Crowdrating moves to subscription only model - will it survive?

Crowdrating takes a stab at giving punters information about companies that are raising money via Equity Crowdfunding platforms.

When it launched a couple of years back, it was accused of trying to get companies to gain better ratings for cash. Thankfully this practice has ceased; we think. We wrote them before here and the comments are worth a read.

Now what they have is a very basic analysis by what are a team of young interns with little real business experience. When I say basic I mean BASIC. They award medals for various categories - with Gold Silver or Bronze. Illustrations are included. Your 6 year old would feel at home.

Funnily enough they gave Appetise, which has failed to raise money on Crowdcube, two Golds and a Silver - so that is an illustration of the penetration the site has. 

As with all things to do with Equity CF, they have come up their own stats, showing how well their Gold companies have done versus their Bronze ones. You might ask so what if no one is reading it. All they are proud of is the fact that only 2 of the 25 Golds (out of a rated total of 384) are showing distress. The other 23 are still trading. Its so vague as to be pointless. When we last wrote about them it was 24/25; so the odds are worsening. 

The only real interest here is that of the 384 reviewed companies only 25 get a decent rating. That does fly in the face of what Crowdcube tells everyone about their companies. 

We offer a much better service for free - currently. We have a 100% record of being right or your money back.    

So now if you want Crowdrating's information and to look at decorative medals, you will have to pay £5 per month for a basic package or £10 for what they call their premium service.  

Wheatfromchaff Ltd - the controlling company - shows increasing losses and a BS in the red so maybe it is time to either get the cash flowing or move on. There is room for a similar service but it has to be more detailed and more accurate and not presented in such a mickey mouse way. 

We're on it. 

Silkfred finally publishes accounts with losses of £2.5m

Maybe this is why the IPO has been delayed?

We wrote about them here when the news broke that they going to IPO for £100m in 2017. Really on these results? The Telegraph carried this story -

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/12/10/silkfred-fashions-100m-stock-market-listing/

According to information we have seen, the company was nowhere close to a £11m turnover for 2016, as the Telegraph states. Journalists - isnt it time they checked what they were told instead of just parroting it as fact?

This is probably just a minor glitch to be fair. The company has had no problems raising more cash  - it has just done so to the tune of £1m. Its in a rapid growth stage which just isnt translating yet into revenue. Time will tell but we had this company down as one likely to give you all a return. Just maybe not quite a £100m IPO!

Time to take away the takeaway - Wrap it Up file more losses

Wrap it Up took £760k off 560 Crowdcube investors in 2015. Now two years on how have they performed against their Crowdcube offer?

Well you guessed it.Yet another hopeless failure. 

The Crowdcube version had profits for the year just filed (Dec 17) of £670k. The company actually made losses of £230k and since funding, has never made a bean despite claiming to be profit making on the pitch.

The pitch emphasises the new central kitchen which can service up to 100 outlets. Hell that is fantastic if you are using it but with only 17 outlets on their website some might say this a total waste of capex.

We shall have to wait and see what the outcome is - the company is complicated see here and there are new non related Wrap it Ups popping up  - so the brand is hardly valuable. Units that do exist and are run by this Wrap it Up, get very average reviews - not what investors might want in a growth company. 

The whole picture is very confusing. It does beggar belief that 560 investors could give away £760k for this at a dreamy £6.5m and not invest in a current pitch by Appetise, which offers value for money and a real chance of success. You have to wonder at the sophistication of this crowd. 

Whatever happened to SilkFred's £100m IPO?

As alternative facts go, 2016 news in various papers, including The Telegraph, of SilkFred's £100m stock listing in 2017 is right up there.

In what reads like a company PRing, the news was splashed out in December 2016 just in time to pick up their Christmas sales.

More recently and we assume more realistically, the company have raised £7.5m on valuations of £20m and £25m. Considering what Crowdcube investors paid - even with dilution - they have seen the paper value increase. Just why the listing was postponed or cancelled isnt clear but there re many current factors in our economy that might make you think twice right now.

We had this one down as a real success - please dont let us down. Accounts are late.

Whatever happened to SilkFred's £100m IPO?

As alternative facts go, 2016 news in various papers, including The Telegraph, of SilkFred's £100m stock listing in 2017 is right up there.

In what reads like a company PRing, the news was splashed out in December 2016 just in time to pick up their Christmas sales.

More recently and we assume more realistically, the company have raised £7.5m on valuations of £20m and £25m. Considering what Crowdcube investors paid - even with dilution - they have seen the paper value increase. Just why the listing was postponed or cancelled isnt clear but there re many current factors in our economy that might make you think twice right now.

We had this one down as a real success - please dont let us down. Accounts are late.

Myshowcase's final crash

Our recent report of the give away of Crowdcube funded MyShowcase to Miroma Group has now been confirmed. A communication from Crowdcube, who are the nominee account holders in this mess, states either agree to this or the business will close. And you have 4 days to take legal advice and decide. 

Investors in MyShowcase via Crowdcube will get 12.5% of the new Myshowcase, whereas they bought 13.7% via Crowdcube for £1m. These new shares have no rights. Miroma will get all the MyShowcase shares for nothing. Miroma have recently signed an agreement with Reach4Entertainmant in the US which may help the business.  

As usual, the poor investors that believed in Crowdcube, have been royally hung out to dry whilst Nancy and her cronies have been rescued from a sunken ship; at their expense. Whilst the communication goes on to say that this is unlikely to effect investors EIS reliefs - as the deal is at 'arms length', we feel these are rather short arms. Given the fact that the founding CEO of Miroma was a major investor in MyShowcase. In fact if you were really cynical you might think this was all a set up.

We know the FCA are hopeless but are they really that stupid?

What are Taylor St Baristas really up to. Maybe Harris and Hoole can give us a clue?

The power of fake news on the internet never ceases to amaze. Taylor St Baristas took £1.8m off Crowdcube investors in 2015 by way of a bond - for the sole purpose of rolling out new stores. 

Now they have told the Sunday Times, who wrote a piece on ecf bonds using our data, that they no longer wish to open units - they are coffee whole sellers. Well that is not what they sold punters when they issued the bond. It's completely the opposite.

One feature of the TSB's bond document was their repeated referall to the success of Harris and Hoole. Harris and Hoole was set up by the Tolleys in 2012 using Tesco funding. Its chain has now grown to over 50 but its profits are harder to find. In fact since 2012, it has made annual losses of £5.2m ,£12.8m, £25.5m and in 2016 17.7m. The Trolleys left in 2016 to concentrate on TSB and Tesco eventually got rid of the loss making headache to Cafe Nero in the same year. Including 2016, £61m has been thrown at this company and it has lost the lot. They have single handedly re written the definition of the word 'success'.

So is this the model that they based TSB on? Hope not. Of course in the TSB bond document none of these losses were mentioned - H&H was a massive success that meant the Tolleys knew that they were doing. Eh? The difficult bit is making a profit - any old fool can lose millions each year.

I do feel for the mugs who took the 'in store' bond offer in 2015, expecting a unit near them soon, so they could use their 12% annual freebie and indulge in what is, by many accounts, the best coffee around. With only 10 units open (just one more than in 2015) and very substantial losses, this 12% maybe annihilated by the added petrol costs in getting there. If it is so bloody good what went wrong?

Looks like the investors may have been trollied.