6th October 2020
Wealth Dragons Group PLC, Shareholder Update
Dear Shareholder,
I am writing to update you as a shareholder on what has been a very challenging six months for the company as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wealth Dragons office in Milton Keynes has been closed from March 2020 and the majority of staff have been placed on the government furlough scheme as we have not been able to run any events since March 2020. The small number of staff who have been working have done so from home which has not been without its problems.
Our income as a company has been severely affected in this period and sadly we have had to make a number of staff redundant as well as implementing other ways of cutting costs.
Our focus however has been to set the foundations to enable the company to come through this pandemic by continuing to develop our online capability, to generate income that has been lost through not being able to run our large events. The online product ‘Membby’ is now showing signs of success. We have also in September commenced running our events online which have been well received. It has taken considerable time and effort to get these online events in place and we are pleased that they have started to generate income for us.
Even though we have managed to survive in what has been the worst time in our trading history we have had to remodel our business and we envisage that it will take us most of next year to recoup what we have lost during this year, 2021 to date.
Some shareholders are concerned at the liquidity of our shares and I too share those concerns. As I have said before the market for Wealth Dragons shares is very limited and we are still growing and expanding our shareholder base. The shares are traded with buyers and sellers on a matched bargain basis. The Board consistently keeps this under review and is looking, with our advisers, at ways of increasing the trading when conditions allow. Many shareholders have acquired their shares under the EIS and therefore are restricted on trading their shares as this would affect their personal tax status.
We have recently applied to HMRC for the EIS3 tax certificates for those shares allotted in the tax year to 5 April 2020 and we hope to receive these from HMRC and send them out towards the end of this year.
I would like to pay tribute to the dedication of our staff and keeping them secure and well is one of our paramount concerns.
I trust that this provides you with some background to the present position and our commitment to making the company successful for staff and shareholders in what are most definitely difficult and challenging times.
May you all keep well and stay safe.
Andrew Beaumont
- Chairman, Wealth Dragons Group PLC
