Owner
Post by Franko10 ™ on Apr 4, 2006 9:37:32 GMT -5
The Players of Langley Park Investment Trust Plc
Charles Cannon-Brookes (Non-Executive Chairman, aged 28)
Charles Cannon-Brookes is currently the Investment Director of Arlington Group Asset Management Ltd, the FSA regulated fund management subsidiary of AIM listed Arlington Group Ltd. His primary responsibility is in making and advising upon investment decisions both in regard to private and public company transactions. Prior to taking up his role at Arlington Group Asset Management, he was a trainee Fund Manager with Jupiter Asset Management and before that worked as an Equity Analyst with ABN Amro and Barclays de Zoete Wedd.
Christopher Harwood Bernard Mills (Investment Director, aged 52)
Christopher Mills is Chief Investment Officer of JO Hambro Capital Management Limited, where he has been a director since 1993 and has been Investment Manager of the North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc (formerly Consolidated Venture Trust plc) and the Leveraged Opportunity Trust plc since 1984 and 1989 respectively. He also manages Trident North Atlantic Hedge Fund. He is an investment director of Jubilee Investment Trust plc, an investment trust established in December 2002 to invest in securities traded on a range of public markets, primarily in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining JO Hambro, Mr Mills was a director of INVESCO MIM Limited and Samuel Montagu International Limited and operated as its Head of North American Investments and its Head of North American Venture Capital. Mr Mills is Chairman and Chief Executive of Growth Financial Services Limited and was the winner of the Sunday Telegraph Investment Management Group of the Year Award in both 1993 and 1994.
Alastair Frame Rae (Finance Director, aged 34)
Alastair Rae is an analyst with Stellington Services Limited with responsibility for analysis, research and due diligence in connection with Smaller Cap companies and a Registered FSA Representative for Pearl Investment Management Services Limited. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1996 with Ernst & Young in London and started his career as a Corporate Finance Executive with Henry Ansbacher & Co. From 1998 to 2004 he was employed by Credit Lyonnais Securities as a Senior Manager in the Corporate Advisory and Broking department and subsequently in Equity Sales where he specialised in the small and mid cap market.
Colin John Lumley (Administrative Director, aged 47)
Colin Lumley started his business career working for his family's Plant Hire and Civil Construction business in Melbourne, Australia. Since becoming a UK resident in 1983, he has been responsible for the administration and financial control of several UK public and private companies. From 2001 until June 2004, he was employed as Operations Manager by Hunter Design Associates in Windsor.
Robin Charles Bolton (Non-Executive Director, aged 61)
Robin Bolton recently retired from Adam & Co., the Scottish based private bankers, where he was responsible for Business Development in the South East of England. He previously held several senior appointments at Lloyds TSB, including Assistant Treasurer of the Bank and Senior Manager of the Corporate Banking Division, responsible for multi-national corporations, such as Hanson Trust, Hawker Siddeley, Lohnro and RTZ.
I am pleased to report upon the results for the period ending 31 December 2004. This is my first Statement as Non-Executive Chairman of Langley Park Investment Trust Plc, which was incorporated on 3 February 2004. The Company was approved for listing on the London Stock Exchange on 30 September 2004 and dealings commenced on 7 October 2004. At the time of Listing, the Company's portfolio of 25 investments (after taking into account acquisition and listing costs), was valued at £69.8 million representing 94p per share compared with a net asset value per share at the year end of 85p. This represents a reduction of 9.6% over the period. The net asset value calculated without downside protection would have decreased to 69p per share, representing a 26.6% reduction.
The Company's portfolio was created to take advantage of the capital appreciation that the Board believes US Smaller Cap companies are capable of achieving in the medium to long term. The Directors are of the view that the Company's prospects for the current year will largely reflect market trends displayed by smaller-cap companies in the US. However, as with all small cap portfolios, the overall NAV maybe volatile and will likely move in accordance with the newsflow generated by its portfolio companies.
The Company's share price initially opened upon Listing at 35p per share, subsequently fell to 18p and has remained around that level since then. In the view of the Board, this weakness occurred both as a result of some of the portfolio companies looking for a short term realisation of their Langley shares and some adverse publicity relating to the temporary suspension and Securities & Exchanges Commission ("SEC") investigation of US Canadian Minerals, Inc. ("US Canadian") - one of the Company's portfolio investments. Although not in any way involved in the SEC investigation of US Canadian, the Company voluntarily agreed to assist with providing various information to the SEC. This process took up important management time and resulted in US legal costs of approximately £40,000. The Board however does not anticipate having to expend any more resource in regard to this matter.
This initial weakness prompted some investors to start building stakes in the Company's shares and, as already mentioned, provided an opportunity for some of the Company's founder shareholders to realise their shareholdings for cash. It is worth mentioning that the Company has neither bought nor sold shares in any of its portfolio companies (or shares in any other company) since making its initial investments. A review of the Company's 10 largest investments is set out on pages 6 to 11.
On 3 November 2004 an overdraft facility was made available to the Company from The Royal Bank of Scotland plc. The agreed facility of £2.0 million represents £875,000 available from 3 November 2004, followed by three installments of £375,000 per quarter. The Company does not anticipate having to increase this facility in the short or medium term.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has been connected with the Company for their support during this first period and to give Alastair Rae, who has informed the Company that he intends to resign at the next board meeting to pursue other interests, my best wishes for the future. We believe that the Company operates an effective model, which provides investors with an opportunity to gain exposure to a portfolio of US small cap companies, whilst enjoying a better level of protection as a result of the Company's Downside Protection mechanism, than if they were to look to directly invest in the companies themselves.
Charles Cannon-Brookes
Non-Executive Chairman
US Canadian Minerals, Inc.
Market: US, OTC Bulletin Board
Percentage of fund: 10.7%
Date of acquisition: 30 July 2004
Business background
US Canadian Minerals, Inc. explores and develops mineral properties with its main interest being in a Canadian Kimberlite prospect.
Business review
The Company is in the third year of product development, with an accumulated net loss during the development stage of approximately $18,911,615.
In October 2004, US Canadian started operations at the COD mine in Arizona. Rendal Williams, CEO of U.S. Canadian Minerals, Inc. commented, "We are pleased to have commenced operations which will lead to full scale production from this property in the near future and are excited by the future returns we believe this property will generate."
On 28 October 2004, the SEC announced the temporary suspension of trading in the company's securities. The SEC raised questions about the accuracy of publicly disseminated information concerning among other things, the company's financing and mining activities and the value of the company's purported assets. When the suspension ended on 10 November 2004 US Canadian shares were no longer trading on the OTC Bulletin Board. Now quoted on the Pink Sheets, the market price for the Company's shares had fallen from slightly over $5 a share before the suspension to around $3 a share after trading resumed.
In December 2004, the Company announced that its second Yellow River Processing facility has commenced operations and has begun extracting gold from ore 24 hours a day. This facility aims to increase the processing capacity to more than 40 tons of ore per day.
On January 12 2005, U.S. Canadian announced that on October 27 2004, the SEC entered a formal order directing the investigation of U.S. Canadian by the SEC. The company and its officers and directors have produced documents and given testimony in cooperation with the investigation and intend to continue to cooperate fully in the future.
Charles Cannon-Brookes (Non-Executive Chairman, aged 28)
Charles Cannon-Brookes is currently the Investment Director of Arlington Group Asset Management Ltd, the FSA regulated fund management subsidiary of AIM listed Arlington Group Ltd. His primary responsibility is in making and advising upon investment decisions both in regard to private and public company transactions. Prior to taking up his role at Arlington Group Asset Management, he was a trainee Fund Manager with Jupiter Asset Management and before that worked as an Equity Analyst with ABN Amro and Barclays de Zoete Wedd.
Christopher Harwood Bernard Mills (Investment Director, aged 52)
Christopher Mills is Chief Investment Officer of JO Hambro Capital Management Limited, where he has been a director since 1993 and has been Investment Manager of the North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc (formerly Consolidated Venture Trust plc) and the Leveraged Opportunity Trust plc since 1984 and 1989 respectively. He also manages Trident North Atlantic Hedge Fund. He is an investment director of Jubilee Investment Trust plc, an investment trust established in December 2002 to invest in securities traded on a range of public markets, primarily in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining JO Hambro, Mr Mills was a director of INVESCO MIM Limited and Samuel Montagu International Limited and operated as its Head of North American Investments and its Head of North American Venture Capital. Mr Mills is Chairman and Chief Executive of Growth Financial Services Limited and was the winner of the Sunday Telegraph Investment Management Group of the Year Award in both 1993 and 1994.
Alastair Frame Rae (Finance Director, aged 34)
Alastair Rae is an analyst with Stellington Services Limited with responsibility for analysis, research and due diligence in connection with Smaller Cap companies and a Registered FSA Representative for Pearl Investment Management Services Limited. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1996 with Ernst & Young in London and started his career as a Corporate Finance Executive with Henry Ansbacher & Co. From 1998 to 2004 he was employed by Credit Lyonnais Securities as a Senior Manager in the Corporate Advisory and Broking department and subsequently in Equity Sales where he specialised in the small and mid cap market.
Colin John Lumley (Administrative Director, aged 47)
Colin Lumley started his business career working for his family's Plant Hire and Civil Construction business in Melbourne, Australia. Since becoming a UK resident in 1983, he has been responsible for the administration and financial control of several UK public and private companies. From 2001 until June 2004, he was employed as Operations Manager by Hunter Design Associates in Windsor.
Robin Charles Bolton (Non-Executive Director, aged 61)
Robin Bolton recently retired from Adam & Co., the Scottish based private bankers, where he was responsible for Business Development in the South East of England. He previously held several senior appointments at Lloyds TSB, including Assistant Treasurer of the Bank and Senior Manager of the Corporate Banking Division, responsible for multi-national corporations, such as Hanson Trust, Hawker Siddeley, Lohnro and RTZ.
I am pleased to report upon the results for the period ending 31 December 2004. This is my first Statement as Non-Executive Chairman of Langley Park Investment Trust Plc, which was incorporated on 3 February 2004. The Company was approved for listing on the London Stock Exchange on 30 September 2004 and dealings commenced on 7 October 2004. At the time of Listing, the Company's portfolio of 25 investments (after taking into account acquisition and listing costs), was valued at £69.8 million representing 94p per share compared with a net asset value per share at the year end of 85p. This represents a reduction of 9.6% over the period. The net asset value calculated without downside protection would have decreased to 69p per share, representing a 26.6% reduction.
The Company's portfolio was created to take advantage of the capital appreciation that the Board believes US Smaller Cap companies are capable of achieving in the medium to long term. The Directors are of the view that the Company's prospects for the current year will largely reflect market trends displayed by smaller-cap companies in the US. However, as with all small cap portfolios, the overall NAV maybe volatile and will likely move in accordance with the newsflow generated by its portfolio companies.
The Company's share price initially opened upon Listing at 35p per share, subsequently fell to 18p and has remained around that level since then. In the view of the Board, this weakness occurred both as a result of some of the portfolio companies looking for a short term realisation of their Langley shares and some adverse publicity relating to the temporary suspension and Securities & Exchanges Commission ("SEC") investigation of US Canadian Minerals, Inc. ("US Canadian") - one of the Company's portfolio investments. Although not in any way involved in the SEC investigation of US Canadian, the Company voluntarily agreed to assist with providing various information to the SEC. This process took up important management time and resulted in US legal costs of approximately £40,000. The Board however does not anticipate having to expend any more resource in regard to this matter.
This initial weakness prompted some investors to start building stakes in the Company's shares and, as already mentioned, provided an opportunity for some of the Company's founder shareholders to realise their shareholdings for cash. It is worth mentioning that the Company has neither bought nor sold shares in any of its portfolio companies (or shares in any other company) since making its initial investments. A review of the Company's 10 largest investments is set out on pages 6 to 11.
On 3 November 2004 an overdraft facility was made available to the Company from The Royal Bank of Scotland plc. The agreed facility of £2.0 million represents £875,000 available from 3 November 2004, followed by three installments of £375,000 per quarter. The Company does not anticipate having to increase this facility in the short or medium term.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has been connected with the Company for their support during this first period and to give Alastair Rae, who has informed the Company that he intends to resign at the next board meeting to pursue other interests, my best wishes for the future. We believe that the Company operates an effective model, which provides investors with an opportunity to gain exposure to a portfolio of US small cap companies, whilst enjoying a better level of protection as a result of the Company's Downside Protection mechanism, than if they were to look to directly invest in the companies themselves.
Charles Cannon-Brookes
Non-Executive Chairman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
US Canadian Minerals, Inc.
Market: US, OTC Bulletin Board
Percentage of fund: 10.7%
Date of acquisition: 30 July 2004
Business background
US Canadian Minerals, Inc. explores and develops mineral properties with its main interest being in a Canadian Kimberlite prospect.
Business review
The Company is in the third year of product development, with an accumulated net loss during the development stage of approximately $18,911,615.
In October 2004, US Canadian started operations at the COD mine in Arizona. Rendal Williams, CEO of U.S. Canadian Minerals, Inc. commented, "We are pleased to have commenced operations which will lead to full scale production from this property in the near future and are excited by the future returns we believe this property will generate."
On 28 October 2004, the SEC announced the temporary suspension of trading in the company's securities. The SEC raised questions about the accuracy of publicly disseminated information concerning among other things, the company's financing and mining activities and the value of the company's purported assets. When the suspension ended on 10 November 2004 US Canadian shares were no longer trading on the OTC Bulletin Board. Now quoted on the Pink Sheets, the market price for the Company's shares had fallen from slightly over $5 a share before the suspension to around $3 a share after trading resumed.
In December 2004, the Company announced that its second Yellow River Processing facility has commenced operations and has begun extracting gold from ore 24 hours a day. This facility aims to increase the processing capacity to more than 40 tons of ore per day.
On January 12 2005, U.S. Canadian announced that on October 27 2004, the SEC entered a formal order directing the investigation of U.S. Canadian by the SEC. The company and its officers and directors have produced documents and given testimony in cooperation with the investigation and intend to continue to cooperate fully in the future.
