EML Payments shares fall up to 50 per cent leaving Tom Cregan counting his loses

A Brisbane financial services baron has suffered an eye-watering paper loss of more than $40m as shares in his firm nosedived. Here’s why.

HUGE PAPER LOSS

Ouch! Brisbane financial services baron Tom Cregan suffered an eye-watering paper loss of more than $40m on Wednesday.

Shares in his firm EML Payments emerged from a two-day trading halt and immediately nosedived to a 13-month low when we learned that Irish regulators have flagged some major concerns.

Specifically, the Central Bank of Ireland raised the very touchy subject of anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing risk and the related control frameworks and governance to address the topic.

That sent EML shares plunging more than 50 per cent at one point. The stock closed down 45.6 per cent, or $2.35, to $2.80.

As managing director, Cregan remains one of the company’s biggest single stakeholders, controlling 15.2m shares.

EMC Payments boss Tom Cregan. Picture: Annette Dew

About a quarter of EML’s global revenue was funnelled through its Irish arm, PFS Card Services, in the March quarter. Starting in December, it handled all of the company’s European programs as a result of Brexit.

EML warned that any adverse findings “could materially impact the European operations of the prepaid financial services business’’.

It vowed to cooperate with investigators and noted that, while the matter does not involve its Australian or North American operations, the setback could still hit the bottom line.

The company, which provides prepaid cards and gift cards in 28 countries, nevertheless said it remained on track to deliver a significant lift in net profit this year to between $30m and $33.5m.

LEGAL SHINDIG

Imagine nearly 200 lawyers squeezed into a room with plenty of fine wines.

What could possibly go wrong?

Hard to say but we’ll find out next week in Brisbane, when plenty of the city’s legal eagles gather for a charity dinner to raise fund for the state’s RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter service.

They’ll be converging on the Calile Hotel for the $150 per head shindig, which has been jointly organised by law firm principal Travis Schultz (illustrated) and Vincents accounting group director Mark Thompson.

Schultz, who serves on the LifeFlight board, said he hopes to raise up to $40,000 at the nearly sold-out event on May 27 and make it an annual event. An auction of rare wines and unique experiences should also help swell the coffers.

“Training the responders, maintaining medical equipment, fuelling the helicopters, these things all cost money and we need to dig deep so that we can keep this lifesaving service in the air,’’ Schultz told us.

“You never know, yours could be the next life that’s saved.”

Among those expected to rock up on the night is former PremierRob Borbidge, who now serves as LifeFlight chairman.

Also on board is wine industry legend Jane Ferrari, the event MC who has been associated with Yalumba wines for more than 20 years, and Sarah Crowe, winemaker with Yarra Yering.

Crowe, who won the 2017 “winemaker of the year’’ award from James Halliday, is expected to showcase some of her finer drops for the crowd.

It’s estimated that Lifelight has been responsible for more than 60,000 critical rescue missions over the past 40 years.

Brian Guthrie, director of helicopter operations, said his organisation relied heavily on donations, which, not surprisingly, dropped off substantially last year during the lockdown.

“The quick response times of the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crews meant more than 1900 lives were saved last year,’’ Guthrie said.

“But, due to uncertainty and safety concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, our community fundraising was badly affected. A lot of third party fundraising events, which we had come to rely on, simply couldn’t happen.

“Our rescue missions come at no cost to the patient.

“This is a service like no other, and when you look at the missions we’re responding to - from BBQ explosions, bushwalker rescues, on-farm accidents, snake bites, and motor vehicle accidents, anyone across southeast Queensland could one day find themselves needing us.”

ROUGH TROT

It’s been a rough trot lately for geologist Dick Keevers, the seasoned Brisbane resources sector player and former broker.

Keevers, along with his two co-directors Anthony McDonald and Anthony McClure, pulled the plug this week on their company formerly known as Mekong Minerals Limited, which was launched a decade ago.

The dormant entity, which changed its names to its ACN number earlier this year, was already in wind down mode last year before the appointment of liquidator Mitchell Herrett from RSM Australia.

Mekong, which saw its accumulated losses reach nearly $3.6m, offloaded its holdings in a gold project in Laos and an interest in two Cambodian gold projects to related Brisbane entity Santana Minerals Limited in the last financial year.

Keevers and McDonald still serve on the board of loss-making Santana and McClure also formerly acted as a director there.

Floated in 2013, Santana has exploratory stakes in gold projects in New Zealand, Mexico and Cambodia.

But the company is struggling, with Santana suffering a $5m net loss in the last financial year.

Auditors warned that a “material uncertainty’’ hung over its ability to survive at least in part because there was “no source of operating cashflows other than interest income’’.

MORE GONGS

Jamie Wilson and his gang at Brisbane cybersecurity outfit Cryptoloc have chalked up more unexpected wins.

The company learned this week that it had earned three gongs at what’s widely considered the world’s premier gathering of IT specialists, the annual RSA Conference in the US.

The four-day virtual event saw Wilson’s firm take out awards for data security, managed file transfers and encryption.

It comes after Forbes magazine last year named Cryptoloc as one of the “The 20 Best Cybersecurity Start-ups To Watch in 2020’’.

The business, which Wilson launched in 2014, now has offices in the US, Japan, South Africa and the UK.

It deploys three different patented encryption algorithms to protect file storage and document management from hackers, a growing threat as seen in a spate of recent ransomware attacks.

“Unfortunately the prevalence of cyber-attacks, like ransomware and malware is such that for business owners and individuals it’s no longer a matter of if they will be attacked, but when,’’ Wilson warned.

“Subsequently, organisations and individuals need to investigate how they can ensure they don’t become a victim should an attack occur.”