SDC and its company Oportunitas Ltd

SDC set up a company by the name of Oportunitas Ltd, registered at Companies House, after the elections new directors were added for obvious reasons and available to view for free here Company Check

In setting up the company SDC commissioned Genecon Ltd (costs for commissioning unknown), and sought advice from Bevan Brittan LLP (costs for advice unknown) plus KPMG (costs for advice unknown)

The opening capital available is contained in the above report i.e. £2.6m of which working capital available of 0.3m and £2.3m for housing acquisitions – we have currently drawn down capital of £0.720m for Acquisitions and £0.080m for Working Capital). 

From this money FIVE properties have been purchased – all now privately rented out. The average price of each property was one hundred and forty four thousand pounds (144,000)The Location cannot be revealed as there are people living in these properties and they have a right to privacy under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act. Below is email Correspondence between myself and the Interim Chief Accountant about Oportunitas Ltd. To find out more about Oportunitas Ltd, follow them at the link above.

Dear Joe Bloggs Thank for your email.  I confirm that I have booked the same room (Olympia Room) on Monday 13th July 2015 at 2pm to meet you and discuss the Accounts further. Mr XXX XXX (our Group Accountant) will accompany me. I will be bringing a copy of the Oportunitas Accounts and the Cabinet Paper associated with the company. For the meantime I can answer your queries as per below as follows – Response in RED : ACCOUNTS  Pg 109 Group Accounts States: “…the subsidary entity ‘Oportunitas Ltd”. The subsidiary has made a loss during the first year of trading…”

• What does the company do? – 
• The company has been set up for the purpose of housing and regeneration initiatives in order to generate additional revenue and provide additional residential housing in the district (See also Page 50 of the Accounts and a Cabinet Report on www.Shepway.gov.uk of the 6th August 2014 (Key decision report number A/14/16) – I will bring a copy to the meeting for you.
• What was the opening capital of Oportunitas Ltd?
• The opening capital available is contained in the above report i.e. £2.6m of which working capital available of 0.3m and £2.3m for housing acquisitions – we have currently drawn down capital of £0.720m for Acquisitions and £0.080m for Working Capital)
• Are the accounts for this company produced separately? –
• Yes – the Accounts are produced separately and will be filed at Companies House on the relevant due date
• What was the total loss made by the company over the financial year? –
• The Profit/Loss before tax was £0.058m and after a revaluation gain of £11K a retained earnings loss of £0.047m was transferred to Reserves.
• There has been an alteration to the memorandum and articles of association for this company. Please may I know what these are and why the changes were necessary?
• There were a number of changes in Directorship during December 2014 and following the elections in May 2015 further changes took place – this will be logged at Companies House on the relevant Annual Return due date.
• Under whose instruction was the company set up? –
• This was a key decision made by Cabinet and full Council in August last year (report as per bullet point 1)
• Why was it deemed necessary to set up Oportunitas Ltd –
• As per the first bullet point above, and in accordance with the pursuit of additional revenue income streams for the Authority and to fulfil the priorities of the Council in providing additional residential housing. (See Cabinet Report 6 August 2014 as above)

Interim Chief Accountant, Shepway District Council Shepway Vox