Vita Mojo admits to 'clerical errors' with Companies House - wink wink say no more.

This one is a cracker. Vita Mojo tried to silence this blog with threats of legal action after we showed how their filings at CH were incorrect, along with the stated numbers in their Crowdcube pitch for the year before they funded in 2017.

As requested a couple of days ago by Vita Mojo, we removed the offending paragraphs whilst we gave them time to check their facts. They have now responded - 

Dear Rob,

It appears there may have been a clerical error in the recent filing which is being corrected. In relation to your previous comments:

The accounts presented at the time of the crowdfunding raise were draft accounts and communicated as such - we filed our accounts in accordance with GAAP, and they were signed off by our independent accountants. Any detail beyond this and what is posted on Companies House is not for the public domain. 

We ask that you refrain from further slander and defamatory commentary. Failing that, you’ll be hearing from our lawyers.

Regards,

Emilien

Firstly the accounts for YE Dec2016 are unaudited and not signed off by any accounting firm. Secondly GAAP is a acronym that has little meaning and certainly has no place here. Thirdly none of this is or ever was slander - it is as we explained to you in the first instance, all factual. You have now agreed this. Thanks

We had pointed out several problems with the filings going back over the last two years. They have not addressed these here. 

The accounts that they produced on Crowdcube as 'prior year' were not the filed accounts, as we all know. Had they been, then one hopes there would have been no discrepancy.  But they declared them to be the real numbers for the past 12 months - which by the time they were on Crowdcube, had already been finished for 5 months. They were happy, as were Crowdcube, to use these numbers tagged 'prior period' for the purpose of selling equity for cash to the general public on the FCA regulated, Crowdcube platform.  The difference between a £1m loss as described on Crowdcube and the real £1.5m loss as filed, we would claim is material. Even if it's a another clerical error, it doesnt reflect well on the management. Actually it is completely hopeless. How can you not know about another £500k in losses 5 months after the year end?

Talking of clerical errors and management, they seem to have a few problems in that area. On 10th May 2017, the company split its shares by a factor of 10 - SH02  filed at CH. However they then failed to reflect this in any of the subsequent share dealings - including the one that involved a £3.2m investment via Crowdcube. Take a look at the filings - it's all there in black and white. Why SHs have not picked up on this is a surprise. 

What this means is the clerical error has given Crowdcube shareholders their proportion of the company under the pre split conditions - a fraction of the holding they paid for . So for an easy example say company A had 100 shares and sold 20% of its business for another 25 shares - total 125 shares of which new owners hold 25 or 20%. However if ,as we have seen with Vita Mojo, they had split the original shares by a factor of 10 but failed to allow for this/failed to file it correctly or simply just failed, new owners would be sitting with 25 shares out of total holding of 1025 or around 2.5%. OOPPS! Some clerical error by Jove.

Apart from this clerical mishap, we cannot find in these filings this £3.2m - we can only find around £1.8m. But hey, it's probably just another error of the clerical variety. If I was a new SH, Id sure want my holding checked. 

They have never thanked us for helping them avoid a very embarrassing mess had these clerical errors not been pointed out to them. No manners. 

Actually the underling who was sent forth to tackle us, armed only with legal phrases such 'cease and desist', suggested as his first gambit that we didnt know how to read accounts. BIG mistake. HUGE. His genius idea was that we had somehow mixed up cash flow with the balance sheet - oh dear. 

When you learn that he was previously the intern in charge of the offerings at Crowdcube, it all makes perfect sense! A perfect circle.

It is all highly embarrassing for the management of Vita Mojo, their backers if they didnt pull out and for Crowdcube. Of course for Crowdcube this is the norm, although at £3.2m this was a substantial raise for them. It reflects very poorly on the skill sets that our SME businesses have and on our education system. It is a lose lose and we need to do something about it.