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Quindell (Watchstone), SFO Inaction and Tungsten Corporation

The Daily Telegraph this morning (25/2/2019) disclosed that law firm Harcus Sinclair is preparing a legal case for investors who lost money in Quindell (now renamed Watchstone). Quindell was once the largest AIM company – valued at £2.6 billion. But its accounts were extremely dubious and many investors think they were downright fraudulent. The company is still being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) but only two days ago it was announced that the SFO was dropping investigations into Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline. The SFO said there was “either insufficient evidence” or it was “not in the public interest” to continue. That’s despite the fact that Rolls-Royce paid nearly £500 million under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement over the allegations of bribery and corruption. Will the Quindell case be dropped also one wonders?

Watchstone (WTG), now worth £44 million, is also the subject of a law suit by Australian firm Slater & Gordon over the acquisition of businesses from the company in 2015. They claim breaches of the warranties and deceit but Watchstone denies they have a valid claim.

Why is it so difficult to pursue directors and other senior executives over false accounts? Tesco was a similar situation where the company conceded wrongdoing and paid a fine but the prosecutions of individuals collapsed. It seems clear that the whole legal framework for fraud under which the SFO operates needs reviewing and changing to make such cases easier to prosecute. Either that or companies should not be conceding wrongdoing and paying fines (a charge on shareholders effectively) when it cannot apparently be proven. It’s the individuals who need convicting, not the company, if future frauds are to be deterred.

Also this morning Tungsten (TUNG), another AIM company and in which I have a miniscule holding, issued a trading update. This is a company that has been consistently loss making, and it was always doubtful whether it had a viable business model in the new sector of electronic invoicing and supply chain enablement.

CEO Richard Hurwitz, who was appointed to the board in 2015, after a revolution, left “with immediate effect” on the 14th February. He did seem to have made changes in the last three years that gave some hope that the company was not going to continue to be a bottomless cash pit. But losses persisted. However, this morning’s announcement was somewhat more positive in that it mentioned “significant reductions in the cost base over the past three years” and there are other changes afoot including a review of the Group’s “remuneration structures”. That includes a reduction in cash bonuses in favour of shares and introduction of “clearly defined performance conditions”. Perhaps that prompted the CEO to quit (he got paid £1.3 million last year despite the company still losing money).

Other good news was that net cash inflow of £0.5 million in the quarter represented the first ever positive cash flow from operations! But the underlying EBITDA of £0.4 million includes a “seasonal working capital” inflow of £1 million so the “normalised” cash outflow was still £0.5 million. Does that make sense or is this a fanciful presentation?

The share price only perked up slightly this morning on this announcement which probably reflects continuing concerns about when it will actually show some profits and (and I am not just talking about EBITDA), and the added uncertainty of a new CEO but it seems good candidates have already been lined up.

Still a “wait and see” situation so far as I am concerned.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )

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