Some good news at last from this weeks Shares mag. Tim Freeborn revisits the company and altho no firm details are given about new deals he says they will be announced this quarter. I would think that this could be at the same time as the interim results are announced. I for one will be holding on cos they will fly sooner rather than later! ( 8.30% up today!)

Tradx - 03 Oct'04 - 10:37 - 568 of 569



of course all his friends reckon that he will be vindicated

.........................................................................

The article refers to 'associates' rather than friends' is RC deemed an associate, hopefully not.

I'm sure his wife and children will be very shocked, they were on holiday in Sardinia during summer staying at a very nice hotel, not an exclusive resort like some of the rich & famous use, despite his so called wealth, very down to earth family man, one would tend to think a case of mistaken identity.

I think there is more confusion re Link up with Legendary Investments 3 June 2004, rns states legendary investments granted options over 50m shares and in addition Legendary has already subscribed for 10m shares at 2.5p.
Information filed at Companies House show the shares alloted to Shami rather then Legendary Investments which then begs the question, is the options granted to Shami rather then Legendary, remember these options exercisable up to 31 December 2004, min price 2.75p equates by value to min 1.375m.Certainly at current prices it looks unlikely these options will be exercised, one must conclude 1.375m would be a big loss to EPO.

Re Brokers Note

Any news when Bridgewell expect to have research note ready , due in July according to RC, wonder did RC mean July 2005.

Shami Ahmed accused over customs charade

Philip Inman and Simon Bowers
Saturday October 2, 2004

The Guardian

Shami Ahmed, the rag trade entrepreneur who founded the Joe Bloggs jeans brand, has been charged with conspiracy to impersonate a customs officer.
Mr Ahmed, who is equally well-known in the City of London as an active trader on the stock market, appeared before a magistrates court on Wednesday along with four others, all of whom face the same charge. Along with Mr Ahmed, they are understood to have been arrested outside the Churchill Hotel in Portman Square, London, on Monday. Further details cannot be reported for legal reasons.

Impersonating a customs officer carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail. The case at City of London magistrates court has been transferred to Southwark crown court, where it will be heard on October 27.

The Pakistani-born Mr Ahmed came to the UK aged two and left school at 17, helping run the family's market stall in Burnley. He founded the Joe Bloggs brand 18 years ago and within four years it was reputedly worth 25m.

Expanding to a range of casual clothing, Joe Bloggs used slogans such as "Everyone Snogs In Joe Bloggs" and "Kiss The Bliss With Joe Bloggs". The brand won high-profile endorsement from celebrities such as Take That, Prince Naseem and New Order.

In 1997 Mr Ahmed proved an unlikely saviour for Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed the wedding dress of Diana, Princess of Wales. He rescued her ballgown business from bankruptcy, though the partnership soured and ended in a bitter legal battle over rights to the Emanuel brand.

More recently, Mr Ahmed sold a stake that gave him 22% of the voting rights in the troubled menswear retailer Moss Bros. The sale followed years of speculation that he was considering a second takeover bid for the business, possibly with a view to seeking a merger with Austin Reed. An initial approach was firmly rebuffed by the Moss Bros board two years ago.

Asked about the conspiracy charge last night, Mr Ahmed said he was unable to comment on the case specifically but promised to fight the allegation vigorously. "I am entirely innocent in this matter and time will prove me to be innocent," he said.

jonny wilkinson

My knowledge of Gelande and RC is only what I have read in press notes via MoneyAM. At the moment, we are limited to the last three notes so I can't check the sources, only going from memory. As I understand it: RC was appointed by the EPO board having been a director of Gelande; Gelande were both an investor in EPO and had a trading relationship which I assume was a sales/marketing role; their 'commission' was 50% which was cancelled by RC in his EPO role on grounds of conflict of interest. My assumption has been that RC would have been appointed by the EPO Board because of his known track record. Nothing more complicated. Happy to stand corrected. However, I cannot think of any other logical reason why RC should have been appointed - he has a great ability to put his foot in it and there doesn't seem to be anything on his CV which would even get him a first interview.

Eric

Got to be honest, as one of EPO's last surviving advocates! Reduced holding today by two-thirds at average 1.04p; not that bad I suppose given most had been acquired at 1.08p. Reason is: having concluded that it will take time to recover, i.e. early next year, that is too long for the 'speculative' end of my portfolio. In fact EPO had all the speculative funds. Thought I would have more fun with PCI and PET. Sinking ship into shark-infested waters? Better, shark-driven ship into oil infested waters!

Eric

Eric,

I wish you luck, I suspect you may have made the right choice. Guess we will know one way or the other by years end!

regards

T.

to echo tradx thanks for your posts and good luck/judgement with your other investments.

Thanks Tradx , astonvilla. Got to confess I've sold the rest! First, concluded that, if I was taking a risk the size that EPO has become, then I might as well be in oil exploration and Iraq in particular with PET. Have also bought SEY who are further down the line. Cause has really been the ASC bb where people have been nominating shares they believe will beat ASC in doubling in price. Started evaluation the offerings and got hooked! Will continue to monitor EPO closely though, and this bb. I expect that price will rise quickly in response to any positive news, i.e. any indication that the light is visible at the end of the tunnel. In the same way, I got out of YOO because the share seemed to be going nowhere - glad now I'm back in (see Shares play of the week and YOO bb).

Good luck.

Eric

This used to be the best bb around, highly entertaining and very active. Have all the catains jumped ship?
I havn't, but can still see lots of rocks.
Ray

still hanging on to get back to EARTH for that POT of gold

not sure if i was one of the captains but i am still in.........just sitting and waiting...not selling at these levels.

guys,

don't know if you have been watching, but since Man declared, someones very carefully been sucking up the sells (apart from yesterday!)...so, methinks something maybe afoot...!

They may still 'positively' surprise us?!

regards

T..

And here they go again today...hmmmm, time for a plunge methinks..

regards to all.

still holding. As you may know TF has moned on from Shares and i spoke to him regarding the EPO debacle. He said in all his time as a financial journalist he had never seen a CEO say and show him deals repeatedly and each time not one of them being signed. He wished he could see more background to RC's previous job history and record of director history. But he still believes in the product not in RC though.

ssanebs

did TF say if he was still holding?

rock bottom and ready for a move..

news to follow on the court case?...

it will be sharp and fast when it comes.....

hope yer right dynamicsoul...
Wanadoo must have seen something they liked in epo but with so little
newsflow, hope is all we've got at the moment...

dont think there is too much too worry about as long as your a buyer in the sub 2-3p area....

the whole sector is looking to turn, breaking out of the down trend and forming a small flag using the top of the old trendline as support, usually a sign for a move up...and yes I know epo is only a little fish and may not follow whole heartily...but favourable conditions are just round the corner again imo...and news on this minnow will see it move sharply from this price....

ssanebs - 21 Oct'04 - 09:21 - 584 of 586

I'm sure with the benefit of hindsight TF regrets ever speaking with RC, if TF reported accurately his discussions with RC (at this stage we've no reason to believe otherwise )then sadly he has been conned which really makes CEO's position untenable. As a follow on then its fair to say shareholders have been misled, in fact there are people i suspect who became shareholders as a result of articles which were published in Shares magazine, i know some will say do your own research etc before buying any shares which is fair enough but with respect many retail investors rely to some degree on what they read from so called experts, apart from shares magazine what other research is available on EPO, apart from research published by their previous brokers Seymour Pierce. This note suggested 4.2m revenues y/e 30 June 2004 , in fact it must have been endorsed by EPO because for some time it appeared on their EPO official website, i can also confirm copies were sent by Peter Chappell on request.

I think most people accept EPO future was very bleak until new money was raised from Vanrenan / Parker ( existing shareholders ) in Jan / Feb 2002 and RC was appointed CEO to lead the turnaround thru his so called investment vechicle Gelande which i think was described by Citywire as a venture capital boutique ( to the best of my knowledge little money if any was invested by Gelande at that time.

No one ever expected it was going to be easy, management must be given time to deliver but almost 3 years later we appear to have gone backwards rather than forward and probably have lost a lot of credibility for a number of reasons.

I've been slated & supported on a rival board since Jan 2004( people are entitled to their opinions just as i am )My chief concern is the senior management, in particular the CEO who in my opinion has not a track record which makes him suitable to lead the turnaround and propel EPO forward, recent events reaffirm and reinforce reasons why new leadership is required.

I'm a longstanding shareholder who wants EPO to suceed, i accept its not easy but continue to believe in the product but sadly not management to date.

and for those who are sceptical of charts...see the correlation here with epo and the whole sector.....(epo is pink line/sector green)...

sector is moving up...epo to follow?