Typical Crowdcube skullduggery

We have written several posts on Wild Trail. They raised £160k on Crowdcube in 2013 and then failed on their second attempt. They also tried and failed on Asset Match.

In March of this year they ceased to exist - neatly dissolved like an asprin, using a simple voluntary strike off at CH.

However the empty glass is showing considerable signs of residue.

One of their shareholders contacted us to see if we could get some answers - Crowdcube were not interested and the owners had vanished.

The residue comes by way of a site here , which is actively trading under the name of Wild Trail Ltd - the dissolved company. They are selling off the site - the same branded health food bars packed in the same wrappers as before.

So what is going on?

Well firstly the site is in breach of all of the UK's regulations on web trading. It has falsely presented itself as a Limited Company - Wild Trail Ltd - that does not exist and it has no T&Cs. They are also in breach of all the EU regulations (Directives) for on-line selling.

Secondly a little research reveals that this is being operated by a company based in Wales called Brighter Foods Ltd. None of the directors of Brighter Foods were involved in Wild Trail as far as we can see and vice versa.

As far as we know none of the shareholders (via Crowdcube) know a thing about Brighter Foods Ltd. We assume they bought the IP off Wild Trail and maybe that money went to creditors to allow the company to close voluntarily. So now someone is making money out the shareholders capital and the shareholders don't even know about it.

Where are Crowdcube in all of this? As usual , out to lunch.

Despite requests for information they have been left in the dark - not only losing their investment but seeing the brand they invested in in good faith, still 'trading'. One comment on the Crowdcube forum illustrates how ill informed some investors are when it comes to companies. They talk about Wild Trial's administrator selling the IP  - the company was never in Administration. There is talk about this new company as if these shareholders have a stake in it!

What is genuinely disgusting in all of this is that Crowdcube have just turned their backs - they dont want to know. A company that spends £6.3m on its own administration costs pa (2015) cannot take 30 minutes to look after its own investors. They are far too busy preening themselves for the next awards ceremony.  Get a grip boys and sort this out.

Crowdcube's Wild Trail closes

Wild Trail has finally been dissolved. The company raised £157k on Crowdcube in 2013, from 147 investors. We predicted their demise last year - http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/when-did-ceo-start-to-stand-for-chief.html

It is just another example of the Crowdcube out to lunch department being way below par when it comes to performing. Crowdcube thoroughly vetted the projections used to sell the equity, which had Wild Trail with a turnover of £4m and profits of £500k in 2015.

Move along there, queue forming. Now, who's next?

Crowdcube 'success' Wild Trail files for closure

As we predicted Wild Trail is closing -

http://fantasyequitycrowdfunding.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/when-did-ceo-start-to-stand-for-chief.html

On 29 December 2015 the company filed at CH for closure. The final accounts showed further losses and we assume the cash has run out. The fact that today is the 28 December helps to illustrate what we have said for a while, CH information is not accurate.

Crowdcube of course will put this down to survival of the fittest.

It would help however if they could try to publish pitches that had some chance of lasting more than 3 years before investors, 143 of them here, lose all their money. Some control over the ridiculous projections would not go amiss. Wild Trail's Crowdcube projections showed an impressive £4m turnover and £500k profit for 2015.

We are sure the NY will bring a healthy crop of new fantasies.

Happy Christmas to you all! 

When did CEO start to stand for Chief Exiting Officer?

When two out of three of a company's directors head for the exit in the week before their annual accounts are due you know something is amiss. One of them is listed as the CEO.

Wild Trail raised £168k on Crowdcube in 2013 and tried to raise more in 2014 but we believe this second attempt failed. As with most ECF companies they had missed their projections by some way. They received further funding from one of the now resigned directors.

So its wait and see time but we are not hopeful for the 143 shareholders. Accounts due in 7 days. Cumulative losses to Dec 2013 were almost £0.5m.