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Thursday 15 July 2010

Encarta Fine Wines Ltd: 'the worst case scenarios from our company' (part 2)

HM (see previous post) received a number of calls and emails from Encarta Fine Wines Ltd. One of them sent by Paul Stapleton, senior portfolio manager.

'Dear Investor

Thank you for your interest in our company. Attached is some additional information to keep you upto date with the sector and how it is progressing. Please find below the wines that we have in allocation which are a GREAT START, to a successful working portfolio. These allocations are flying out, so if you have any questions, queries or would like to add one of these to your portfolio, please email me or call my direct line.

I look forward to hearing from you.

 Kind Regards

Paul Stapleton
Senior Portfolio Manager

Encarta Fine Wines Ltd
Mayfair House
14-18 Heddon Street
Mayfair
London
W1B 4DA'

Stapleton illustrated his point with three wines: 2007 Léoville-las-Cases (Encarta price: £1500), 2005 Lynch-Bages (Encarta price: £1400) and 2006 Pichon-Lalande (Encarta price: £895). He claimed an compound annual growth rate of 14% for the Léoville, 13% – Lynch-Bages and 25% for the Pichon.

Remarkable rises and doubtless tempting! However, outside an 'exciting, faced paced broking environment staffed by  'driven, money motivated individuals' the reality is considerably less tempting. wine-searcher.com shows that in mid-June 2010, the 2007 Léoville-las-Cases could be bought for £795 from Robert Rolls  (8.6.09), Veblen Wines Ltd had the Lynch-Bages for £775 (10.6.10) and Interest in Wine Ltd had the Pichon at £635.

Encarta price for the three wines:                     £3795
Price if bought from cheapest merchant:           £2205
Difference                                                       £1590

Mr Stapleton's 'GREAT START': 72% more expensive.

Furthermore, Encarta's claims of the rise in price of these wines are meaningless and misleading. These percentages show, if they mean anything, only by how much Encarta has whacked up the prices in its short trading history.

 In reality wine-searcher shows that the Léoville fell by 10.6% from the lowest price available in June 2009, while the Lynch-Bages was up by 6.5% and the Pichon by 8.7%. Furthermore, prices for these three wines have dropped over the past month with the Léoville (£780: minus 10.7%), Lynch-Bages (£750: 3.3%) and Pichon (£620: 6.5%). 
   
The figures speak for themselves!

••
 Bromley based jobs with Encarta Fine Wines Ltd
Some extracts from a advert placed with WorkFinders network by Encarta: 
SALES/ BROKERS WANTED URGENTLY – CALLING ALL EXPERIENCED OPENERS & CLOSERS – £120K+ OTE

MUST BE BULLISH - MONEY MOTIVATED - RESOLUTE – HIGHLY DRIVEN AND VERY COMPETITIVE!

DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME IF YOU AREN’T A CLOSER, THIS JOB IS FOR WINNERS ONLY!

ONLY APPLY IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE IN SALES OR BROKING AND A DRIVE TO SUCCEED. 

 
WANTED: BULLISH PEOPLE WITH PASSION....................

We are seeking professional closers who can demonstrate a proven track record.

Unlimited earning potential with top performers earning on average over £10k per month, with prompt payment for you!

Now is the time to take advantage of the Wine investment market. 



Those with experience in stock broking, wine broking, land broking are ideal although if you have a strong sales background and are sharp on the phone, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

WE NEED CLOSERS, BROKERS, AND SERIOUS SALESPEOPLE WHO WANT TO MAKE SERIOUS MONEY AND WHO AREN’T AFRAID TO ASK FOR THE MONEY!

YOUR EARNINGS ARE UNCAPPED AND YOU CAN MAKE £10K - £15K PER MONTH



Our young and energetic company, is based in the bromley*, with fantastic incentives on offer. We believe strongly in rewarding sales people who work hard and beat targets!



ROLE:
WORKING WITHIN A PHONE SALES ENVIRONMENT YOUR ROLE WILL INVOLVE:

• SPEAKING TO POTENTIAL INVESTORS AND INTRODUCING THE COMPANY AND THE CONCEPT OF WINE INVESTMENT
• NURTURING AND MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS
• CLOSING DEALS


Where to apply, inquire, or obtain further information
Dean Doughty


Tel: 08009707991
 

Full advert is here.

 * If the company is based in Bromley why change the registered office trom Bromely to Heddon Street in Central London in October 2009 and give this as its contact address on the website? You would have thought that 'a good, down to earth, friendly and helpful fine wine investment company' would want its clients to know its trading address.  



 

7 comments:

  1. The calculations have a typo - should be a difference of £1595; but the 72% is correct.

    And why move to Bromley? Because that is where the great and good are. The true wine connoisseurs.

    "Sales, Telesales, Media Sales, Magazine Sales, Marketing Sales, advertising sales, Call centre sales, Inbound Sales, Outbound Sales, Customer service & Sales, phone sales, Commission based sales, ad space sales, sales targets, face to face sales, target driven sales, professional sales, sales professionals, quality sales performers, sales account manager, new business sales, sales broker, city broker..."

    The requirements to appreciate fine wines - especially 'en premiere'[sic].

    Oh and "Money hungry".

    http://www.totaljobs.com/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?JobId=47256652

    And what is a 'Jancis'?


    -----

    Someone somewhere needs to bang the heads together of the established wine merchants/brokers and get the industry regulated - or at least made more transparent.
    Whether this is escrow accounts or purchase and bonding audits, otherwise real wine companies will suffer.
    And so will the consumer who has no way of knowing whether they will see their investment in 3/5/10 years time.

    Philip

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Philip. Although I think the difference is £1590. Not sure where the 'Jancis" is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 'From anon:

    Interesting... Just met Paul Stapleton a few days ago. Quoted £7310 for 12 Mouton Roth 08.'

    Thanks anon

    It can be bought for considerably less elsewhere: from £6100 from looking at wine-searcher.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wine searcher prices are often out dated and a simple phone call to the trader often results in a "sorry out of stock" reply so the ploy would seem advertise low prices to get an initial phone call ever thought of this scenario?

    One look at the trading history of the mouton 2008 would show that the value increased to £8,900 with a well known source that incidently the queen buys wine through!

    If you are going to be a fair source of information as opposed to just adding posts that are clearly one sided i do believe this should be added thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anon. Your comment has been duly added.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd be interested in any up to date information you have about Encarta. Their website seems to have disappeared in the past week, they are not answering the phone, the messaging service is full meaning no messages can be left.

    I have a small (1 case) investment with them which I asked them to sell for me 2 months ago. The broker's name was Henry Jones. He seems to have vanished along with the rest of the company ??

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anon. The website has certainly disappeared.

    ReplyDelete