John Bridgeman profit 2019: auditors warn about going concern, board optimistic

A struggling pirate-themed investment management firm says to survive it needs to raise more funds and sell assets.

Buccaneers sought riches, but pirate-themed funds have lost millions.

A STRUGGLING pirate-themed investment management firm says to survive it needs to raise more funds and sell assets.

Generating positive cash flows is another thing that Brisbane-based John Bridgeman Ltd says is required to continue “as a going concern”, according to half-year accounts released to the National Stock Exchange.

The controversial company’s future received another bleak outlook with new auditors Pilot Partners flagging that the investment management firm had lost $1.5 million and bled $157,762 in operating cash flows.

These were among factors indicating “material uncertainty” about John Bridgeman Ltd continuing to operate, the auditors wrote. The company’s last auditors KPMG similarly flagged worries in its previous accounts.

Pirates of Eagle St: How millions of dollars was lost

Bid dropped for Benjamin Hornigold

Another problem is John Bridgeman Ltd posted negative tangible assets of 16c a share.

This latest loss is less deep than the $5.2 million in red ink John Bridgeman Ltd, an alias for 17th century English pirate Henry Avery, suffered in the six months to December 2017.

But the latest accounts included almost $1.1 million in “miscellaneous” income, which was not broken down further and the company’s managing director Stuart McAuliffe did not return queries.

The firm’s directors also issued statements of confidence, saying “there has been a significant positive change to the performance of the business”. That included making cost cuts while management expected revenue to improve in the next six months.

The directors argued the business could continue operating as a going concern dependent on achieving objectives including raising funds via debt or equity, and cash flows improving.

The investment management firm’s history is controversial because it oversees two funds, also named after pirates Henry Morgan and Benjamin Hornigold, which are suspended on the stockmarket and have paid millions of dollars in fees to John Bridgeman Ltd.

A common tie is Mr McAuliffe, a former academic who based investment strategies on the likes of Julius Caesar’s military campaigns. He also runs those funds.

The latest accounts show John Bridgeman Ltd charged those two funds $398,000 for “time involved in audit and other professional services”, along with $708,000 in management fees.

The company recently tried to take over the two funds. But the Takeovers Panel ruled the bids contained unacceptable circumstances, and John Bridgeman Ltd was forced to repay a $4.5 million loan from one of the funds.

Its offer for Henry Morgan Ltd continues but the one for Benjamin Hornigold Ltd was dropped.

One of the major shareholders in John Bridgeman Ltd has been Stuart Capital, whose sole director is 27-year-old Jarrad Stuart. He declined to comment to The Courier-Mail this week.