Green.TV assets bought back leaving £650k debt
Elsewhere, EV sales soar in September, but is it because of the grant?
Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Top story in today’s edition… I can reveal that Ade Thomas’ new company has acquired assets from Green.TV after leaving his previous company with a debt totalling £650,000. It comes as new evidence and claims raise questions around Green.TV’s funds during its final month.
In other news... EV sales soar, but is it all down to the new EV grant? A police force seems to acquire 35 new BYDs. And lots of new chargers are incoming thanks to LEVI.
Also, if you’re heading to Everything Electric’s B2B sesh this Friday, let’s get a coffee? I’ll be there. If you haven’t got a ticket, I believe you can get a free one here.
As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn.
New filings show Green.TV owed £650,000 as Ade Thomas buys back assets through new firm.
Headline: Further to my recent story about Green.TV - the media company behind campaigns like Top Women in EV, World EV Day, and the EV Summit - going into liquidation, new documents filed at Companies House have revealed the company collapsed owing nearly £650,000 to creditors. This includes a massive £550,000 owed to HMRC for unpaid taxes, and a further £100,000 to employees, freelancers, and suppliers.
More detail: The final accounts and list of creditors are detailed in a ‘Statement of Affairs’ which was filed by Ade Thomas, the sole director of Green.TV Media Limited, on 18 September this year, the final day of the EV Summit, where, shortly thereafter, news of the impending liquidation became apparent to employees. This new document was only published after the appointment of the liquidator, Arafino Advisory, who signed the document off on 30 September. See Companies House here.
Assets bought back: These new filings arrive as The Fast Charge can reveal that Ade Thomas has bought back Green.TV’s assets through his new company, Electricglobalmedia Limited – which was set up on 19 September, one day after signing Green.TV’s Statement of Affairs, and before he’d officially informed employees of the situation. According to an email seen by The Fast Charge, the liquidator has advised Ade not to use the trading name ‘Green.TV’ going forward.
In recent days... the Green.TV logo has disappeared from several associated websites, such as the EV Summit, and earlier this week a couple went temporarily offline before coming back up. However, despite best efforts to remove the logo, in some places it’s still evident – such as on the background video of the EV Summit website.
The news will disappoint many people in the sector, especially as there are fresh questions about Green.TV’s funds in the final month of its operation.
Since my last article, several more former employees have come forward to The Fast Charge to share their experience of working at Green.TV. And, as when I last reported on this rather sad situation, I have put all claims and allegations to Ade and followed up several times. I have had nothing back, but I remain open to hearing his response and can update stories if he wishes to engage.
Fresh claims and evidence
New claim: Several former employees have alleged that, in the final month before Green.TV’s collapse, a ‘five-figure’ transfer was made from company accounts to Ade’s personal account. It is claimed by employees that the transfer was made in late August/Early September, so potentially after Green.TV was presented with the compulsory winding-up petition, as per the Gazette notice. The same employees claim that the liquidator was made aware of the transaction. I asked Ade if there was such a payment made, and if so, what it represented, though I have received no response.
As background to the above... Under Section 127 of the Insolvency Act, in a winding up by the court, any disposition of the company’s property, and any transfer of shares or alteration in the status of the company’s members, made after the commencement of the winding up is void, unless the court decides otherwise.
New payment: In addition to the alleged transfer of funds, The Fast Charge is also today publishing evidence that a £26,809 payment was made to Green.TV on or after 21 September. This was money from ticket sales via Eventbrite from those attending the EV Summit. Employees have claimed this money might have helped cover wages. However, given the timing of this payment, it also raises questions about whether it was included in the company’s final Statement of Affairs, filed by Ade three days before the money was due to arrive.
In an insolvency situation, companies are required to list expected future receivables, such as this payment. It is not clear if this money was included in the statement, and when I asked Ade to clarify, he did not respond.
According to the document filed at Companies House on the 18th of September... Green.TV Media had £40,460 in cash. This will be used to pay preferential creditors. After this money is used, Green.TV will go down, leaving circa £650,000 of debt owed to other creditors. Without Ade’s response, questions remain on the ‘five-figure’ transfer and the further £26,809.
To be clear... I am not suggesting Ade has done anything illegal. And all allegations reported above are based on accounts from former Green.TV employees and evidence I have seen. I have provided Ade repeated opportunities to respond, and he has chosen not to engage.
I approached the liquidator, James Varney at Arafino Advisory, to ask whether those payments would form part of their review and to get some clarity on his role. In a statement to The Fast Charge earlier this week, he told me he’d been appointed by Green.TV (aka. Ade).
“As the appointed Joint Liquidator, my statutory duties include conducting an investigation into the company’s affairs, including any transactions which occurred in the lead up to our appointment and in the years prior to the liquidation.
“At this stage, I am unable to provide any comment on individual transactions or matters due to confidentiality obligations and the ongoing nature of my investigations.
“All relevant issues will be considered as part of the liquidation process, and creditors will be updated as the process continues, with statutory reports being required as part of our duties. Our appointment was made by the shareholders of the Company and ratified by creditors.
“It would not be appropriate to provide any further comment at this stage.”
I leave you with this to keep in mind. While numerous contractors, freelancers, and former employees of Green.TV, who I know are very stressed, scramble to find new jobs and are forced into their savings, despite the company’s collapse, Ade has continued posting on LinkedIn about industry matters.
HMRC was contacted for comment. Previously, an HMRC spokesperson told The Fast Charge on this case it could not comment, but added:
“We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and only file winding-up petitions once we’ve exhausted all other options, in order to protect taxpayers’ money.”
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