seen plenty of examples of Ashcroft companies being very low, e.g (1) IPEL was 26p at the start of 2009, (2) Carlisle Holdings (precursor to OneSource) dropped from 870p to 108p in 1999, (3) Onesource was only 1/3rd is book value at sell off in 2007. My advice: hang in there and have faith!