Dow & Jones wound up in High Court – overpriced wine investments and stock not bought

Dow & Jones, a wine investment company that investdrinks has long warned against using, was would up in London's High Court on Tuesday 17th March. Wine was sold at double its value, much of the stock wasn't bought and false accounts were filed at Companies House. See announcement from the Insolvency Service below. I trust that criminal charges will be brought against those responsible.  

                                         Additional services!!

 Contact address on website: 16 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6BX
was a virtual office

Dow And Jones Limited was wound up in the public interest on 17 March 2020 in the High Court of Justice before Deputy Judge Jones. The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator.

At the hearing to consider the petition to wind up the company, the court heard that Dow and Jones Limited was incorporated in September 2015, with a registered office in Sidcup, Kent, and a trading address in Central London until May 2019.

The Insolvency Service, however, conducted confidential investigations into the wine merchants having received complaints about Dow and Jones’s trading practices.

Investigators discovered that the company sold wine to members of the public as an investment opportunity. Dow and Jones, however, usually sold the stock to those investor customers at double the normal retail price, making it unlikely that investors would ever get their original capital back or make a profit.

Sales staff working for Dow and Jones falsely claimed to investors that additional purchases were required to ensure that a portfolio of wines could be sold quicker and at a higher price.

Dow and Jones had also failed to honour customer orders going back to 2016, with the company also having filed inaccurate accounts at Companies House.

In her judgment, Deputy Judge Jones stated that “there is something extremely wrong about this company”, before confirming that the promised returns to investors were “vastly overstated”.

Irshard Mohammed, Senior Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said

Similar to boiler room operations, Dow and Jones used sales scripts from previously failed companies, which assisted salesmen to convince people, including the vulnerable, to invest their money in unregulated investments. Even those customers who received the wine they had paid for lost a sizable proportion of their investment, as the wine was materially overpriced.

The courts recognised the unscrupulous nature of Dow and Jones when it wound-up the company and our advice is always to reject unsolicited investment offers that sound too good to be true.

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to:

• The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 16th Floor, 1 Westfield Avenue, Stratford, London, E20 1HZ
• Telephone: 020 7637 1110
• Email: piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk

Notes to editors

Dow And Jones Limited (Company number: 09778709) was incorporated on 15 September 2015. The current registered office is located at Onega House, 112 Main Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA14 6NE and it had trading addresses at 4th Floor, 50 Essex Street, London, WC2R 3JF until May 2019 and 16 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6BX, being a virtual office address.

The current recorded director of the company is Mr Anthony Collins, formerly known as Kyrone Collins, whose date of birth is recorded as being in June 1988.

The Petition was presented by The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) on 12 February 2020 in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts in England and Wales (CR-2020-001052), under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.

Prestige Fine Wine Limited placed into provisional liquidation

'past five years' ... 'return of 166%'

Insolvency Service Press Release: 20th October 2015

'Prestige Fine Wine Limited has been placed into provisional liquidation following an investigation by Company Investigations of the Insolvency Service. 

The company holds itself out as a fine wine investment business, specialising in Bordeaux fine wines.

The role of the provisional liquidator is to protect assets in the possession or under the control of the company pending the determination of the petition. The provisional liquidator also has the power to investigate the affairs of the company, insofar as it is necessary to protect assets including any third party or trust monies or assets in the possession of or under the control of the company.

The case is now subject to High Court action and no further information will be made available until a petition to wind up the company is heard in the High Court on 16 December 2015.' 

Company details from UK Companies House website:

Incorporated on 5 March 2010

Registered office: Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon, CR0 0XZ

Accounts overdue
Next accounts made up to 31 March 2014
due by 31 December 2014
Last accounts made up to 31 March 2013

Annual return overdue
Next annual return made up to 5 March 2015
due by 2 April 2015
Last annual return made up to 5 March 2014

Statement of capital on 9.4.2014: £1

 

Winchester Associates Ltd – a recently active charitable institution?

 'Winchester Associates was founded in 2006 and 

has an extensive amount of commodity trading between it's (sic) brokers'

Companies House: nature of business: market research 
and public opinion polling
Last accounts made up to 31.12.2013 (Dormant) 

'Who is?' details of Winchester Associates website: registered 13th March 2015 

Winchester Associates Ltd's contact details are:
St Clement's House, 27/28 Clement's Lane, EC4N 7AE 
Serviced offices and meeting rooms   

Winchester Associates Ltd have recently been active contacting a number of wine investors and offering very attractive prices for clients in Dubai and China. Its website trumpets that the company was founded in 2006 and has 'extensive experience'. This impression is highly suspect.

Although Winchester Associates was indeed set up on 21.8.2006, the company with a £2 share capital was dormant at least until end of 2013 – the last accounts filed are for a dormant company. Probably remained dormant until around late February/March 2015. Current director is 33-year-old Christopher James Brummitt (appointed 24.2.2015 and their website  wasn't registered until 13.3.2015. Serviced office address. Despite this history website gives impression that Winchester Associates Ltd has been active in the fine wine trade and commodity trading since 2006.   

AC was recently contacted by Winchester Associates Ltd who made a very generous offer for their portfolio of wines. This offer included £1434 for a case of 2005 Lynch Bages, which can be purchased elsewhere in the UK for £928, £10,894 for 1996 Lafite (case) and most generously £689 for a case of 2012 Château d'Yquem. Doubtless Winchester Associates priced the Yquem on its rarity value as the château did not release any wine under its name in 2012 as the conditions during the vintage were so atrocious for making sweet wine. Distributing such largesse makes me wonder whether Winchester Associates Ltd is a registered charity.

AC was told that Winchester Associates Ltd don't normally trade wines and instead deal in other commodities for corporate customers (oil and gas, diamonds, stones, gold etc). They claim to have a specific customer referred to as an "International Hotel Chain" with office is Dubai and Shanghai who they help source wines for from UK stockists. They stated that they had POs from them and could offer Live-X +25%.   

Winchester Associates Ltd's web pages on energy, metals and gold bear considerable similarity with the pages on

-->www.macquarie.com and --> http://commodityhq.com/commodity/precious-metals/gold while the fine wine section has similarities with an established wine merchant.

Here as an example is Energy:

'Winchester Associates  provides products and solutions to a broad customer base across the energy sector. Traded energy products include natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), natural gas liquids (NGLs), power, crude oil, coal and other refined products.

In addition, the division is active across all physical energy products: natural gas, power, LNG, oil, NGLs and coal. Energy Markets also provides storage and transportation services, and commodities based financing.'

 

I have to admire Christopher Brummitt's energy as the sole director of a £2 company on having established 'a broad customer base across the energy sector' in just five months since his appointment in February 2015. 

However, despite this I will steer clear of Winchester Associates Ltd and their amazingly generous wine offers – wine deals in Dubai and Shanghai can go sour....   

••

An aside 

I am indebted to anon for this research. On 2nd June 2005 The Hertfordshire and Essex Observer reported that a Chris Brummitt – 22 years old and living at the Spinney was jailed for three months for assaulting two police officers, while drunk. Read the story here. This may well be another Chris Brummitt and an entire coincidence. However, Christopher Brummitt (director of Winchester Associates Ltd) does come from Hertfordshire and as he was born on 13th June 1982, he would have been 22 when he was sentenced.  

Update: 27th August 2015  
investdrinks understands that Winchester Associates Ltd applied to EHD and London City Bond to open a trading account at these bonded warehouses. Both companies declined to do business with Winchester Associates Ltd.   

 

 

 

 

Christopher Brummitt holds 1 appointments at 1 active companies, has resigned from 0 companies and held 0 appointments at 0 dissolved companies. Christopher began their first appointment at the age of 32. Their longest current appointment spans 0 years and 5 months at WINCHESTER ASSOCIATES LIMITED.

Read more at: http://companycheck.co.uk/director/919529152

Vinance plc: some information from the administrators

Here are answers to some initial questions I put to Herron Fisher, the administrators:

a) What has caused Vinance plc to go into administration?

It appears that part of the cause for going into administration was poor management of the business, however as the situation has just been handed over to Herron Fisher the full details of the issue have yet to be firmly established.
 b) Are some of the wines outstanding Bordeaux en primeur orders. If so from what vintages and how much money is involved? Are Vinance plc up to date on payment for these en primeur wines?
The exact details on the wine stock or the details of all investments, en primeur or otherwise, is just being established. However the majority of creditors are  wine investors rather than suppliers.

c) When do you expect to have a first estimate of what the total deficiency is? 

6 weeks

NOTES:
• Vinance Plc had a turnover of approximately GBP £1million. This is commissions, not the amount of wine sold on behalf of third parties.
• The court order to put the business into administration was sought by the directors
• Vinance plc has four directors; (3 are based in the UK and one is overseas) and six shareholders.
• It has approximately 1,000 UK creditors; the vast majority of these being wine investors (rather than suppliers)
• The value of wine assets has not yet been fully determined but it is estimated at a few million pounds
• Vinance plc has 10 employees

•••

23.11.12 

From comments received by investdrinks there would appear to be some clients who bought wine from Vinance plc some years ago who have yet to be allocated their wine. Hopefully they will find that their wines have been allocated to them. If not then it may be that Vinance plc/Morgan Aston Ford took money from clients for wine that they failed to supply.

There are also some clients who asked Vinance plc to sell their wines and either it took a long time or no sale was negociated. A practical example of one of the disadvantages of paying an upfront commission with no commission when you come to sell. The wine merchant has no incentive to sell your wine.  

29.11.2012
I understand that the administrators have found a buyer for Vinance plc and are writing to all Vinance customers to inform them and give details of the purchaser. The name of the company willing to buy Vinance plc will be released tomorrow. I trust that this company is reputable and is acting in the interests of the investors and is not a white-knight operation that has unfortunately happened in the past.     

FSA proposals on wine investments etc. miss real target

In August the FSA (Financial Services Authority) issued a consultation paper how how Unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS) are promoted and sold with a view to tightening up procedures and providing more protection to consumers by limiting their promotion to sophisticated and wealthy investors.

Unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS)

We have seen a significant increase in sales of UCIS to retail consumers and are aware of a number of risks in this market. We highlighted our concerns in our Retail Conduct Risk Outlooks in 2011 and 2012.

CP12/19 - Restrictions on the retail distribution of UCIS and close substitutes

We have published a consultation paper proposing rule changes aimed at improving retail consumer outcomes by limiting the promotion of UCIS and close substitutes, and ensuring that they are recognised as specialised products unsuitable for general promotion in the UK retail market. As providing financial advice generally includes making a financial promotion, by limiting the promotion of UCIS we aim to limit the number of retail clients being wrongly advised to invest in UCIS.

For full details of our proposals please read the consultation paper.'

Wine is mentioned in the consultation paper as one of the areas that have concerned the FSA: 'Our work has identified situations where members of the general public have been invited to invest in pooled investments based on the performance of unusual assets such as traded life policy investments (TLPIs), fine wines, crops and timber.' 

Unfortunately, although in a Decanter news story on the FSA proposals, Chris Hamilton is quoted: 'FSA spokesman Chris Hamilton told Decanter.com there were numerous examples of unsuitable wine investments being sold, and pointed to an investigation earlier this year which estimated fine wine investors had lost £100m over four years by entrusting their savings to failed wine companies' the FSA proposals miss what ought to be their target completely. 

The FSA proposals cover wine funds, which are collective investments.  I cannot remember the last time I had a complaint involving a wine fund. They do not cover the widespread miselling of individual cases to individual investors as investments. The £100 million loss quoted by Hamilton was suffered by investors buying individual cases as an 'investment'. Even though they are clearly promoted as investments, these transactions are outside the remit of the FSA. So anyone can set up a wine investment company and make all sorts of far fetched and outlandish claims about wine investment returns often based on out of date statistics and the FSA can say nothing. 

The only possible exception to this might be the selling of en primeur. which might be deemed as a 'collective investment' as an individual's wine cannot be identified until it has been bottled.

In the meantime more and more 'wine investment' companies disappear with investors' hard earned savings. Those investors are now likely to endure a long-term financial mugging.      

Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd

Message from a concerned client with Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd of Milton Keynes:  

'I was wondering if you have any information on Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd?

I invested £2300 with this company back in November, for a case of en primeur wine, which was due to be delivered to the London City Bond in Spring 2012. I had a phone call from my bank 2 weeks ago asking about the transaction, as the companies account was under investigation by the bank.

I have tried to contact World Wide Wines last Friday and also yesterday with no answer. And today I have spoken to the Offices where they were based (Business Environment, 500 Avebury Boulevard) and they have ceased trading at the office block as of yesterday evening. So it is looking very much like they have done a runner with mine and other peoples money and not delivered the product.

I have spoken to the London City Bond, and they have said they have stock there but not a lot. And obviously don't have any information on the wine I have purchased.

I was just wondering if you could assist with any information and if I stand any chance of getting my money back. Or if there is any chance these people will get caught?'

I suggest that one possibility that concerned clients of Worldwide Wine Investments Ltd should consider is to explore the fraud recovery service offered by Grant Thornton – see here.  In relation to possible wine investment fraud enquiries, you can also telephone James Kehoe at Grant Thornton on 020-7865 2165. The other avenue is to make a complaint to the Companies Investigation branch of the Insolvenecy Service – see here. 

 

AS Fine Wine – I'll pass on this one, too!

AS fine Wine: wine consistently outperforms other investments

 

The Fine Wine Index has increased by 21.1% in the last 12 months 

No capital gains to pay on this tangible asset

Three incorrect claims on home page of AS fine Wine website

-->'AS Fine Wine' is another new entrant into the wine investment. It is the trading name of AS Incorporated Ltd, which was set up on 27th July 2011 (see above). Its website gives no information about who runs the company and the contact address – Third Floor, 207 Regent Street, London W1B 3HH – provides 'virtual office services, mail forwarding, telephone call answering, office space in the UK'. On this basis alone not a company I would buy from and there is further confirmation below. 

  

Table taken from Liv-ex's March 2012 newsletter.

Liv-ex's stats show that whatever of their four indices that you use fine wine has not gone up by 21.1% in the past year as AS Fine Wine claim. Indeed over the past year all the Liv-ex wine indices have fallen and performed less well than the FTSE 100 and S&P 500. It is a different picture over the past five years with wine performing well against the FTSE 100 and S&P 500. Gold, however, has clearly outperformed both wine and share indices over last year and as well as over the last five years. 

Some pertinent quotes from the AS Fine Wine website: 

'At AS Fine Wine we pride ourselves in our large client base, developed from years of close relationships'. Impressively quick work for a company founded on 27th July 2011 – well less than a year ago!  

 Extensive market contacts – developed in eight months?

Now for an excellent piece of advice:  'Always deal with a wine investment company that has a good track record. See how they have performed in the past.' Exactly look for a company whose track record is longer than eight months.

More good advice – a warning about scam operators and 'When investing; be sure to invest with an established, reputable merchant to ensure the best investment and greatest potential growth.' Eight months does not make AS Fine Wine an 'established' merchant. 

Conclusion:

I'll follow AS Fine Wine's sage advice and definitely give them a miss.   

 

1855 Fine Wine Investments Ltd – I think I'll pass...

 

1855 Fine Wine Investments Ltd: main webpage

1855 Fine Wine Investments Ltd is yet another recent entrant into the increasingly crowded wine investment market. Although it likes to claim 'Generating consistent and long-term investment returns for its clients', this company was set up on 3rd November 2011. 

One of the reasons the company gives for investing in wine is: 'The local French legislation introduced in 1855, barring high-end chateaux from enlarging their vineyards, hence limiting production' – although a nice idea this is complete rubbish as no such legislation was introduced in France in 1855 nor subsequently. Indeed Bordeaux châteaux can increase or decrease their size as they wish. However, the situation is different in Burgundy where the vineyards rather than the properties are classified, so areas are fixed.

1855 Fine Wine Investments Ltd claims to have developed 'trading models for illiquid wine assets'. I thought the whole point of wine investment was to invest in a 'liquid' asset that could be sold not one you can't sell!

Although as far as I know 1855 Fine Wine Investments Ltd has no connection with 1855 – the French internet wine Ponzi scheme, I still wouldn't consider buying wine from this company.        

Details from Companies House: founded 3.11.2011

Why investing in wine: 1855 legislation claim

'trading models for illiquid wine assets'