Member Info for MountTeide

Former Executive Chairman - a white collar criminal with a conviction for a major insider trading scam - currently fighting writs alleging the siphoning of hundreds of £millions of shareholders funds from two company's he had executive responsibility for into companies controlled by him and his family.

Former CEO(now a highly paid consultant) - recently detained and charged by US Law Enforcement Authorities for a major Securities Fraud

Don't say you were not warned!

The market is still waiting for a plausible explanation as to how £44m of shareholders funds and Bank Loan Drawdown could seemingly disappear without trace BEFORE a single lorry of infill material was deposited on the port development site - particularly since the winning tender to construct the entire 200 acre site and port development infrastructure was won with a £57m tender.

99.9% Down from IPO 250p Price
98.0% Down from the £37m First Placing 10p Price
90.0% Down from the £35m Second Placing 2p Price
The clueless II's who averaged down throughout have been make to look like total fools by the Indian Shysters that have been running this company.

Moral of the SKIL PORT and Mercantile Ports & Logistics Story?
Investors should beware when AIM allows an Indian Shyster - a convicted criminal, prosecuted for carrying out a huge Insider trading Scam involving four quoted companies - to masquerade as the Executive Chairman of an AIM Company!

Back in 2014 arranging the charter of a light aircraft to take photo's of what proved to be a non existent 'Port' that the management had claimed in a company RNS had been under 'construction' for circa 9 months was the canary in the coal mine moment.

Shortly after we saw an entry buried deep in the next set of accounts confirming that circa 9 months previously circa £17m had been drawn down from the Bank Loan facility without any mention of it in the account headline statements - the only reference being a bank loan interest liability falling within 12 months! If that had been taken from the cash pile it would have required some explanation - so the bank loan facility was used with just a loan interest liability as the only reference.

Then, the next set of accounts about 6 months later asked the market to believe some £45m had been 'spent' since IPO on construction work we estimated should have cost £3-5m.

That's the best part of two Brinks Mat heists disappearing into the sub continent ether before the trucks had gained access to the site to start land reclamation!

Bank loans and interest payments now totalling some 20 times the Market Cap !

Annual Revenue after costs from the only contract they have secured to date, for the lease of a circa 25 ACRE parcel of open storage, is probably less than 10% of the cash required to service the annual interest and capital repayment on the bank loans .

1,000,000 trade raises £2k.........some II's still holding paid £2.5m for that amount at the London 2010 IPO!

99.9% down post the London IPO for what is a straightforward real estate project, the construction of which was won with a tender of £57m !

The naivety of some in the II and PI Investment community never ceases to amaze!

The II base, against better advice, twice supported circa £35m placings at eye-watering discounts to the huge IPO positions they took out at 250p.

If any holding have got money to burn, use £10k productively by employing a Marine Civil Engineering consultant to perform a cost analysis audit on the work completed to date and then compare that figure to the circa £170m carrying value of the 'asset' in the accounts.

People with 40 years professional experience of this industry believe you will likely find a circa £140m difference between the Management's carrying value and the value of the 'asset' completed to date on the open market.

We couldn't possibly comment on where the £140m difference was 'spent' !

AIMHO/DYOR

If not already aware current and prospective investors would do well to familiarise themselves with the following........According to company statements former CEO Pavin Bakhshi who stepped down to fight securities fraud charges in the USA, is still a highly paid 'Consultant' to the company!

Of Bakshi's three alleged co-fraudsters, Paul Parmer is incarcerated in the USA , while the US Department of Justice said Mr Zaharis and Chivukula are currently fugitives!

British man charged in alleged £239 million investment fraud - Business Matters

'A British man has been charged in the US for allegedly participating in a 300 million US dollar (£239 million) scheme to defraud investors in a deal to take a London-listed healthcare company private.
Pavandeep Bakhshi, 41, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud.

He was arrested in John F Kennedy International Airport on Saturday evening after arriving in New York on a flight from London.

The US Department of Justice said Mr Bakhshi, along with Parmjit “Paul” Parmar, Sotirios “Sam” Zaharis, and Ravi Chivukula allegedly used fraudulent methods to inflate the value of the AIM-listed healthcare services company and trick others into believing that it was worth substantially more than it actually was.

To fund the deal, a private investment firm put up 82 million US dollars and a group of financial institutions invested an additional 130 million US dollars, according to the DoJ.

The conspirators allegedly sought to raise tens of millions of US dollars to fund the healthcare service company’s acquisitions of various subsidiaries, but a number of them either did not exist or had only a fraction of the operating income attributed to them.

They then allegedly channelled the proceeds of the fundraising to bank accounts they controlled with the money raised used to make it appear it had substantial amount of revenue.

The DoJ said the scheme was uncovered last September, when the conspirators resigned from their positions or were terminated from their roles at the healthcare services company which filed for bankruptcy on March 16.'

99.92% down after 10 years for a port development/real estate project with a claimed asset carrying value of circa £170m, that is only 25% complete at best, and for which the civil engineering works for the construction of the entire 200 acre site, quay and hardstanding was won with a tender for £57 million.

One of the AIM scams of this new century!

Dear oh dear - The II community could not say they were not warned !

Delivered on a silver salver to them - all of the data, and an explanation as to what's really going on and how we know that!

Jeremy Warner Allen said, "I truly believe in the potential of MPL and have full confidence that we will deliver a profitable and valuable business to all our stake holders. I have no doubt that the future will be exciting for the Company and I look forward to playing my part in growing the business and the platform as a whole."

Begs the question - What have you been doing for shareholders since joining the Board in 2018?

We note, in common with your predecessor you do not hold any shipping or ports industry professional qualifications or have any first hand senior management experience of either industry.

Consequently, as shareholders (one share each), currently holding the highest professional qualifications the Shipping and Ports industries currently examine for, and with decades of senior management experience running ports and shipping companies, we'd like to offer you a little advice in your new role.

We suggest you start by appointing a reputable Marine Civil Engineering Consultancy to carry out a cost analysis of the Karanja Port construction work completed to date and then, after pouring yourself a very large brandy, compare the figure with the carrying value that is currently in MPL's accounts for this 'asset'.

After you've finished the brandy bottle and sobered up, request the Marine Civil Engineering Consultants to then conduct a forensic audit (and give a professional opinion) on every payment over £10k made to contractors since 2012 - while they're doing that, we suggest you order yourself a case of brandy for when you read their report.

AIOHO/DYOR

IPO: 250p
First Placing: 10p
Second Placing: 2p
Third Placing: 0.1p?

How to turn £8m at IPO into £6.7k - leave it in the care and control of these shysters......3.2 million dumped at 0.21p following today's RNS.........thats an 99.9% loss from the heady IPO days!

Another delude fool who is going to join a long list of those hoodwinked by the management !!

Tata's revenues are loose change compared to the what they will need to make in PROFIT to pay the interest on the debt.

You sound just like the current CEO who regularly posts on the Adv*n website under a pseudonym! He was promoted to the position after assisting the management team to lose 96% of shareholders value since IPO

If you did a little research you would find the management completed the first 75 acres of land reclamation between Jan 2015 and June 2016 .......after that there has been just 15 acres of reclamation through to June 2020 !!!
Despite raising an additional £37m specifically to complete the 200 acres of reclamation by mid 2017, as detailed in the Shareholders Circular given to the market to raise the £37m, or as it is more commonly known in investment circles - one of AIM's greatest ever works of fiction !

THERE WAS NO LAND RECLAMATION GOING ON BETWEEN JULY 2016 and JAN 2017 , AND ONLY 15 ACRES WAS ACHIEVED BY JUNE 2017 AT A COST OF £58 ............CLOSE TO THE TOTAL COST THAT A TENDER TO BUILD THE WHOLE PORT WAS AWARDED!

I'D STICK TO MANAGED FUNDS SON, YOU'RE WAY OUT OF DEPTH INVESTING IN SECTORS YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE OF OR HOLD ANY PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION IN.

It took 9 years for the SFO and FCA to arrest the Barclays Executives for Fraud for False Representation!

99.8% down post IPO for s straightforward real estate project suggests otherwise !

Clueless, totally clueless!

Son, I suggest you read my posts going back over 5 years on Adv*n...........you might actually learn something!

7 letters to the Compliance Officer of the Nomad and AIM Regulation and a 120 File to the SFO !

Sadly for Mercantile shareholders, since construction commenced at Karanja, the Market has had little trouble picking up the strong evidence suggesting repeated fraud by false representation in company statements, and the totally implausible cash burn, and not unreasonably, coming to the conclusion that if the management of Mercantile Ports & Logistics and its NOMAD is making the Company look like a scam, it should price the equity accordingly.

What do you think?

Kind regards,

AIOHO/DYOR

THERE IS NO PLAUSIBLE COMMERCIAL MODEL FOR THE REVISED PORT SPECIFICATION WITH A £148M BUILD COST, THAT COULD GENERATE EVEN 50% OF THE REVENUE AND PROFIT REQUIRED TO AVOID THE BANKS TAKING OVER THE PORT ASSETS OVER WHICH THEY HAVE A LIEN - anyone who suggests otherwise is simply insulting the Market’s intelligence. If the Shipping and Port Sector Investment ‘Guru's’ running Mercantile believe otherwise, perhaps they will be so kind as to enlighten a totally disbelieving Market, by publishing an updated 3 Year Revenue and Profit Projection and Cash Forecast, so two friends and I can use our collective 90 years of shipping and port industry senior management experience to bring them to their senses.

I could go on and on but hopefully you have got the picture - most if not all of this and much more was reported to your Stephen Keys, who frankly rather than behave like a representative of a NOMAD acutely conscious of its responsibilities, routinely acted more like Mercantile’s defence counsel - a big mistake, and the height of arrogance, since he holds no shipping/port industry professional qualifications, and has no relevant experience and little technical knowledge of the Industry, if my long discussions with him are a reliable guide.

How could all this happen?

Clearly having NED's, a Nomad and a Financial Controller all based 4,000 miles away in the UK, is not ideal and making effective oversight highly problematic at best, particularly when the Nomad does not have a representative with the required industry experience and technical knowledge. In addition, it was extremely disconcerting to be telling one Ned about the lack of on-site progress that he should have been aware of, considering he was being paid £40k a year, nearly twice that of the NED's at Dover, Europe's largest short sea port.

Nomad's failure to carry out basic on-site due diligence to verify the accuracy of company statements issued during 2014 in particular, and the Oct 2016 Shareholders Circular, which was carefully crafted to falsely give the impression of a huge acceleration in the pace of on-site development work, in order to support the raising of an additional £37m, when the reality was no land reclamation or berth piling whatsoever was going on at all in H2/2016.

Having an Auditor unwilling to reveal the methodology they use to verify cash on deposit is extremely concerning since, Mercantile’s auditors were recently hoodwinked by an ex wind surfer turned corporate crook who as CEO carried out the huge Globo AIM fraud, by convincing the Auditor the company had £100m on deposit rather than just the loose change it turned out to be.

over the site and Google Earth Historical Images). Claims of uninterrupted work on-site since Oct 2015 - yet NO Land Reclamation whatsoever was going on in H2/2016; a period during which Management were falsely telling the market to expect another 65 acres and the completion of operational berths, in order to support the raising of a further £37m.

The channel dredging of Karanja Creek to the Port from Mumbai Harbour as claimed by management, is totally inconsistent with the latest depths on navigational charts and dredging tender contracts issued by the Regulatory Authority. The evidence in the public domain strongly suggests that, other than off the terminal berths, NO dredging work whatsoever has been carried out in the 3 mile approach channel to the Port, contrary to management claims. Dredging activity or as in this case inactivity, is something the technically naive management cannot falsely claim and expect to get away with since the MMB, the Regulatory Authority that controls all dredging activity in Mumbai Harbour and its connecting waterways, HAS A LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY TO INFORM THE RELEVANT MARITIME AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SAFETY OF SHIPPING, OF ANY CHANGES TO THE DREDGED DEPTHS IN TIDAL WATERS OVER WHICH IT HAS RESPONSIBILITY, SO THAT MARITIME NAVIGATIONAL CHARTS AFFECTED BY THE CHANGES CAN BE UPDATED IMMEDIATELY AND CHART CORRECTIONS/AMENDMENTS ISSUED TO SHIPPING COMPANIES, SHIP MANAGERS AND PORT OPERATORS.

Hopelessly optimistic annual cargo throughput targets and P&L Projections, which do not stand up to any critical examination, and have not been revised following official notification of the reduced terminal specification, and the huge increase in build and operating costs.

Complete lack of management integrity - Board promotions rather than resignations for a management team responsible for a drop in the share-price of 98% post IPO, from 250p to 3.5p! And the need to raise funds at a 96% discount to the IPO price for what is a simple real estate development, which resulted in a 9 fold dilution of IPO investors holdings.

Management travelling expenses and hotels bills totalling an astonishing circa £25k/month for the last 7 years.

Employment numbers wholly implausible with a company having a single small port asset under development where, the design and construction has been contracted out to third parties.

Totally implausible claim that stream transhipment of container cargo destined for the nearby JNPT Container Terminals is a key target revenue stream for the port. It is not and will NEVER be because it is a physical impossibility.

No mention of any drawdown of the £48m bank loan in the 2014 Prelims headline comments, during a period of zero on-site activity, yet an entry buried deep in the accounts suggesting somewhere in the range of £15m to £22m had in fact been drawn down and SPENT, which is totally astounding since no on-site land reclamation activity was going on at all during 2014.

We estimate the cash burn should have been a small fraction of this at circa £5m.

Totally implausible cash burn AFTER Land Reclamation started - £58m between June 2016 and June 2017, and an astonishing circa £21m during Q4/2016 when no on-site activity whatsoever was going on.

The Indian principal engineer ITD Cementation won the marine civil engineering fixed price tender contract to build the entire 200 acre site and berth infrastructure for £57m in 2013. So far, £94 million has been ‘spent’ and the Port Terminal is not even half completed! And the highly respected, world renown European marine engineering consultants who carried out the site surveys and designed the terminal and, who would have been expected to oversee the project through to completion, disappeared without trace following the tender process.

The build cost has been uplifted by 40% for a materially reduced port specification, partially announced 8 months after the additional £37m cash raise to complete the development to the Directors preferred specification. The Directors preferred specification should by any objective technical examination, have seen a material reduction in cost of circa £25m NOT an increase of £37m!

The build-out of the Port Development has been consistently and massively under-resourced, putting shareholders investments at serious risk, due to non compliance with the T&C's of the Port Operating Concession. Mercantile is now in year 5, yes you read that right, of a maximum 2 year contractual time period to complete the building of the port.

Port Operating Concession T&C's were also breached by the £37m cash raise which reduced SKIL Group’s shareholding below the minimum threshold, which shareholders some 8 months later are still yet to receive confirmation that the Company has satisfactorily resolved the matter with the Regulatory Authority, in order to protect their investment, which could, as Mercantile pointed out in its own IPO documentation, be worthless if the Concession is revoked. (Yes, we know many II's investments are 98% down post IPO and, they only have 2% left to protect but, there is a matter of principle at stake here!)

Every Land Reclamation, Berth piling and dredging progress target/timeline has proved to be a work of complete fiction - targets have routinely been missed by 80, 90 or even 100%(eg; land rec target June 2016 to Jan 2017 was a 100% MISS; and two years 6 months AFTER the date Mercantile expected to have placed 275 berth piles and been operational, Mercantile cheerfully announced that operations are progressing 'well' and the Company has now laid 160 piles. The Port Operating Concession only allows 2 years for construction - Mercantile is now in its 5 year and not even half of the Land reclamation has been carried out!

Management has repeatedly misled the market; including but not restricted to the level of on-site activity(verified by shareholders through the chartering of a light aircraft to take photos ove

Two friends and i, also industry professionals, took a holding in MPL when the cash position was nearly twice the market cap - but once construction of its only asset, a new port commenced, we quickly established that the management were running an industrial scale fraud largely aided and abetted by the Nomad representative - who like the MPL management held no qualifications or previous management experience of the highly specialised shipping/ports business sector MPL 'operate' in.

We were fortunate to exit with a modest loss - but some 8 months later in an attempt to help other investors we believed were being fleeced of another £37m of their hard earned funds via a placing at an unbelievable 96% discount to the IPO price for what was a simple real estate project, we intervened and spoke to the largest two II who were considering supporting the placing.

Via telephone calls lasting hours we explained how the company was a scam, gave them all the data and all of the information explaining how we know that and how they were carrying it out - yet they STILL elected to proceed. Unfortunately, for them and their investors the rest is history with the s/p now down 99.8% post IPO and 97% post the first placing.

We described at the time and subsequently in 7 letters to the Nomad, which we posted on Adv*n, how the shareholders circular to raise an additional £37m would prove to be one of AIM's greatest ever works of fiction - we take no delight in the passage of time proving us entirely correct. Our complaint file is currently with AIM Regulation and the SFO.

Posted below is one of the letters we sent to the compliance officer of the NOMAD who continues to this day to aid and abet the MPL management:

Dear Ms Wood,

Post commencement of the build out of the Port Terminal at Karanja in 2013, Mercantile’s executive management, in addition to providing the market with extremely strong evidence to suggest they may have carried out Fraud by False Misrepresentation, has consistently demonstrated a complete lack of operational and financial control of such breathtaking ineptness, it legitimately raises the much more serious question, of whether Mercantile Ports & Logistics could be nothing more than a huge and rather crudely crafted financial scam?

In addition to numerous inaccurate or false Company Statements and the extremely worrying white collar criminal background of the Executive Chairman Nikhil Gandhi, there has been so many extremely serious Operational & Financial Red Flags that a responsible NOMAD familiar with the Shipping & Ports Industry should have immediately picked these up – a few selected at random from the rich smorgasbord of material generated by management as they ‘spent’ their way through most of the £110m of shareholders cash and £48m of bank debt raised to date:

Totally implausible cash burn of circa £44m BEFORE the start of any on-site Land reclamation(think nearly 2 Brinks Matt heists).