still moving ahead after yesterday's smashing results. The way they go short term soon will be on the overbought position, so looking closely at the Level 2 and sold at 39.34p

Hopefully shorts closing their positions too.

Who has been buying all along on reaching lows?
FVC more than double their holding and certainly did not report at 4% or 5% but well over 6%, is that the lot they wanted.? ..............

. Forum Venture Capital GmbH
. from 11,209,375 to 23,526,495 with over 6% or 6,296%
. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached: 12th October 2015

It seems the buying by V. Capital have stop lately and since the shares are moving lower, SP have had a bad day with a spike down to 30.25p at one time, has bounce since to 33p -5p

The shorters attack goes on today and moving under 30p .......

an old article ..........
By Alessandro Pasetti - Tuesday, 29 September, 2015

That was quick!
You’d have recorded a 35% pre-tax gain if you had followed my advice to consider Globo (LSE: GBO) at 28p a share on 16 September — a “top pick“, as I described it.

The obvious question now is whether its shareholders will enjoy a true value story, or if rapidly rising returns are destined to fade away — let’s delve into its interim results, which were released today.

Strength
Globo’s stock price has risen 8.2%, to 38p, so far today — and rightly so, in the wake of a solid trading update.

Recent news about its strategy also bodes well for long-term value.

Strength is in the numbers, and although its growth rate for net income per share is lower than that of other key metrics and may point to a risky investment, you should pay attention to a few other details at this stage of maturity for this tech business. In fact, its most relevant financial metrics indicate that the group is on the right pattern of growth, driven by mobile.

Its interim results for the years ended on 30 June showed:

Revenue up 56% to €72.4m (1H14: €46.5m);
A 55% rise in EBITDA to €34.2 (1H14: €22m);
Last twelve months EBITDA at €63.1m;
Pre-tax profit up 37% to €22 (1H14: €16.1m);
Net operating cash up €21m (1H14: €16.6m);
Net cash increased to €47.4m (31 December 2014: €40.4m).
Based on the value of its current assets, its price-to-tangible book value, cash flow and earnings multiples, I don’t see why Globo could not double to 74p, or at least trade closer to its 52-week high of 64p over time.

While it’s true that its lowly earnings per share (EPS increased 14% to €0.049 versus €0.043 in 1H14) could get lower following the issuance of its upcoming high-yield bond, your focus over the next four to six quarters ought to be on its revenues and core cash flow profile, both of which in my view suggest that Globo deserves a valuation some 15p to 25p higher, based on fundamentals.

!

spread ( 29.25 - 29.50p)
Bought back at just below 29.50p

reason:
Had two days of large drop after already moving lower from the top, and now holding around this low price, as buyers are nibbling, seems ready for move forward after yesterday,s canceling the issue of bonds.
There is still a seller on the order book, the bolt is introducing 5K every so often on the offer side, as buyers are now taking charge, most likely some are closing the short positions also
TA SP under lower BB and Indicators at oversold position

Research by a private investor

Suspended pending a response to report last night from Quintessential Capital Management in the US. GBO refutes all allegations made in the report.

A few post from different places commenting about the report and then the report

stoaty1 23 Oct'15 - 11:59 -
I find that story a bit hard to believe, as i do the fact that 60% of the revenues are fiction. If true then their FCF is remarkable (proven by audited growing bank reserves). But at the very least the company need to provide clarity on some of the points raised. The report is so dodgy, but throw enough mud and all that!
-----------
Jdb2005 23 Oct'15 - 11:25

RCT - ever present & not an investor !! Strange must have changed into a bear with no clothes on !!

I spent times this summer with GBO developers in Greece & can vouch for their integrity & dedication working on orders from European & US customers. How all these morons can claim businesses are not buying GO!Enterprise suite of programs, shows their total ignorance of situation.

OK Costis wanted to achieve rapid growth through timely acquisitions and must have been badly advised in US on bond issue - Greek debt/political upheaval was known before this happened. Markets then dived as result of fears China's growth rate had fallen from 7% to 6.2%.

Yet today US, UK & European markets are buoyant - so a lot can change in short space of time.

Confident GBO will attract more institutions going forward. And be at 80p+ by Xmas.
------------------
Alchemy30 23 Oct'15 - 11:22

Quintessential rightly or wrongly have been used as the vehicle to bring the allegations out as they are US based.

Its the allegations that are of consequence (if they're true) rather than trying to smear the person who said them.

Dan's Financial Times piece should be all that is required to make a decision, I would argue irrespective of any rebuttal from Globo.
------------------
Juicyshares 23 Oct'15 - 11:15

The question is: is Quintessential Capital Management even a legitimate business?

Their website looks generic with vague wishy washy statements.
Their contact address is given as 330 Madison Avenue, New York but they do not appear on the register of New York state records

hxxp://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html

No mention is made of funds under management.
Alexa shows their global ranking of websites is around 9 millionth, to give this perspective that's about 4 million places below my village shop.

Under News and Events there are 4 articles written by the supposed managing partner for the Epoch Times between 2010 and 2011 which is a Chinese interest site

From the epoch times website:
Epoch Times is an independent, global news source, headquartered in New York, with a focus on uncensored China news, culture and science

There web traffic is sol low that no stats are provided
From Alexa "We do not have enough data to estimate these metrics"

There are just 3 links: one is to seekingalpha, one takes you through to an Italian cooking school in Milan and the 3rd is an Israeli cultural site

So clearly a quality company fund management company then....??
The report is risible
--------------
AL75 - Today 09:02
I have not yet read the full report but I have no doubt that this report is written by shorters for shorters, in other words, I doubt any of the suggestions of facts stated in it have any truth or can be proved. How else would Tom Winnifrith know about it and brag about its issue a couple of days ago.

Sadly, we live in an era where the internet gives these parasites oxygen to spread their nonsense for personal gain. I personally think it would be a huge step forward to creating a level playing field if the authorities could in some way use trolling laws to close these people and shorting rings down.
------------
Today 08:15 Nottspie
the shareprophets sponsored short on this (along with others) must be "excited". If this comes out good for the company, which I sincerely hope it does, some naive investors who dont understand the shorting betting war zone will be ruined. Stops no good now, you have potentially lost everything you own. Of course the derampers dont tell you this when theyre on here shorting.
---------
Today 08:12 colonel.decker
Now take your time and prepare your RNS
This is what the shorts were hoping would NOT happen.
Itchy bum time for shorty. See how the tables are quickly turned.
-----------
Dan McCrum FT

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/

Globo: lots of sales, fewer partners
Dan McCrum | Oct 23 10:49
Globo plc is a small technology company founded by a champion windsurfer in Greece 18 years ago and listed on Aim, London’s junior market, by reverse takeover in 2007. Since then it has raised more than €100m from sales of its stock and debt.

It has some legacy businesses, and has made acquisitions, but its biggest business is now Go!Enterprise, software designed to create a secure bit of space for your employer’s data on your personal phone.

However, according to a critical report published by Quintessential Capital Management, a small New York Hedge Fund run by Gabriele Grego, there appear to be problems with reported sales and profits. QCM tried to register an interest to buy the product with 40 different partners, resellers and distributors listed by Globo, without success.

Globo “completely refutes all allegations made in this report”, and has requested a suspension to its stock so it can provide a more detailed response. In the meantime, the question for investors and auditor Grant Thornton is who really buys Globo’s product?

The company has long attracted short sellers. It has a complex corporate structure, has reported growing profits but no cashflow, and in January 2014 Ennismore Fund Management published a report looking at aspects of the group’s corporate governance and financial reporting.

It also received attention this year when it attempted to raise first $180m and then $120m in high yield debt financing in the US, an expensive form of financing for a company with €104m of cash on the balance sheet.

On Globo’s website it claims many large public businesses as customers, including the investment bank Lehman Brothers, which failed in 2008. The Go!Enterprise business is responsible for tens of millions of euros of reported revenues every year.

The company also lists a series of Distributors/Resellers and Specialised Partners on its website. One is the Mezza Group (UK) Limited “a leading supplier of innovative software, web solutions and internet marketing”. Mezza’s phone number is answered by a fax machine. Its website gives as contact details a London residential address where 50 companies are registered, many with Greek directors.

Mezza’ directors aren’t Greek. One is Federal Infosystems llc. Globo lists as an Asian reseller a Federal Infosystems Inc, and in its description says the group “included Go!Enterprise Box in their portfolio solution to provide customers with a holistic mobility solution”.

Federal Infosystems Inc, however, with a logo which matches that on the Globo site, is a laptop repair specialist based in Mumbai. “We only do laptops”, a representative said. Asked about Globo, he said “we are not dealing with them”.

Other claimed partners also appear to be based from residential addresses. For instance Mobile Services International, run by Jhamil Abdala from a house in Florida. We described Go!Enterprise to him, and asked about Globo products, but his company doesn’t offer them. “It’s G… L… O… B… O… the company you’re after? We used to have a partnership with them, buts it’s not active”.

We spoke to Costis Papadimitrakopoulos, Globo founder and ceo, and asked why it is hard to find sellers of his product, and if the sales reported are genuine. He said “I’m really surprised by that”. He said “the business exists, yes, of course it exists.”

He said he was not sure how much business Globo did through Mezza, maybe €300,000 or less. He said it was a company doing solutions on top of Globo’s platforms.

He also said Globo had been the victim of a “bear raid” before, in 2013. “There is a combination of things the market does not like, or does not see,” he said. “If you see it from one angle it makes sense.”

Globo’s former auditors, BDO, resigned in February 2014, to be replaced by Grant Thornton. The letter issued by BDO at the time said the reason was an “inability to agree a mutually acceptable audit scope in relation to our involvement in the work of component auditors needed to obtain sufficient evidence on which to base the audit opinion on the group financial statements”.

Mr Papadimitrakopoulos said the disagreement was about the proposed cost of BDO’s work.

We asked him to suggest resellers and partners to approach about Go!Enterprise. He suggested Ingram Micro, a US listed company, and Metis, a longstanding partner. He did not provide a contact at Ingram Micro, instead supplying us with a vendor agreement signed between the two companies in 2013. Ingram Micro does not comment on specific client or vendor relationships, a spokesperson said.

Metis SA is based minutes away from Globo’s headquarters in Greece and claims offices in seven countries. Metis’ contact details on its website are an address and phone number in Belgium. Perhaps surprising for a group which says it employs 140 people, the Belgian number redirects to the mobile phone of chief executive and founder Thanos Giamas.

He said he had know Globo a long time, that it was a critical partner. As an example of the work Globo does for Metis, he said “using an EMM environment asking Globo to provide specific apps for us”.

Asked about sales of Go!Enterprise, he said Metis had recently sold 100 licences of Go!Enterprise to the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance, at a price of €50 each, a deal worth €5,000.

Mr Giamas could not recall which part of Barcelona the Spanish office of Metis is in, “its in the center”, he said. Italy “isn’t open right now”. The Brussels office he said was based in a university campus and hosts 10 people, and there are locations in Lithuania, Cyprus and Boston.

Mr Giamas also said his company is involved in a number of acquisitions, and is in a transformation phase. “All the details of where we are, who we are, our faces, is going to change from our website”.

The Globo share price has collapsed from a high of 62p in June, to 29p as of the close on Thursday.
------------------
the report http://www.shareprophets.com/partners/GBOBR.pdf
Globo Plc
Our Final Opinion: It’s a Greek Parmalat
By Quintessential Capital Management – Investigative Research Team
Acknowledgements
We would like to provide our most sincere thanks to the few brave and inquisitive people who
have contributed to the creation of this report. Your help has been crucial and will not be
forgotten. Most sincere thanks also to Mr. Simon Cawkwell giving us the idea to look at this
stock.
About QCM
QCM is a long/short global equity fund. We invest through a concentrated portfolio of highquality
securities acquired opportunistically when fear or uncertainty create a sizeable gap
between price and intrinsic value. Our short activity focuses on activist short selling, whereby we
seek to uncover and expose deeply troubled corporate situations (e.g. frauds, illegal activity,
failed business models, etc.) through state-of-the art investigative work.
On the short side, we only act when supremely confident on our thesis and, so far, we enjoy a
spotless success rate. Our latest short, American Addiction Center, has dropped over 70% in the
two weeks following the release of our report12
.
Executive Summary
Quintessential Capital Management has opened a short position on Globo Plc stock. We have
been investigating Globo Plc after studying several online blogs containing allegations of
fraudulent accounting and other questionable behavior. After months of deep due diligence and
information-gathering activity on the field, we have collected overwhelming evidence suggesting
the existence of what appears to us as a large-scale conspiracy to deceive investors and creditors
through pervasive and systematic accounting manipulation.
In a nutshell, we are of the view that Globo Plc is massively overstating its revenue and profit by
generating fictitious sales invoices from shell companies created and controlled by Globo to pose
as legitimate clients. In order to justify the resulting cash shortfall, other shell companies pose as
suppliers to Globo and generate fictitious expenses, part of which are then capitalized. The
results of our investigation suggest that the Company relies on its fabricated financial statements
to issue shares and to secure credit to cover its ongoing expenses and to finance the acquisition
of legitimate businesses, in the hope of diluting the "fraudulent" part of its business and
eventually listing itself on the NASDAQ.
While a minor portion of its business is authentic, the results of our investigation strongly
suggest that at least 60% of Globo’s turnover is fabricated. The Company’s alleged activities, in
our view, suggest possible criminal behavior and to cause its total demise if exposed.
Company Description
History
Costis Papadimitrakopoulos founded Globo Plc in 1997 out of a small office in Athens, Greece.
Costis has followed an unconventional career path for a tech entrepreneur. Costis initiated his
career as a professional windsurfer. He then joined his family business, a food processing
company. This experience apparently involved plenty of travel abroad, especially in Eastern
Europe, where Costis claimed he formed many business contacts which, as we will see later,
might play a part in the subsequent Globo affair. Following his family business experience, he
then completed a degree in Electrical Engineering and subsequently started Globo.3
According to our research, in 2007 Globo went public not through a customary IPO, but by way
of a reverse merger with an Israeli shell company4
. While a legitimate instrument, reverse
mergers have historically been used by numerous fraudulent companies to float their shares and
their reputation is doubtful, since they allow a company to go public while avoiding the scrutiny
and due diligence typical of an IPO.
Over the years Globo showed an impressive sequence of increasing sales and profits (albeit with
increasingly negative free cash flows) and was active in M&A transactions, both as a buyer and
as a seller. In 2013 and 2014 it acquired Notify and Sourcebits, two California-based mobile
software companies for $5m and $12m respectively. Each transaction was performed at a
valuation of 1x sales so Globo acquired $17m worth of sales.
In 2012, Globo sold 51% worth of Globo Technologies (GT), a subsidiary engaging in software
development and distribution, to Globo’s management. Although the consideration was about
$15m, the terms of payment were unusual and one of the net effects of the disposal was to
effectively decrease the amount of trade receivable on Globo’s balance sheet5
. This is because at
less than 50% GT assets, including receivables, get consolidated and treated as a long-term
investment.
Following its US acquisitions, Globo’s CEO has moved to Palo Alto in order to lead Globo’s
expansion in the United States, although the company’s headquarters remain in Athens. In June
2015 Globo attempted to raise $180m on the high yield bond market.6
The move raised many
eyebrows in the investment community7
since these bonds would be issued at a very high
interest rate. According to its financial statements, Globo sits on $104 of cash (though most of it
3 https://www.megabuyte.com/free2air/18779/megabuyte-interview-costis-papadimitrakopoulos
4 http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=23809915
5 http://lordshipstrading.blogspot.com/2013/10/globo-gbo-wake-up-and-smell-houmous.html
6 http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1434706989487905400/globo-wants-to-issuehigh-yield-bonds-to-fund-acquisitions-(alliss).aspx
7 http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1442242423577575800/globo-says-high-yieldbond-issue-delayed-by-market-uncertainty-(alliss).aspx
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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NSREEP\286964.2 - 07/18/15
held in banks with speculative credit ratings) and it is unclear why it would be willing to pay a
8%+ interest rate while having cash sitting unused in the bank. The bond issue was first reduced
to $120m and then suspended altogether because it failed to generate sufficient interest from
perspective buyers. According to our research, prior to their attempt to issue junk debt, Globo
tried unsuccessfully to raise a senior secured loan of $120m from a large global investment
management firm. The apparent inability of Globo to pass serious creditor due diligence
lately should be seen with concern.
Business Model
Roughly 90% of declared revenue originates from Globo’s Mobile Products and Services
division. Essentially, Globo sells two main product categories: first, it helps businesses develop
customized mobile applications for their specific needs (Go!AppZone). Second, it sells readymade
applications for so-called BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device needs (Go!Enterprise). As
employees frequently prefer to use their own mobile devices for work needs, BYOD apps allow
the user to connect to the company’s servers and securely access their work email, calendars,
files, etc. This is a common feature and is supplied by a number of large competitors including
IBM, Kony, Microsoft, SAP and many others.
Globo claims as many as 3 million active users, 340k enterprise users and 13 million of device
licenses in place. We shall see later on how such statistics seem enormously inflated vis-à-vis
objective metrics such as the number of downloads executed from Android or iOS platforms.
Allegations
Numerous analysts on the web question the real nature of Globo Plc and the following
allegations frequently recur in one form or another89
:
• Accounting Inconsistencies: Globo shows consistent revenue and earnings growth over
the years, yet generates overall negative and decreasing free cash flows. The discrepancy
between earnings and free cash flow is primarily due to receivables, capitalized R&D
expenses and purchases of intangible assets. Some investors have speculated that Globo’s
sales and profits may be overstated, using aggressive capitalization of intangibles to
“cover up” any cash flow discrepancy.
• Lack of Proven Customers: Some analysts have raised doubts as to the authenticity of
all or part of Globo’s client base. Globo does not disclose the identity of its main
customers, but does mention a few names on its reports. Attempts to verify the
authenticity of such supplier/client relationships have repeatedly failed. Surveys of
various IT departments have shown that Globo’s applications are not known in the
industry.
• Doubts on product quality: The validity of Globo’s products has been put into serious
question. Product reviews accessible online are overwhelmingly negative. Attempts to
8 Ennismore research
9 http://lordshipstrading.blogspot.com/2013/10/globo-gbo-wake-up-and-smell-houmous.html
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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test Globo’s products have shown a barely functioning software, particularly prone to
freezes and often causing a dramatic slowdown of the devices where it is installed.
• Suspicious financial management: As mentioned earlier, Globo’s decision to raise
funds in the high-yield bond market seemed strange for a company claiming large cash
reserves. Many investors have expressed skepticism as to the actual existence of Globo’s
bank deposits.
• Corporate Governance Concerns: the presence of some board members has raised red
flags. For example, a blog written by Ennismore Fund Management, a hedge fund with a
short position on the stock, observes how Mr. Barry Ariko, a member of Globo’s board,
has been a non-executive director at Peregrine Systems. The latter is a software company
that went bankrupt in 2002 following an accounting scandal. It should be noted that Mr.
Ariko himself was not personally charged in connection with this episode.
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Financial Analysis10
10 Source: Capital IQ
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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At first glance, Globo’s financials look impressive. During the last five years, revenue and
earnings have been positive and growing at 35% and 65% compounded respectively. A closer
look, however, suggests a different picture. While earnings have been increasing, free cash flows
(as defined by Capital IQ) have been almost always negative and steadily decreasing.
“Investments” (especially capital expenses and intangibles) have outpaced operating cash flows.
The shortfall has been covered with cash raised through creditors and stock issues. Since 2007,
when Globo went public, it claims to have generated Euro 119m in operating cash flows, while
investing 145m and raising 145m from credit and stock issues.
Generally, software companies are highly cash generative and require relatively little
reinvestment in the business in order to grow. In Globo’s case however, a combination of
increasing capex, intangibles and trade receivables seems to prevent the company from
ever generating cash flows from its profits. It is also notable that, unlike many of its peers,
Globo capitalizes its software development expenses, including a substantial portion of workers’
salaries.
Some observers have raised a troublesome concern: could it be that Globo’s cash flow
generation problems actually indicate the presence of an accounting scheme?
Mechanics of the Scheme
Based on the evidence obtained through our extensive research, we believe strongly that most or
all of the allegations concerning Globo Plc are well founded and, if anything, they tend to
underestimate the gravity and scale of the irregularities being committed.
As far as we understand, Globo started probably as a legitimate company. In its early phase,
prior to its reverse merger in 2007, Globo seemed to be involved mostly in software development
and in various digitalization projects, mostly in Greece. For example, we learned that Globo
performed a number of low value added services to government entities, such as digitizing
various forms of official records.
The situation changes following Globo’s listing in the stock market in 2007. It would seem that,
at this point, Globo’s executives started getting greedy and initiated or intensified a large-scale
scheme to inflate Globo’s financials at the detriment of creditors and investors.
The most important part of the scheme involves so-called “satellite companies”. These are
essentially empty shell companies, located in various countries (especially Cyprus, Panama and
Greece), which Globo uses to generate fictitious sales and costs in order to inflate revenue and
profitability. The resulting fictitious financials are then mixed up with legitimate ones to give the
impression of a larger and rapidly growing company. We suspect that, fabricated financials make
it possible to raise additional funds from creditors and shareholders with the objective of
acquiring legitimate companies and, presumably, to dilute the "fraudulent" part of the business
over time.
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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Nature of satellite companies
From our trusted sources, we know of more than 20 suspected satellite companies located in 8
different countries. These companies are often located in shadowy jurisdictions (e.g. Cyprus,
Panama) and we understand are controlled by directors close to Globo’s executives. We
investigated all of the satellite companies we managed to identify and found ample evidence
suggesting very high probability of fraud. These companies, which pose as Globo’s customers
and suppliers, tend to exhibit the following suspicious characteristics:
• They are often located in non-transparent jurisdictions.
• They show little or no evidence of ordinary business activity.
o No business address or located in residential neighborhoods.
o No websites or very generic ones.
o Little or no web footprint.
o Few, if any, employees.
o Phone lines disconnected or not available.
o Lack of responsiveness to email or other forms of solicitation.
• They feature directors serving in multiple companies, seemingly unrelated, but with links
to Globo.
• In many cases, links with Globo, e.g.:
o Directors are former Globo employees (in some cases seemingly trying to conceal
it).
o Addresses located at walking distance from Globo’s headquarters.
o Company logos or website design looking similar to Globo’s (suggesting the use
of the same design firm).
Suspicious Use of Satellite Companies
In order to generate fictitious sales, Globo seems to “pretend” to sell its products and services to
these satellite companies. In a typical transaction, Globo (or often one of its foreign subsidiaries)
would invoice one of these shell companies for a given amount, which would then be booked as
a sale even though no cash, goods or services ever changed hands. The sale would then be
booked in the trade receivables account and never get settled.
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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Of course, this creates a problem: customer balances cannot stay overdue for too long without
arising the auditor’s suspicions. The solution seems to lie in satellite companies, this time posing
as suppliers. Here, the shell company would invoice Globo for a certain amount offsetting part of
the receivables. In some cases, the same shell company may act as both customer and supplier.
In other cases, it is two separate shell companies, which can then trade with each other to offset
the transactions without services or cash changing hands. Sometimes, shell companies are
apparently used directly to pay Globo’s employees. Because a large portion of Globo’s expenses
is capitalized as software development costs, the company is able to generate an accounting
profit even if revenue and expenses are of equal amounts.
What kind of expenses and revenue are being “passed around”? Since Globo’s activities deal
with intangibles, there is no need to provide any physical evidence of transactions. Globo’s
subsidiaries typically have a vendor/customer agreement in place with these shell companies and
the issuing of invoices back and forth becomes a relatively straightforward process.
These fictitious transactions seem to serve multiple purposes for Globo:
1. They inflate revenue and profit, which support the price of Globo’s stock.
2. They allow Globo to raise additional cash from creditors and shareholders.
3. They may allow Globo to elude taxation since transactions are “engineered” so that
Globo’s subsidiaries in high-tax jurisdictions stay unprofitable while profits are
concentrated in low-tax countries. It would be a big problem having to pay high taxes for
non-existing profits!
4. They seem to allow Globo to reap certain EU subsidies that require certain expenses to
originate in a particular country, for example for hiring unemployed personnel.
Below a flow chart detailing how the scheme may work:
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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The Evidence
The ones just described constitute serious allegations and we would not advance them without
being certain of their veracity. The evidence we collected is based on the followings sources:
1. Declarations of sources close to the company.
2. Analysis of Globo’s distributors and resellers.
3. Analysis of Globo’s clients and suppliers (suspected satellite companies).
4. Research on personnel involved in the scheme.
5. Interviews with industry players (e.g. IT personnel, competitors)
Globo’s partners (i.e. distributors & resellers)
Globo disclosed its “partners” prominently on a dedicated page on its website. We have
identified, analyzed and approached the majority of Globo’s claimed suppliers and resellers.
Despite the fact that we know part of Globo’s business to be authentic, we have been unable to
confirm even a single legitimate partner. In many cases, the claimed distributors tend to
exhibit a number of issues including the following:
• The company cannot be detected (e.g. no records, valid address, functioning phone, etc.).
• The company exists, but seems to operate in an unrelated industry.
• The company operates in a related industry, but does not appear to sell Globo’s products.
• The company appears to sell Globo’s product, but interrupts all communication once
Globo is mentioned in our enquiries.
We have collected a list of suspicious partners in the appendix together with evidence
questioning the validity of these companies. We have meticulously checked each and
every one of Globo’s partners (about 40) and, every time, failed to receive any
significant response from any of these companies. You are welcome to try them yourself:
in the appendix you will find a full list with our specific findings.
For the sake of example, we have included a few of the most emblematic cases of likely
bogus distributors (complemented by the full list in the appendix):
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
12
Distributor #1: Mezza Group
Mezza Group appears on Globo’s website11 as a “specialized partner”. We did not find other
significant partners in the UK so this one must account for a significant portion of UK revenue12.
The website13 looks generic enough and describes a company apparently involved in online
marketing and SEO (what does Globo’s enterprise mobility have to do with this?). The telephone
number listed on the website leads directly to a fax, without any voice mail present. Our many
approaches to the company by mail and its employees via LinkedIn have gone unanswered.
Mezza Group is a UK company located in South London. Yet, a LinkedIn search reveals six
employees all of whom Greek and living in Greece. Five out of six are no longer working at
Mezza Group.
11 http://globoplc.com/globo-at-a-glance/partners/#ourPartners
12 Globo does not segment revenue by country, but 13.5% would come from Western Europe and
we suspect UK is a major part of this.
13 http://www.mezzagroup.com/
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Mezza Group is located in London at 25 Norway Gate, SE16 7TR. This is what the company’s
building looks like from outside (it’s located in a residential neighborhood):
We checked if other companies are located at the same address and found 48 (!):
We studied meticulously these 48 companies (feel free to check for yourself) and have concluded
that almost all of them look suspicious. For example, almost all of them have Greek directors
(this is remarkable since this is an address in London). Most of them do not have websites or any
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
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Internet footprint or any employees we could identify. Is this some sort of UK den for Greek
shells?
We checked Mezza Group’s directors and found the following document:
Two obviously Greek directors Alexandros Symeonidis and Dimitris Galaktopoulos founded the
company and then left immediately leaving the directorship to a “Neil Patrick Holman” and to a
company named “Federal Infosystems”. We found no useful information on the former, but we
did come across an interesting article apparently claiming that Mr. Galaktopoulos was
involved in a fraud concerning a technology company14:
14 http://www.netweek.gr/default.asp?pid=9&cID=5&arId=29612&la=1
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About the next director, Mr. Holman, we checked whether he was director in any other company
and found 32 (!) of them15:
Finally, you will see that a further director alongside Mr. Holman is a company called “Federal
Infosystems LLC”. This is very curious since Federal Infosystems is listed on Globo’s website
as another of its distributors in…Mumbai! (a full analysis on this distributors follows in a later
section).
Curious by these staggering findings, we actually went for a recon trip to Mezza Group in
London, its located about 20’ walk from Canada Water tube station, in a narrow residential street
called Norway Gate. It took us almost ten minutes to locate the building, but eventually we came
across a common English apartment building. On the entrance, not a single company label or
sign. We spoke to a gardener working in the area who told me he knows the building well and is
sure it is fully residential, with no offices inside whatsoever. The door was locked, so we rang
#25, corresponding to Mezza Group. We almost left after two minutes, when somebody
answered, in a sleepy voice and a foreign accent (Greek?) as if he just woke up. We said we were
looking for Mezza Group: the person simply hanged up: Mezza Group (and the other 48
15 http://www.endole.co.uk/profile/1172216/neil-patrick-holman
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businesses domiciled at #25 Norway Gate) simply does not seem to have any basic business
infrastructure..
These are the photographs we took on our field trip:
So what is going on here? Mezza Group, a company that Globo claims is its main UK
distributor, shares its address with 48 other dodgy companies all having Greek directors. The
company’s office apparently does not exist.
Mezza Group has one director, Mr. Holman, that looks like a figurehead. About its three former
directors: one (Mr. Symeonidis) is unknown. The other, Mr. Galaktopoulos, has been charged
with fraud. The third director, Federal Infosystems, is a small laptop repair shop in Mumbai that
Globo claims is its Indian distributor. The company’s phone number is inactive and its
employees have ignored any approaches.
You may draw your own conclusions. For us, this is strong documented evidence that
Mezza Group is a dummy company that has been engineered by Globo to pose as a
distributor.
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Distributor #2: Ionaworks
Ionaworks is one of Globo’s Asian distributors. The name however, sounds anything but Asian,
in fact, the word “Ionic” is curiously a synonym for “Greek”!
This is Ionaworks description appearing on Globo’s website:
The poorly designed website is not very informative and the team appears to be composed by
Chinese and Korean youngsters (interesting, since the company is located in Kobe, Japan). The
company did not reply to our email approaches and we found out that their phone line is
disconnected16. There is no address on their website but the company does provide a map
In our opinion, all evidence again points to a bogus distributors for bogus products and
services.
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Distributor #3: Abox
Abox is one of Globo’s distributors located in Barcelona.
http://www.abox.com/abox.asp
It looks small scale, quite unlike the pompous description appearing on Globo’s website (see
below) and is located on the 3rd floor of a derelict building. We approached the company and
managed to receive an answer in English.
We posed as potential clients for an “enterprise mobility solution”. The manager was
immediately eager to offer a solution by a certain “MobileGest” (we did not manage to identify
what this is!). We told him we were interested in Globo instead. The manager did not reply and
interrupted all contact with us after Globo was mentioned. All our subsequent solicitations
went unanswered.
Abox less than majestic offices in Barcelona (3rd floor).
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Distributor #4: Federal Infosystems
This is Federal Infosystems’ description appearing on Globo’s website:
From Globo’s description above, you would think this is a large scale IT provider. However, a
cursory look at Federal’s website17 would reveal that this is a humble laptop repair shop in
India where Globo’s products do not fit and are never mentioned. This company, as we saw
earlier, figures as the director of Mezza Group, another distributor of Globo’s in the UK. There
is no good reason for that and logic would dictate that Globo probably asked Federal Infosystem
to be on the board of Mezza Group to give the impression of being a legitimate company, and
not the dodgy shell it probably is.
17 http://www.federalinfosystems.com/
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It is probably a low quality business as well as these Google reviews seem to suggest:
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Distributor #5: Mobile Services International (MSI)
This is Globo’s description of MSI:
As usual, high-sounding description of a large multinational operating in 15 countries. Yet, a
LinkedIn search shows only 1(!) employee, who conveniently chooses to remain anonymous.
The company lists two different office addresses:
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We investigated these locations: the first address looks like a residential location in Florida
(strange since the only LinkedIn employee lists its location in New Jersey).
The second address lists a Regus facility in Virginia (Regus is a short term office lease
company).
Once again, evidence suggests the use of bogus distributors for bogus services (by the way, MSI
does not even list Globo products on its site).
The five cases above are only examples. The reader may refer to the appendix showing that most
remaining distributors of Globo are just as suspicious as the ones mentioned above.
--- Strictly Private & Confidential ---
25
Second, the company claims having 140 employees on its website in several countries, yet
LinkedIn shows only five, all very junior and all located in Greece.
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Suspected Satellite Co. #2: Darga LLC
This is a very interesting one. Just like Metis, Darga does not appear on Globo’s partners list, yet
it boasts a logo partnership logo on its, very basic, website:
Next, we confronted the two logos:
Are we the only ones that see some curious similarities? Let’s move along.
Darga’s website18 looks quite vague and generic. This is the information appearing on the
“contact us” page:
18 http://dargamobile.com/home.html
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There is a voice mail service, but no option for leaving a message (try it yourselves). There is an
option to obtain technical support, but the line disconnects as soon as you choose that option.
Next we visited the “sales office” address and found that Darga claims to be located in the
McGraw Hill building in the middle of midtown Manhattan, no less. We spoke to the concierge
and security guards and tried to locate the company: unsurprisingly, nobody had ever heard of
them. These are the pictures we took during our visit to the building:
The alleged owner of the company appears to be a “Craig Darga”. We couldn’t find much on
him on the web and this is the only photograph of this colorful character with his exact same
name on a Facebook profile:
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I think there is no need to be explicit in drawing conclusions about this company as the evidence
clearly speaks for itself. But it gets better:
Darga Mobile (http://dargamobile.com/home.html) website is very low budget and looks highly
suspicious. The website owner/creator is a certain “Alan Bates”19.
A search under this name shows a company, Alan Bates Design Limited, with registered address
located at NORTH HOUSE, HIGH STREET, TONBRIDGE, KENT, TN9 1BE UK. No number
is provided, but a search of this address in Google maps brings up the following location:
Zooming in shows the sign “Fosse House” which is a rental agency it seems. The address for this
location is 198, HIGH STREET, TONBRIDGE, KENT, TN9 1BE UK.
4 properties down the street (20m), guess what, is a Globo listed office at 190 High Street
Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1BE! As of June 2015 part (or all) of this property was for let.
19 is http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/dargamobile.com
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http://gbcomp.p-o.co.uk/en/alsoatthisaddress/05506731/
There are 61 companies registered at the same address as Globo Plc 190, High Street TN9 1BE,
including the following:
GLOBO PLC
GLOBO TECHNOLOGIES UK LIMITED
HELLENIC CAPITAL PLC
HIGHAM WOOD THREE LIMITED
HOT ROCKS INVESTMENTS PLC
IFA (2014) LIMITED Active PRI/LTD BY GUAR/NSC
IFA FACULTY OF BUSINESS LIMITED
IFA INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT LIMITED
IFA INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGERS LIMITED
IFA INSTITUTE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED
The companies highlighted in BOLD have a clear connection to Globo in that a Globo director is
also a director at that company.
This provides a strong basis to the theory that someone (or multiple) people from the board of
Globo know Alan Bates and that he was contracted by Globo to create a dummy website for
Darga LLC (a supposedly US company) to create the illusion of a company which is buying their
products.
Auditing
If Globo is indeed generating significant fraudulent transactions, as overwhelming evidence
seems to show, a legitimate question is why the auditors did not pick up on this behavior. Well,
in a way they did. Until 2014 Globo was audited by BDO, but was dismissed on March 2014 by
Globo ostensibly because of concerns over pricing and scope. In the occasion, Globo’s
management released the following letter:
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The following is a letter issued by BDO with their own version of the situation:
Clearly, BDO do not mention pricing issues, but they do cite their inability to agree on an audit
scope. Of course this is vague so we investigated with people close to the company about the real
reason for the change in auditors. It turns out, BDO demanded, as part of its activity, to audit
not only Globo Plc accounts, but also the accounts of Globo’s foreign subsidiaries. Globo
denied and BDO essentially refused to proceed. Now, why would Globo refuse to let BDO audit
these subsidiaries? Given the evidence above, we can guess that all the bogus transactions with
shell companies take place not with Globo Plc, but with Globo’s foreign subsidiaries. An audit of
those subsidiaries would have entailed checking the identity of their clients and suppliers and,
most likely, uncovering the alleged scheme just as we are trying to do in this report.
BDO’s successor, Grand Thornton, appears instead willing to close an eye instead and let Globo
play its game. It is impossible to know whether this is simply sloppy auditing work or if there is
something worse going on (corruption?). The fact remains that the Greek representatives of
Grand Thornton are a small entity and could be vulnerable to all sorts of pressure or incentives.
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People Involved
According to the evidence we analyzed, the alleged scheme was probably engineered by many of
the senior executives and employees in 2007 or earlier. The CEO hired some of his friends, many
with debatable talent, questionable experience, but unquestionable loyalty. The bargain might
have been participation in the scheme, discretion and loyalty with long-term tenure and high
salaries in return20.
This of course includes the company’s founder and CEO Costis Papadimitrakopoulos. Given
the fact that most satellite companies are located abroad, we believe that the head of international
accounting, Mr. Panagiotis Martinos might be heavily involved. Also, it is hard to believe that
the scheme could be perpetrated without knowledge of the CFO, Mr. Dimitrios Gryparis. A
former junior banker at Eurobank, Mr. Gryparis never held a CFO role before. Presumably he
was hired due to his connections in banking that came in handy in order to raise credit for Globo.
We don’t know whether the entire board and the rest of the management team is involved in the
alleged scheme. Our sources claim that most board members are completely uninvolved in the
company, that contacts between them and the company are rare and that some of them have not
been paid in years. Apparently, most board members have been hired solely on the basis of their
name and reputation.
The interactions with satellite companies and distributors must have required the complicity, or
at least the tacit knowledge, of some junior employees and of key personnel in many of Globo’s
distributors, besides, of course, the directors of the satellite companies.
Most of Globo’s junior employees are probably unaware, but it is known within the company
that Globo’s products are “junk” and that nobody is buying them21. Incredibly, we heard that
Globo employees do not use Globo’s products on their mobile devices!
20 Source: interview with persons close to the company.
21 Source: declarations of former employees.
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Is any of Globo’s business real?
Yes, we believe that a significant part of Globo’s activities are legitimate and real, and this is
what makes the scheme harder to uncover. First, we have evidence that Globo Technologies, the
software company partially divested in 2012 is a real company with real sales. According to
Capital IQ Globo Technologies has sales of $40m, half of which belong to Globo that owns 49%
of it.
Globo recently acquired two US companies, Sourcebits and Notify. The former has sales of
$13m, the latter sales are unknown, but selling price was $5m and we assume a multiple of 1x
sales was paid. Summing it all up, we estimate that real sales are at least $38m vs $100m
declared in Globo’s income statement. So, about 60% of Globo’s sales may be fraudulent and
this is the same number we received from our sources close to the company, implying that most
of Globo’s legacy products i.e. Go!AppZone and Go!Enterprise are most likely fictitious.
It is to be noted how the companies recently acquired by Globo do have real (but tiny) sales to
large US accounts (e.g. Coca Cola) and this would allow Globo to boast such clients on its
website.
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Product Quality
To see further evidence of quality of Globo’s flagship products, it might be helpful to take a look
at some of their their apps reviews on Google Play:
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Reviews are overwhelmingly negative and we suspect that Globo’s employees may have
posted the few positive ones. Please note (bottom right corner) how the application has been
downloaded only 10-50k times, in stark contrasts with the millions of users claimed by Globo.
The situation is even worse for iOS users: here the downloads have been so few that the
system does not display any reviews:
Our own research confirms these findings. We spoke to several of Globo’s competitors (e.g.
Kony) and many IT providers and, almost without exception, Globo’s products were
completely unknown. We downloaded a trial version of the app on our devices and it froze
irrevocably after a couple of minutes.
36
The Mysterious Cash Balances
Many bearish bloggers have wondered whether Globo’s cash balances, totaling $104m, are
actually existent. Their doubts were based on the accounting irregularities we mentioned earlier
and on Globo’s eagerness to issue $120m worth of junk bonds at high interest rate. Also, Globo’s
annual report does not mention the name of the banks where the cash is held, but it shows the
banks’ credit rating, for the most part below investment grade:
Our investigation actually shows that Globo’s cash balances may be genuine and backed by
bank statements. The cash was in junk-rated banks presumably because it is needed where
Globo’s subsidiaries and satellite companies are located, often in low-credit rating countries such
as Cyprus and Greece.
The existence of genuine cash balances does not contradict our possible "fraudulent" scheme
thesis: the cash comes from bank credit, shares issues and, in minor part, from the legitimate
parts of the company.
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Legal Analysis of Globo Plc Activities
Our talented legal team, together with top notch outside consultants, has gone through the entire
Globo affair and produced a preliminary assessment as to what sort of liability might be
involved. The list is long and serious and includes both civil and criminal charges. The following
is a non-exhaustive list:
• Securities fraud.
• Transfer Pricing Violations.
• Misrepresentation.
• Tax Evasion.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duties.
• Lack of Disclosure.
• Classic Fraud.
The evidence seems to suggest that the above-described activities involve multiple countries.
Therefore, we would assume that many of Globo’s legal liabilities are likely to involve multiple
jurisdictions.
What is Likely to Happen Next
Given the extent of the alleged scheme, we believe that its uncovering will no doubt involve
dramatic effects including a collapse of Globo’s stock price (followed by its prompt delisting),
the opening of multiple investigations (civil, criminal and regulatory) and the initiations of
several lawsuits by creditors and shareholders.
The company will likely try to defend itself and deny these allegations, but any reader, armed with a PC and a telephone can verify our claims easily.
Conclusion
We believe we have presented overwhelming evidence on the likely existence a massive
"fraudulent" scheme perpetrated by Globo Plc. The overwhelming majority of the data we
published is easily verifiable: for example, you can easily try to call many of Globo’s distributors
appearing on its website and check whether they exist as legitimate companies and carry Globo’s
products. You can also try and download Globo’s apps and verify their quality.
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A lot of people are likely to have suffered and will continue to suffer serious damages as a result
of Globo’s activities, unless somebody puts an end to this activity. This is our humble attempt.
Appendix: Comprehensive
list of Globo’s partners and
our findings

Difficult to know - I've read the full report. It will take some time to construct a viable response in my opinion, so not sure how long they will likely be able to hold suspension.

Can Corporations Sue for Defamation? - by Maggie Lourdes, Demand Media

Corporations can sue for defamation to their businesses.

Corporations may sue for defamation when false statements are made about their businesses or reputations. Each state has different laws regarding defamation; however, generally corporate defamation suits must meet three requirements. An actionable statement must be untrue, it must be made in writing or verbally to a third person, and it must cause the corporation damage.

False Statement

Truth is always an absolute defense to a lawsuit for defamation. Corporations cannot sue if honest, unflattering statements are made about them even the statements hurt their reputations. People may freely express facts and opinions about their experiences with corporations if their characterizations are accurate. For example, truthfully stating, "My personal opinion based on my experience is that the company has poor customer service" would generally not be a basis for a defamation lawsuit.

Publication

To allege defamation, corporations must show false statements were made to third parties. This is called "publication" even though it doesn't involve publishing the statement in a newspaper or public forum. For example, you can't be sued for writing a defamatory email that you never send. Generally, you may be sued even if you are not the original publisher of false statements. For example, passing on defamatory rumors may lead to a lawsuit.

Damages

Generally, corporations must show defamatory statements resulted in damages to their businesses or reputations. For example, if you make false statements that cause a corporation to lose customers, you may be sued for the losses it incurred in revenue damages. In some states, like Arizona, defamation suits allow for punitive damages. This means a party may be able to sue for damages beyond the actual losses suffered to punish and deter defamatory communications.

Statutes of Limitations

Corporations must sue within specified times after defamation occurs. Some states, like Arizona and Michigan, have short, one-year statutes of limitation. Others states, like Indiana and Hawaii, allow two years to sue. A few jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, allow three years. Limited exceptions extend filing deadlines. In Arizona, if false statements are deliberately hidden, such as in secret communications, filing deadlines begin to run when the statement is discovered rather than when it was made

Is Globo Plc A Value Trap Or Value Play?

Over the past few weeks, Globo (LSE: GBO) has become one of AIM’s most controversial companies. However, this isn’t the first time that Globo has attracted criticism. The company has been under fire for years now regarding its accounting policies.

But after the release last night of a report from Quintessential Capital Management, which claims that a large portion of Globo’s business has been fabricated, it now looks as if Globo is in serious trouble.

The company has requested that its shares be suspended following the scathing report as management needs some time to put together a conclusive response to the accusations made.

Quintessential claims that there is:

“…overwhelming evidence suggesting the existence of what appears to us a large-scale conspiracy to deceive investors and creditors through pervasive and systematic accounting manipulation.“

What’s more, analysis suggests that more than half of Globo’s business is spurious:

“While a minor portion of its business is authentic, the results of our investigation strongly suggest that at least 60% of Globo’s turnover is fabricated. The company’s alleged activities, in our view, suggest possible criminal behaviour and to cause its total demise if exposed.”

These are very serious accusations, and shareholders should be extremely concerned. There have been few cases where such damning claims have been made and the company has pulled through.

Red flags
It seems as if the City has been wary of Globo for some time. The company’s recent failure to find buyers for a high-yield bond was a big red flag.

According to pension fund managers, the demand for high yield bonds has surged recently as the yield on more secure sovereign issues has continued to decline to record lows. With this being the case, it was pretty easy to see through Globo’s excuse that market conditions had prevented the company from selling its high-yield bonds.

Further, since 2009 Globo’s revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 35.3%, making it one of the fastest growing companies in London. But despite this growth Globo’s valuation has remained depressed, a strong indication that the City didn’t believe the company’s growth story.

What’s next?
Unfortunately for Globo’s existing shareholders, it looks to me as if the company is a value trap. It is rare that a company survives a bear raid like the one that was launched on Globo yesterday. The company’s reputation now lies in tatters, and even if management can prove that Globo isn’t a fraud, it’s going to be difficult for the group to find business partners going forward.

Still, if Globo’s accounts are to be believed, the company had over €100m of cash in the bank at the end of June. This cash cushion will give the company some wiggle room, and the financial firepower to mount a comeback.

Uncertainty
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Globo Plc. – What is missing in the Research Report?

As most of the followers of Globo Plc. are aware the US based hedge fund firm Quintessential Capital
Management (QSM) published a research report on Globo Plc (the report is available for the public from
Shareprophets.com) on Thursday indicating that above 60 % of the revenue was fake and that Globo was
actually big fraud. While I think QSM make some good points and that Globo have some explanation to do

edit 28th - http://lordshipstrading.blogspot.co.uk/
– I think there are some huge missing points here.  
But first I would like to thank and congratulate QSM. They have done an incredible job digging op dirt at
Globo and reporting that to the public. The markets needs short sellers that are willing to do the dirty work
to cover frauds etc. But as I stated above – I think they are missing a lot of things

Globo was not merged into an Israel Company:

QSM states that Globo reversed into an Israel company listed on the AIM in 2007. Just to make everything
clear. This is false. Globo did a reverse merger with a British Company listed on the AIM. The company they
merged into was named Israeli Acquisitor I plc – so maybe this is where QSM got their facts wrong.  ................

HTTP://www.proinvestor.com/uploads/boards/73484_Globo_Plc_update.pdf

GLOBO plc
("Globo" or "the Group")

Company Statement

Globo plc issues the following statement:

On Friday 23 October 2015 the Board of Directors of the Group became aware of a report published by Quintessential Capital Management ("QCM").

Following the announcement by the Company on the morning of Friday 23 October 2015, an emergency Board meeting was convened as soon as practicable for Saturday 24 October 2015 to discuss the allegations in the report and to ascertain the actions that would be required to resolve the matter. It was intended that an appropriate independent forensic accounting team be appointed to investigate the claims.

However, at the Board meeting, Costis Papadimitrakopoulos the CEO of the Group brought to the attention of the Board certain matters regarding the falsification of data and the misrepresentation of the Company's financial situation, and offered his resignation, as did Dimitris Gryparis the CFO of the Group.

Following the meeting and receipt of legal advice, a committee of the board was set up, comprising the non-executive Directors only (the "Committee"). The Committee has accepted the resignations of Costis Papadimitrakopoulos and Dimitris Gryparis from the Company with immediate effect. Gerasimos (Makis) Bonanos (the COO) has been suspended from his duties with the Company also with immediate effect, pending the outcome of appropriate investigations. All of the executive directors have agreed to make themselves available and fully co-operate with any investigations.

The Committee has initiated discussions with appropriate advisers in relation to the next steps and to ascertain the true financial position of the Company. In addition, the Committee has asked the Company's lawyers to notify the matter to the appropriate authorities and the Committee has informed the Company's principal bankers.

Further announcements will be made in due course. In the meantime the Company's shares will remain suspended from trading as per the dealing notice on Friday 23 October 2015.

It certainly looks bad news for shareholders.

yes, I imagine we can write off any value in this company now.

Written off indeed.

GLOBO plc
("Globo" or "the Group")

Company Statement

Globo plc issues the following statement:

On Monday 26 October 2015 the Company announced that Costis Papadimitrakopoulos, the former CEO of the Group, had brought to the attention of the Board certain matters regarding the falsification of data and the misrepresentation of the Company's financial situation.

Since that announcement, the Company has reported this matter to the appropriate law enforcement agencies in the UK, Greece and Cyprus.

In addition, the Company was notified on 27 October 2015 that it is under investigation from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority.

Further announcements will be made in due course. In the meantime the Company's shares will remain suspended from trading as per the dealing notice on Friday 23 October 2015

Well written piece in Investors Chronicle online.

Good to see Serious Fraud Office involved and IF CEO and/or CFO sold shares knowing of alleged fraudulent activity and didn't make a public statement, then let's hope they pay the price.

Globo Plc (In Administration) ("the Company")

London - 10 November 2015 - The Joint Administrators of Globo Plc confirm that cancellation of the Company's AIM securities will take effect from 7am 1 December 2015 pursuant to AIM Rule 1 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

The Joint Administrators do not anticipate that there will be any return from the administration for the shareholders of Globo Plc, and therefore they consider that it is appropriate that the securities are cancelled.

In accordance with paragraph 49 of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act, the Joint Administrators are required to submit their proposals to creditors within 8 weeks of their appointment and shareholders are also entitled to receive a copy of the report. This report will be made available to creditors and shareholders at www.thecreditorgateway.co.uk (password: Globo) in due course.

The Administration relates to Globo Plc, and not any of the Company's direct or indirect subsidiaries, which remain under the control of their respective statutory directors.

-ENDS