Ruroc eyes up expansion through crowdfunding campaign
Ruroc, creators of the world’s first fully integrated ski helmet, goggle and mask are seeking to crowdfund through online platform Crowd2Fund. They are seeking a £150,000 revenue loan, with 10% APR.
The company, first established in 2010, has already proven itself in the marketplace; Ruroc’s helmets are used by over 20,000 people worldwide and are frequently seen in the Formula One Pit lanes on Sky Sports. The company are hoping to use the loan to introducing a new range of products, including an updated version of the RG-1.
The business currently turns over more than £1 million and has been experiencing double digit revenue growth year on year. The company’s flagship product, the RG-1, is fully patented and permanently prevents goggles fogging without the use of electronics.
One of Ruroc’s strengths is having a strong following online. They have a number of celebrity fans, such as Simon Pegg, close to 2,500 followers on Twitter and over half a million likes on Facebook. This has resulted in a brand following, who have helped fuel sales internationally; currently 88% of sales are from international customers. The company feel that crowdfunding is the best source of finance, giving their existing customers the chance to invest and grow the company.
Daniel Rees, the MD of Ruroc, says: “The new helmet will help to alleviate the problem that we have with seasonality as it will be certified across a number of sports including road and mountain biking, as well as a selection of other action sports.”
Rees believes that the revenue loan suits businesses such as Ruroc which are seasonal.
Rees says, “Crowd2Fund’s revenue loan was a massive attraction for us as we are a seasonal business and this offers a much easier solution than making fixed monthly repayments.”
Crowd2Fund are the only UK-based crowdfunding platform to offer the revenue loan model.
For more information on this investment opportunity, visit Ruroc’s page on the Crowd2Fund website.
Chinese stock market crash snowballs
It was only a couple of months ago analysts were touting the economic recovery in China as reason to pile into Chinese equities to benefit from corporate earnings and central bank easing.
That trade would have been very successful for a nimble trader who exited near the top, however those inexperienced Chinese individuals, who account for roughly 85% of the market, are now running for the hills as the crash in Chinese stocks snowballs.
“I’ve never seen this kind of slump before. I don’t think anyone has. Liquidity is totally depleted,” said Du Changchun, an analyst at Northeast Securities to Reuters.
Panic is contagious and China has an epidemic. Around half of the stock market has been halted and those who piled in on margin are in a huge amount of trouble.
The selloff continues despite intervention from authorities who are doing there best to contain the market volatility.
“It’s just a matter of whether it will fall more slowly, or continue to slump in freefall,” said Qi Yifeng, analyst at CEBM. If this is the sentiment shared by the masses, the Chinese stock market could have a lot further to fall.
Hiring pace slows further in June
Permanent staff placements by recruiters have continued to slow in June, according to a survey published on Wednesday.
This continues the trend set in May, where the number of job vacancies made available also fell to their slowest in 2015.
The report cited a lack of skilled candidates as the reason for the slow growth.
“Recruiters are struggling to fill vacancies for everything from software engineers to sales,” Bernard Brown, a partner at KPMG, said.
Job data will be watched closely by the Bank of England, who are predicted to raise interest rates from its record low of 0.5% in the near future. The market predicts the first rise in the UK Bank Rate around May or June 2016, with the conensus of economist views pointing to March.
Anthony Jenkins sacked as Barclays CEO
Barclay’s CEO Anthony Jenkins has been sacked over the lack of cost cuts and changes to the investment bank.
Chairman John McFarlane will step in as caretaker CEO until a suitable replacement is found.
“Whilst it is unfortunate that I have had little time to work with Antony, I respect and endorse the position of the board in deciding that a change in leadership is required at this time,” said Mr. McFarlane
Jenkins’ exit follows a number of changes at the top of major investment banks whose boards and investors felt the man at the top wasn’t the most appropriate person to navigate changes in regulations and deliver cost synergies.
“The board recognizes the contribution made by Antony Jenkins as chief executive over the past three years in incredibly difficult circumstances for the group, and is extremely grateful to him in bringing the company to a much stronger position,” Barclays said in statement.
Shares in Barclays traded up 3.3% in early London trade.
Apprentice star Lauren Riley crowdfunding for ‘The Link’ app
Apprentice star Lauren Riley is crowdfunding for The Link, her new app designed to revolutionise methods of communicating between professional firms and their clients.
Initially, the app has been created for those working across private client legal sectors. Riley, who is a family law solicitor, saw the need for a way to save time and money and increase productivity by replacing multiple daily calls, emails and letters into one easy to use channel. In an increasingly competitive market, an app that claims to potentially increase firms’ profit by £84,000 per year, per solicitor is an invaluable addition to the workplace.
The Link App are crowdfunding on Crowd2Fund, with a funding target of £150,000 for 15% equity. The funding will enable them to release their product on the general market.
Riley says: “Crowd2Fund offers a simple and quick platform for investors to gain insight into the business with much of the usual due diligence work done for them. My investors also become my clients, product testers and invest in future rounds so crowdfunding was clearly the best way to raise funds.”
“I have always loved being in business. As an entrepreneur I was convinced there must be a better way for lawyers to communicate with their clients. After all, this is the twenty first century. After listening to the continued grumblings of my colleagues who work in law, I had my eureka moment and The Link App was born. We’ve seen phenomenal interest in the app so far, using the crowd is a modern way to raise funds for a modern company.”
The basic version of the app has launched and 80 law firms have already expressed their interest in using the product. Although initially focused on law firms and their clients in the UK, many professional sectors have the same needs and in the future the app could be developed to target these sectors and globally.
For further information on investing in The Link, visit www.crowd2fund.com/thelinkapp. As an added incentive, investors will also receive £1,000 of usage credit on the app if they contribute £5,000 or more of the £150,000 target.
Fevertree Drinks up 8%
Fevertree Drinks are up 8% this morning after issuing a pre-close trading statement.
The company stated: “The Board is pleased to announce that Fever-Tree has continued to perform strongly in the first six months of 2015. It is anticipated that sales in the first half of 2015 will be approximately GBP24 million, 61 per cent. ahead of the prior year period. June was a particularly strong sales month, although it was accentuated by certain customers and importers building inventory in advance of the summer season.
Given the strong sales in the first half of the year and in particular in June, the Board anticipates that the results for the full year will be materially ahead of board expectations.”
UK-based Fevertree is a leading supply of premium carbonated mixers for alcoholic spirits.
Red Rock Resources down 23%
Red Rock Resources (AIM:RRR) is one of the biggest movers on the AIM market this morning, falling 23.08% after announcing investment in Elephant Oil.
The company have issued a total of 689,473,706 ordinary shares of 0.01p each, representing proceeds of £327,500. 421,052,632 of the new Shares represent a £200,000 subscription by Elephant Oil Limited.
Elephant Oil is a privately held independent oil and gas exploration company focused on West Africa. Elephant holds an 100% interest in the production-sharing contract on Block B, onshore Benin, on the prolific West Africa Transform Margin. The block covers 4,500 km2 and is one of only two onshore blocks to have been made available by the government of Benin.
Andrew Bell, Chairman, states: “Following continuing discussions with Elephant, Red Rock has determined to press forward with its investment in Elephant’s oil exploration activities in West Africa, and consequently to undertake the current funding exercise. We consider that the Elephant team is making rapid progress in working to expand its footprint and add further oil opportunities in West Africa and our own exploration activities in Ivory Coast have given us a strong conviction of the economic prospects and investment merits of the region, as well as of its geological prospectivity.”
Thursday set for Greece deadline
The Eurozone has given Greece until Thursday to come to an agreement with their creditors.
European Council President Donald Tusk confirmed that “the final deadline is this week,” after emergency talks in Brussels. He stated that it was the “most critical moment in the history of the eurozone”.
Whilst there were expectations that Greece would present new proposals on Tuesday, however none were forthcoming.
On Sunday, a meeting of all 28 members of the EU will be held and Greece’s future will be decided. In comments to French TV on Wednesday morning, the EU’s Economy Commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, said agreement with Greece was “indispensible” and a Greek exit from the Eurozone must be avoided.
Omega Diagnostics down 19% after publication of final results
Omega Diagnostics (AIM:ODX) is one of the biggest movers on the AIM market today, down 19.67% after publishing their final results for the year ending March 2015.
Their turnover is up 4% at £12.1 million and gross profit is up 4% at £7.7 million.
However, in a company statement a problem with their product Visitant(R) CD4 was cited, which could be the reason behind the drop in share price despite otherwise promising results. Chairman David Evans commented:
“Since our last update on Visitect(R) CD4 confirming completion of the internal investigation phase, we moved into the process of verification and validation. This includes testing the longer-term stability of in-house manufactured finished devices, and as such, could not commence until the manufacturing process had been selected. We have determined within the last few days that there is a stability issue with finished product that manifests after a period of five weeks of storage at room temperature. This requires further investigation as to root cause, which is being undertaken now.”
Omega is one of the UK’s leading companies in the fast growing area of food intolerance, and also operates in markets supplying tests for allergies and autoimmune diseases and specific infectious diseases.
Hotcha launches mini bond on Crowdcube
Bristol-based Chinese takeaway restaurant Hotcha has become the latest company to advertise an investment opportunity on Crowdcube.
Their mini bond offers a choice of financial return – investors can choose either an 8% interest rate, payable in cash, or a 12% interest rate redeemable in store credit.
The initial investment starts at a minimum of £250, and the company are looking to raise a total of £1 million. The opportunity has 44 days left and has already raised nearly a quarter of the total needed.
The team behind the project come from a variety of relevant industries, bringing a wealth of expertise to the table. Co-Founders James Laing and Andy Chan both have experience managing and directing sales-based companies and believe that, in order for the business to be successful, the simple things should be done right; in other words, the food should be fast, friendly and fresh.
Mini-bonds provide a regular return on your savings by lending money to more established brands over a set period. For more information on Hotcha’s investment opportunity, visit Crowcube.com.