Blue Planet Updates – All excerpts from our recent eshots
Blue Planet update – 22 September 2022
Farewell Your Majesty
We are concentrating managing the 99.5% of clients’ assets which is not in this tiny Trust, just to make that very clear. Clients have received a letter from our London lawyers too. The latest net asset value is 13.6p so the last selling price (9p) is still a 30% discount.
So we voted our shares at the AGM (as a protest, as we’d never have 50% in view of the Murrays’ holdings). Without warning, they cancelled our votes! What’s daft is if their motions succeeded anyway, they should have accepted ours, despite our challenge because of the Murrays’ conflict of interest. We had a very experienced Investment Trust Company Secretary at the AGM to vote a nominal personal shareholding. However, the Chairman announced the results and never invited him to vote!
In regard to any proposed disenfranchisement, Blue Planet’s Article 53.2 says ‘…then the directors may, in their absolute discretion at any time thereafter, by notice (a ‘Direction Notice’) to such member…’ They issued no Notice and did not issue one to the underlying members under 53.3.
We own over 25% of the Fund and can stop them pushing a liquidation where they would demand two years’ fees. We are not in breach of the Companies Act 2006, a criminal offence. Every year we have voted. It seems that only when they don’t like the outcome they bar us. We wonder about the quality of the legal advice the Board and its cohorts is receiving now. We hope these serious breaches finally stimulate the FCA into action – both criminal and civil (and with compensation claims) and against all those in bed with them for profit, from directors, employees and lawyers to administrators and auditors. Oh, wouldn’t that be sweet justice.
Interestingly, Link Administration has just been fined £50million for failing to fulfil its duties and responsibilities in the Woodford affair. This is on top of a prospective £300million redress demand being considered. Ouch. Link is the registrar to Blue Planet Investment Trust. It is aware of the problems.
Latest in the Blue Planet saga – 31 August 2022
Latest in the Blue Planet saga
I am sorry to issue another eshot so soon, but Blue Planet Investment Trust’s ill-advised Board has decided to issue another letter and this time to the tiniest investors, to those with mere tens of pounds’ worth of investment in it. A letter is going to all participating investors soon.
I have to wonder if this latest defamatory letter, no doubt with costs billed to the Investment Trust (so investors) is trying to frighten people into selling their shares so they can buy them cheaply themselves. Mr Ken Murray, the MD, bought 435,000 of these ‘illiquid investments’ just before the AGM last year.
The Blue Planet cabal appears very desperate as it includes a prepaid envelope and a plea with investors to vote for the directors at the Edinburgh AGM on 15 September! Please instead attend and let them know what you think!
They are in bed on this issue with Barnstaple lawyers Samuels (touting for litigation business). The letter is designed to cause worry. Clients’ address details were secured legitimately under a legal request imposed by the Companies Act – but not to proselytise and harass investors (and the Investment Trust is not even registered with the Information Commissioner for the management of Data – so do complain there).
No-one needs ‘legal advice’. If clients remain concerned, even The Ministry of Justice (a major government department ‘which works to protect and advance the principles of justice’) and the Financial Conduct Authority encourage investors to use the free services. The MOJ says:- ‘It is straightforward to complain to financial firms directly, and if necessary to the ombudsman service or FSCS. Complaining yourself is free, and you will keep any compensation you receive without any fees being deducted’.
Solicitors are not charities. If you engage one, regardless of what you are told about ‘no-win, no-fee’ arrangements, investors could end-up paying considerable costs and defence costs against unsubstantiated allegations. If we cannot help and you remain concerned, call the Financial Ombudsman Service on 020 7964 1400. Meantime rest assured and at our cost we are leaving no stone unturned in seeking justice and regulatory intervention against all those involved and compensation for all investors and shareholders but it will take time.
It is always reassuring to know that when we invest in a publicly listed Investment Trust that we have regulatory and Stock Exchange protection behind us to give us some security. Of course, it can then prove to be the case that the protections upon which we all rely either fail or are not administered or investigated thoroughly or speedily by the Listing Authority and the FCA.
However, imagine our surprise when researching the links and prospective conflicts of interest between the management and some of the directors and the companies involved, in that that another entity (Blue Planet Holdings Ltd) registered in Malta popped-up under the ‘Paradise Papers’ leak. PARADISE PAPERS – MALTA CORPORATE REGISTRY
Ken and Magda Murray were listed as well as Mark Jackson, who is a ‘senior investment analyst’ at the Blue Planet Management Company too. Magda Murray is the main shareholder of the main Blue Planet Trust through Labrador Coast Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Seabright Seattle Nominees Ltd, an offshore Cypriot company beneficially or absolutely owned by her. She also ‘owns the entire issued ordinary share capital’ of the Manager.
Yet another Blue Planet letter – 23 August 2022
Yet another Blue Planet letter
I am immensely angry that despite warnings to the Trust in regard to the use of data from regulatory disclosures, many clients have received a second letter from Blue Planet. I wanted to assure clients that they have to do nothing as a consequence. Again I must issue a full letter to clients as soon as possible. There is no ‘urgency’ to do anything and all our and clients’ rights are preserved and assured. We shall vote our clients’ shares at the AGM next month as we are authorised to do. The Board of the Investment Trust and its solicitors Samuels, have been ill-advised to send these letters. It is unbelievable the managers are trying their utmost to create a smokescreen to deflect from their results and to accuse us of wrongdoing!
What is crucial to note is that this holding is a mere 0.5% of our total client assets. Yes, for every £1,000 of client money, it represents £5, so a very small sum. That means £995 of every £1,000 of clients’ overall assets is in other investments which are all doing what they should be doing together. I am not belittling any loss as losses are all frustrating but this holding will continue to be insignificant going forwards.
I am providing more detail below if you want it but I needed to reassure you that no action is required and there are no concerns about how we are continuing to manage clients’ capital very successfully, even despite the very difficult backdrop the world is providing presently.
My very best wishes
Philip
The background to it all and what next?
For over two years we have been very concerned at the Trust’s management. Their latest letter is an attempt to cause us as much disruption and distraction as well as attempts to discredit our achievements and capabilities. We have done nothing wrong whatsoever, sadly aside from having an investment which has fallen in value after we purchased it and as a consequence of actions taken by the Manager from February 2020 onwards. However, just because of this, we must reassess and make decisions such as ‘do we continue with it?’ ‘Is it better to sell it and if so at what price?’ or ‘do we buy more because despite the bad information, the price at which we can buy stock is far too cheap?’. We make these sorts of decisions all the time. Up till only 31 May 2022, the regulatory benchmark the Trust used to compare its strategies was the FTSE100 – the UK’s biggest firms. Then, with no formal shareholder approval the Board changed it to the speculative Nasdaq Composite 100, the US technology index. We acquired the vast majority of shares for clients way before 31 May 2022.
Blue Planet Investment Trust Plc is not even registered with the Information Commissioner to use your personal data:- https://ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/search/. Do feel free to inform the ICO.
We are liaising with the FCA but clearly cannot publicise our exact actions, to avoid inflicting more pain on the Trust (which ultimately is its shareholders).
They make misplaced assumptions about the relationships we have (and most have been clients for many years). Blue Planet knows nothing about these. The cost of this letter will no doubt be billed to the Trust so shareholders have to pay.
Despite its awful results since the Pandemic lows, its poor performance has been more than compensated by the exceptional overall results from our clients’ other assets. Clients with us since then enjoyed the best performance period the Firm has seen since 1985 and whilst the last eight months have been difficult for everyone, we remain proud at what we have been able to do during that time.
We have been humbled by so many supportive comments over this issue and are very grateful for them. We hope clients all know that we always have their best interests in mind in everything we do. We have never abused the agreed aims with clients in relation to ‘risk’ and its management and that is why we have such a little sum in this awful Trust – awful since the managers transformed what it was doing, without specific shareholder approval.
Indeed, this comment is perhaps the most telling and is actually from a blood relative of one of those involved ‘on the other side’:-
“I have been following the Blue Planet saga, in which you are currently embroiled, with some interest. But I have to let you know that as long-term clients of yours, my wife and I have every faith in your ability to handle our investments in the competent and professional manner that we have come to expect from P J Milton & Co. Plc.
It is quite clear that BPIT are trying to drag your company down by drawing the attention of the regulatory bodies to what they claim is mis-management by you, in order to divert attention away from their own far greater mis-management!
The fact that my investment holdings contain a very small percentage of Blue Planet shares is of little consequence as I consider that quite acceptable as a medium risk investor!
I don’t think you need to worry about any legal proceedings from Samuels solicitors; I wish you the best of luck and hope this has cheered you up!”
Despite this, if clients are concerned, The Ministry of Justice and the Financial Conduct Authority encourage investors to use the free services should they have complaints. The MOJ has said:-
“It is straightforward to complain to financial firms directly, and if necessary to the ombudsman service or FSCS. Complaining yourself is free, and you will keep any compensation you receive without any fees being deducted.”
Solicitors are not charities. If they are engaged investors could end-up paying considerable costs to them and defence costs against unsubstantiated allegations. If you remain concerned, call the Financial Ombudsman Service on 020 7964 1400 or see:- https://www.miltonpj.net/documents/Complaints%20Procedure.pdf
We are alarmed anyone may have been encouraged to believe that we are not a very successful, independent financial advisory and discretionary investment management firm which clients know they can trust to do its very best for them.
We now employ thirty-two staff and manage £235million on behalf of many thousands of clients, mainly in the UK but with global tentacles. We have managed money for many more years than Blue Planet (or Samuels) have existed. This covers portfolios, ISAs, Pensions, etc – whatever clients need and for their tax planning and savings. Generally we are long-term investors with traditional ‘value-led’ strategies and doing us and all clients extremely well over the years (despite latest global difficulties), generating excellent levels of regular income for those who needed that too, especially in times of very low interest rates. We know how to manage all the necessary risks and issues in looking after them.
In 37 years’ managing experience, we had never had a situation where a Trust manager has not appreciated our input even if we disagreed and then, after an atrocious performance, writing to our clients (details obtained legally under Company disclosure law) with defamatory comment as well as arranging for a firm of Barnstaple lawyers (Samuels) ‘and a barrister’ to threaten us with a libel suit when we flagged problems. Never have we had to raise our concerns with the FCA like this.
However, it is our duty when it is clear something has gone horribly wrong. Sometimes simple disposal is right to cut our losses and sometimes other actions are best – that is part of our job. We have discretionary control and we do our best at all times. Sometimes (as with our biggest holding now) it can include buying further cheap shares in a quoted investment fund about which we have ‘concerns’ because a significant discount to underlying asset values exist and in some way, we may unlock that. Some of the best returns we have achieved over the years have been buying less-than-best investments (however defined) but at prices which were far too cheap.
We do not invest in ‘non-readily realisable investments’ for anyone and never have. We have informed Blue Planet on this point many times. This is the regulatory definition:- https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/glossary/G948.html Blue Planet Investment Trust is a Plc, fully listed on the London Stock Exchange. We have never had difficulty selling a clients’ holding in this Trust though it is foolhardy to sell a large quantity of most things all at one go.
We have indeed bought a very small quantity of additional shares and primarily for the Plc itself in fact (so not client money) and not for clients who already had them. The last ones we bought were at 9.1p when the quoted asset value was over 16p, so for that piffling acquisition, even a liquidation would generate a capital return of over 75%. However, there is another very important additional reason and that is to ensure they cannot push-through a motion disadvantaging our long-suffering investors. We are only assured of that if we hold over 25% of the Company, which we now do. Otherwise, if the Trust liquidated, despite the awful results, their related management company would be in line to receive two years’ fees and fixed costs and the directors would be likely to receive payments too.
Their letter suggests we declined a motion to liquidate the Trust. There is no such proposal mentioned in the latest Annual Report. No formal proposal exists. My letter to Mrs Murray on 26 August 2021 (to which they make no note) made many suggestions they ignored. Indeed, if the Board believed that was viable, then it did not need us to agree as the Murrays had effective control to present a formal motion. Whether we would have agreed with it or not, we did not own enough shares to block the motion the Murrays could have tabled. They could also have sold all the assets to bank higher values in anticipation – they did not.
I shall be in touch with clients soon. If you have received a letter, I am very sorry that you have been concerned and inconvenienced but please, you are not obliged to do anything – that is why we work for clients, it is our job. This should never have arisen and clients should not have been contacted in this vein at all. Please do not worry as nothing has changed with clients’ risk profiling either.
My best wishes
Philip J Milton DipFS CFP™ Chartered FCSI (Financial Planning), Chartered FLIBF, Chartered FPFS Chartered Wealth Manager
All in the day of an investment manager’s job – 21 June 2022
Interest rates go up, some markets go down
Yes, all part of our job as a diligent manager with their clients’ best interests at heart, is sometimes raising concerns with the management of funds we may own. We have always believed in significant diversity for clients to protect them and our largest holding presently is only 2.15% of our total client assets, so even when one does something badly (or even negligently or illegally), then the impact is limited too. Indeed, that stock has risen by 17% since November (and paid a chunky dividend) whilst the Nasdaq has fallen by 32% and most of our clients have it. Our clients have not suffered from the Woodford debacle, or excessive exposure to tech funds, other ‘star’ managers who have fallen on unpopular times or the over-valued global passives.
In 37 years’ managing experience, we had never had a situation though where the manager has not appreciated our input even if we disagreed and then, after an atrocious performance, the Fund writes to our clients (details obtained legally under Company disclosure law) with defamatory comment as well as arranging for a firm of Barnstaple lawyers ‘and a barrister’ to threaten us with a libel suit for our Eshot flagging the problem…
Never have we raised concerns with the FCA as this, let alone Information Commissioner’s Office and to copy correspondence to the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority… However, it is our duty to act when it is clear something’s gone badly wrong. Sometimes simple disposal is right to cut our losses and sometimes other actions are best – that is part of our job.
We have discretionary control and we do our best at all times. Sometimes (as with our biggest holding now – see above) it can include buying further cheap shares in a quoted investment fund about which we have concerns because a significant discount to the underlying asset value exists and in some way, we may unlock that. Some of the best returns we have achieved over the years have been buying less-than-best investments (however popularly quantified) but at prices which were far too cheap. Of course it doesn’t always work as it should but that doesn’t make the judgment call wrong.
The markets bottomed around March 23, 2000 and we know this particular Trust’s share price, when the FTSE100 was 4993. The index is now 7016 (up 40%) against the Trust’s decline of 58%. Yes, dividend payments have been received on both and costs apply but these are insignificant. Since March 2020 in contrast, our Firm’s clients have enjoyed the best investment period since our inception, despite carrying the dire results from this piffling Trust, which now represents a mere £5 in every client’s £1,000, based on our total assets (clients either have none, or up to an average of under 1% of their accounts). Whilst each client is different and our accounts are not ‘funds’ as such and we carry significant lowly-performing cash and defensive assets too (and which have simply held their own over the time), predominately on pure performance the total we manage has risen by 64% from the £143million at March month-end, 2020.
Blue Planet Investment Trust letter: Don’t worry – 9 June 2022
Blue Planet Investment Trust letter – don’t worry
A number of clients have received an astonishing letter from Blue Planet Investment Trust today. I wanted to assure clients that they have to do nothing as a consequence of its receipt but I shall be sending a full letter to everyone next week.
There is absolutely no ‘urgency’ to do anything and all your and our rights are preserved and assured.
The Board of the Investment Trust and its advisers, local solicitors Samuels, have been most ill-advised to send this letter, as I shall explain fully next week. This is likely to backfire remarkably on them.
For over two years now we have been very concerned at what the Trust’s management has been doing (or not doing well at all). We have been attempting to engage with it but to no avail. The Company is ignoring our solicitor’s questions and this letter is an attempt to cause us as much disruption and distraction from that endeavour as well as attempts to discredit our achievements and capabilities.
You may recall that I have mentioned the atrocious management by Mr Ken Murray and his Blue Planet team on more than one occasion. I have been in touch with the FCA on numerous occasions too.
However, what is most important to note is that this holding represents a mere 0.5% of our total client assets, yes, for every £1,000 of money we manage, it represents £50, so a very small sum. Likewise, despite its absolutely awful results thorough the manager’s negligence and ineptitude where they have demonstrated no capabilities whatsoever since the Pandemic lows, its poor performance has been more than compensated by the exceptional overall performance our clients’ other assets have achieved, even having to make up for this atrocious behaviour.
As we have noted before, clients with us since then have enjoyed the best performance period the Firm has enjoyed since inception in 1985 and our total client assets are at or near their highest ever levels at just under £250million in testament to this.
Indeed, more recently even if there are still overall limited value declines, out-performance has continued as we have avoided the US Tech meltdown which has afflicted mainstream global indices (the Nasdaq is down 25% since November) and not only that, have held useful exposure to sectors such as energy and food commodities, which have rewarded as mainstream markets have been impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, inflation and the energy crisis.
I shall be in touch with clients fully next week. If you have received a letter, I am very sorry that you have been concerned and inconvenienced but please do nothing for the moment and do not worry.
My best wishes
Philip J Milton DipFS CFPCM Chartered MCSI FPFS FCIB
Chartered Wealth Manager
Fellow Of The Personal Finance Society, Fellow Of The Chartered Institute Of Bankers