Monday, January 12, 2009

Srippery Srope

Holy helter-skelters! My thanks to reader Sally who points out that you can now buy shares in CGP, the company that brought you China Gateway, for 7.5p! That means that, as of today, you'd need five CGP shares to purchase a small packet of crisps.

The graph shows how the price has plumetted since CGP was launched on the AIM stock market back in February 2007. The red line at the bottom represents how the FTSE 350 has performed over the same period. At one point the shares were trading at more than £3.40, meaning they're now worth little more than 2% of what they were in their heyday.

At this rate I'm going to have to downgrade Thanet squillionaire Ken Wills, who's the brains behind the business, to a mere millionaire!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

What would it take to get a majority holding?...... hmmm...

Michael Child said...

Adem half the value of the company at that share price would be a little under £1m however the majority of the shares are owned by the directors.

Their website says the following.

The current issued share capital of the Company is : 21,000,200 ordinary shares.

The number of shares not in public hands is 17,594,144 ordinary shares or 83.76% of the issued share capital made up of the following:-

Blenheim Limited - 6,061,038 ( Christopher Seymour-Prosser)
Heritage Building Limited - 1,550,723 (Christopher Seymour-Prosser)
Omega Properties Limited - 6,061,039 (Ken Wills)

Richard Eastcliff said...

Gosh - that makes Ken Wills worth £454,577.92 (6,061,038 x 7.5p).

Not even a half-millionaire! I'll have to take him off my Christmas card list.

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting to know who this Seymour Prosser character is - now he is still a millionaire on these prices

Anonymous said...

Company worth £1.575m.

Bank loan of £28m. at 2% above LIBOR so interest payments of
£1.4m. I reckon at a conservative estimate.

Income nil.

End result?

Anonymous said...

What happened about the Councillors who (allegedly) took the developers money for a trip to China. Was this ever proved or was it all a storm in a Tesco bag. I wouldn't have thought that any credible evidence about this would have resulted in sackings/resignations.

Anonymous said...

It would appear that the Tesco bag contents proved that TDC had lied when it said the Chinese were paying for the trip. All the evidence in the bag pointed to the fact that CGP paid.

However, Ezekiel used plausible deniability to infer that as far as he knew the trip was on the Chinese, and that they would eventually be picking up the tab even if CGP had paid for things on an operational basis (has anyone checked? The trip was over a year ago now.) On the other hand, from what the Tesco bag contained it really did seem as if TDC's chief executive Richard Samuel knew what was going on all along.

None of that really amounts to a prosecution, after all what law has been broken? But it does call some people's ethics into question if you ask me, especially as CGP's application was yet to be considered by the council.

The documents in the Tesco bag also appeared to show that CGP were writing Ezekiel's letters to the Chinese, and TDC's press releases for them. Again, I'm not sure what law you could prosecute under, but it don't half stink!

Anonymous said...

This will just probably end being another development that ends up turning to ashes as the many building sites doted around Thanet and promises come to nothing. Maybe time for our council to re focus their attention to our desperate highsteets with an ever increasing number of closed down shops,this does more harm to the local economy and local employment.

Anonymous said...

I wonder just how much the share value could afford to loose? I have a gut feeling it's not finished going down yet and the 2009/2010 "bust" cycle is just getting started.

Anonymous said...

I agree - how long before they are worthless bits of paper? Then how will Wills pay back his £28m bank loan from the Israel Development Bank?

Anonymous said...

I bet a certain investor who announced a holding of appx 4.5mm shares on 1st April 2008 (!) is not seeing the funny side at all.

Paper loss of around £6,000,000 if they still hold them.

thats gotta hurt

Anonymous said...

If the bank of Israel is putting up the dosh then maybe they could take Cliftonville as reparation .

They are the only nation who could do as much damage to it as Jimmy G has already done to Margate

Anonymous said...

Prosser rhymes with Tosser - do you think it is a pseudonym?

Anonymous said...

The police decided that there would be no prosecution. It seems it's more a case of false declarations on the councillors' expenses/interests forms. The CPS probably wouldn't bother taking it further although the close relationship between the councillors, the Chief Executive and the developers, whilst dubious, isn't illegal.

I'm more interested now in why the developers paid out £5m. for 100 acres of farmland that isn't included in the local plan and would need a major re-think of it to get permission for development. To the best of my knowledge they still haven't got the land jointly owned by KCC/TDC for Phase 1 so what promises have been made to them by TDC regarding the land for Phases 2 and 3?

Arrogance on the part of CGP? Do they know something we don't?

Anonymous said...

Here are some current accommodation wanted ads from internet (My particular favourite is the single mother on Disability Living Allowance who is expecting another baby ! time for a DSS visit ?) but there is one ad in there of interest if you look.

Hi, I am 17 & expecting my 1st child in July.
I am looking for somewhere to rent before my baby is due, preferbly at the start of the new year or near that time . My parents want me to move out & help me set up my home before my babys due. (£320) a month Thanks.


Iam a mother to a 2yr old & also expecting another iam looking for a house to rent in the abbey hulton area, I receive DLA & IS so DSS is no problem. Need to find somewhere a,s,a,p if you can help please get in touch. Abbey Hulton/Milton area ONLY plz.
Thankyou

hi i am currently looking for a 2-3 bed house or flat, in silverdale, parksite or newcastle area. i have two children. and am currently on dss. so if you have a propety that fits the description then please let me know on

Flat or small house wanted for single lady urgently needing to move.
I only require one bedroom and may consider a good size studio flat.
No pets, no children. DSS must be considered initially as i've recently lost my job, and need to get back on my feet.
If you have something, please contact me at:

wanted 3bedroom house to rent in tunstall/burslem or surrounding areas for a single mum on d.s.s pls call or txt

looking too move back too manchester to be near family, mature family seeks 3 to 4 bed house. all areas manchester. max rent £500 pcm also must accept dss housing benifit

my name is adam i am 25 years old my partner is 25 aswell we have a 8 month old son . we r living in a 1 bedroom flat on the 3rd floor with no lift this is not ideal , the council wont move us asthey say we r in suitable accomadation so if ther is anyone who has a 3 bedroom house anywhere in manchester for rnt that will accept housing benifit please contact me on

Hi my name is Ken DSS not a problem can get housing benny fits can pay deposit in company shares if Landlord accepts them as currency.

3-4 bed house wanted long term for famley on houseing benefit south manchester

Anonymous said...

Do you think he spelt his name with an 'a' to throw us off the scent, then?

Don Wood said...

I had a friend round yesterday who was going to see about buying a thousand pounds worth ........I am not even going to try and do the maths on that but as he said he has spent more than that on the lottery since it started and if it comes up trumps he can retire now thats a Man of Thanet speaking