Silverdell shareholder info

We print below on behalf of Chris Boxall. As a supporter of cleaning up crony capitalism and the shocking antics that occur on AIM we are only too pleased to lend our support to this cause.

Investors in AIM quoted companies should generally have experienced stellar returns in 2013 with the ISA rule changes on 6th August 2013 offering a further boost to the junior market in the year.

A black mark on what was otherwise a fantastic year for AIM was the failure of Silverdell PLC, the AIM quoted specialist environmental support services group. 

There has been plenty of hindsight comment around the warning signs for Silverdell but there was nothing to suggest that this substantial business with revenues of £82m in the prior financial year and a blue chip client base would ultimately collapse ‘overnight’. The company issued no comment for 20 days relating to a winding up petition made against key operating subsidiary Kitsons, yet during that period was happy to announce the positive news of new contract awards. Silverdell senior management, the company’s auditor and nomad surely have serious questions to answer! 

While many private shareholders are clearly enraged, leading institutional investors seemingly appear unfazed, at least publicly!

Marwyn Value Investors Limited, the largest single shareholder in Silverdell, simply issued a statement confirming that it had “written down the value of our investment in Silverdell to zero” with the impact being a reduction in value of £4.3m. 

Private shareholders seem determined to find out what happened and what, if anything, can be salvaged from this sorry state of affairs. 

What, if anything, are the FCA and the AIM team doing in respect of this? 

Silverdell shareholders who have a real interest in investing, particularly in AIM quoted companies, should attend the forthcoming shareholder meeting being held at 4.30pm on 20th January 2014 at Sea Salt Restaurant,

2 Southend Road, Beckenham Kent BR3 1SD (www.seasaltbeckenham.com) 

Large experienced AIM investors will give their view on the situation and a leading solicitor may speak on the possible remedies open to shareholders willing to take action.

Please email champion@investorschampion.com if you would like to attend.