Links to their websites or social media pages where they were using the “shared” copy at the time of our review – 12/10/2020:
Please note that the fidelisgroup.co.uk website is different from thefidelisgroup.co.uk website. The former is part of Fidelis Contract Services Ltd, a company founded in 2011 with a balance sheet of over £100,000. Looks like a reputable company.
However, the latter, the “investor”, belongs to Fidelis Group Ltd, a different company. Registration took place in 2016. In the last accounts filed they had the total amount of £88 on their balance sheet (no, not £88,000, just £88).
Fidelis Group Ltd had or has companies like Redsky1 Ltd, Redsky2 Ltd, Redsky3 Ltd etc. as corporate directors/owners of the company. Redsky1 and Redsky2 do not have any deposited accounts. For example, Redsky2 appears to own a large portion of Tego Roofing Ltd, which is now in liquidation. Redsky3 has filed a set of accounts showing fixed assets of £6.5m but liabilities of £6.9m (and a net asset value of negative £5,000).
If Fidelis has made one or two acquisitions, they may be recent and therefore not appear in their recent accounts.
It may be that the people behind the company have the ability to finance deals, but the company itself appears to be out of money (based on its most recent balance sheet).
There is a case study on their website. It is an acquisition they have made (or are said to have made!) – Swift Scaffold Ltd.
There is no such Swift Scaffold Ltd on Companies House!
Maybe they meant Swift Scaffold (Midlands) Ltd. This is an important difference! And it’s important to choose business names correctly to avoid the impression that you’re trying to mislead people or point them in the wrong direction.
When we investigated this scaffolding company on Companies House we did not see Fidelis Group Limited as the owner. The owners may be people who also have an interest in Fidelis Group Limited, but this is not made clear on the Fidelis Group Limited website. The website gives the impression that Fidelis Group Limited owns this company! They don’t do that.
If you would like to investigate this particular deal, the former owner of Swift Scaffold (Midlands) Ltd is one John Davis. He can be found on LinkedIn and might like to share how the deal really went. Why not give it a try? That’s what I did, with interesting results. 🙂 🙂
This was only founded in August 2020 and does not yet have annual financial statements.
Another brand new company (surprise, surprise!) with no accounts filed (as of October 2020).
This is not to be confused with that real DA Capitala US-based investment firm. This is a brand new company in the UK and has no history of accounts on file. It might be worth asking for evidence of a relationship with US-based DA Capital, if there is any. Otherwise, as a new company, you must assume that there have been no acquisitions in the past.
Another brand new company (surprise!) that hasn’t filed any accounts yet as of October 2020. They claim on their website that their deals are “almost always exclusively cash-paid stocks.” It then goes on to say: “We will pay you an agreed proportion of the sales value on the day of completion and we will then defer the rest over an agreed period of time.”
So a cash transaction that doesn’t involve cash?
If it’s a partial cash deal, it’s not really a cash deal. If we offered them £1 to buy their business, would they consider it a cash deal? Probably not.
This company probably won’t prove funds because, as they said on their website, they use outside lenders and lending companies and probably don’t have any cash. But it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Its website says it is “a privately held company operating established businesses across multiple market sectors.” Ask them for the names of these companies and see if their company is actually the owner.
Oh, but wait, they don’t disclose their company name! But that’s not a problem. You could invest/acquire in their personal name. But who is the company carrying out the acquisition? That is not clear.
They claim to be an extension of the Consulting Room Group. An extension? What the hell does that even mean? Do you mean subsidiaries? Oh wait, they can’t have a subsidiary for a company that doesn’t exist! Companies House has never heard of Consulting Room Group!
So, is Professional Acquisitions a non-existent company that is “an extension” of another non-existent company?
Genius!
But don’t worry, if you sell your business to them, their About Us page states that they have many in-house skills, including a “web designer and copyright agent.” Yes, they have Copyright holder.
Mansell Capital Ltd (no website)
A relatively new company with financial statements showing liabilities of £22,000 and assets of…nil.
Black Hat Capital LLP
According to Companies House, it is a new company registered in August 2020 and is affiliated with the aforementioned Black Hat Holdings. Registered at 20–22 Wenlock Road, London, England, N1 7GU.
If you receive a request, it will probably come from an Ased Iqbal or a Luis Ghais Guarin.
Since it’s an Australian company, we haven’t looked into authenticity, but we like the appeal to credibility that comes from registering a domain with a “group” TLD. Yes, this company can be found under the domain elcorde.group!
Hesby was incorporated in June 2019 and, like many of the companies mentioned above, is registered at 20–22 Wenlock Road. This is an accommodation address and there is nothing wrong with that. But there are a million accommodation address providers in the UK. We find it strange that so many of the companies featured on this page are registered with this company.
DGG Capital Group boldly announces on its LinkedIn page that it is looking for acquisitions worth up to £20 million. Wow! But it’s a one-man band — according to their LinkedIn page, there’s only one employee.
The company is a brand new company with only one financial statement on file… and that shows the company is dormant.
They are not located at 20–22 Wenlock Road. Hmmm. After doing some checking, we discovered that while this address was indeed located, it had recently changed! Maybe the cost of a residential address – £30 a year or whatever – was too high.
Modus Enterprises Ltd (https://www.modusenterprises.co.uk/)
Another shell company – registered in 2020 but has declared dormant accounts. Prediction: Check your accounts in a few years and you, like all the other shell companies on this site, will either still be filing dormant accounts or the company will simply cease to exist.
Some of the copies that all/most of the above websites use:
We are the clients for the deals we complete, not brokers, and we have the experience and ability to quickly evaluate your business and provide you with an offer for your business — often within days of initial contact. With the right offers, we can complete the purchase process within a few weeks.
We understand that a business can be the greatest asset people own and therefore selling your business should be done with caution and respect. It is important to us that we treat each acquisition as unique and ensure we are attentive to your wants and needs to achieve the best results for everyone involved.
