A number of readers have raised queries about Bical. We have been unable to talk to anyone at Bical, however, we have got this position statement via the NFU.

“The NFU has been told by the Companies Court that Biomass Industrial Crops Limited (“Bical”) has filed a Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator. “The NFU will be monitoring the situation with Bical closely, and the NFU will be working to support any of its members with concerns. NFU members are asked to call NFU Call First on 0870 845 8458 for further advice and assistance.”

If you would like to comment then please email paul.spackman@rbi.co.uk 

This would be preferable to posting in public at this time.

Silence speaks volumes.

Sorry contractors but you may end up a bit poorer. I doubt growers will be out of pocket - can see the powers that be let renewable energy pioneers get a spanking.

Once they have an administrator appointed, can we name and shame then? You know, once its all Gazetted ;)

After numerous calls to the people involved, I finally managed to get to the bottom of what's going on - fingers crossed, it doesn't sound as if growers will be too badly affected by the changes at Bical. Here's the story - let me know what you think.

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/118909/New-buyer-found-as-miscanthus-specialist-goes-into-administration.htm

Here's Paul's story if you can't be bothered to click through:

 

A group of private investors have come to the rescue of energy crop specialist Bical, after the company went into administration on Monday (23 November).

 

 

The group of four unnamed individuals paid the administrators Milsted Langdon an undisclosed sum for the old company and have formed a new company, to be called Renewable Energy Crops. Bical's subsidiaries, which include the grower groups BiSel and BiEd supplying key customers like Drax power station and EDF, did not go into administration and were not part of this week's sale.

 

 

Renewable Energy Crops director Graham Kerslake said all growers who supplied rhizomes to Bical would be taken on to new REC contracts, while miscanthus growers supplying the subsidiaries would also have the opportunity to sign up to new contracts once details of the new company had been finalised.

 

"We'll be calling all affected growers individually to reassure them that they'll be looked after," he told Farmers Weekly on Wednesday (25 November). "They'll have the opportunity to sign up to new contracts, or alternatively some may decide to supply end-users directly through their own local supply groups.

 

 "The fact Bical has been acquired so quickly is actually very good news for the energy crops industry," he added. "The company didn't get into trouble because miscanthus isn't working; it was down to turbulence in the financial markets which affected the availability of capital to the small and medium-sized enterprise market. End-user demand for miscanthus is still very strong."

 

That feeling was echoed by East Yorkshire grower Tom Nash, whose brother John started growing miscanthus in 2005 to supply Drax through BiSel. He has since gone on to form a separate grower group, Miscanthus Growers Ltd, which shares information about the crop with around 70 local growers.

 

"Thankfully the crop, its potential and place in the environmental and economic agenda has never been in question and the main local customer for green energy, Drax, has moved quickly to confirm its commitment to the crop," he said.

 

NFU members concerned by the changes at Bical can get advice by calling NFU Call First on 0870 845 8458.

 

Is this yet another of those universally dreaded pre-packs?

If so, they might perhaps have had time to think of a name inspiring more confidence than "the new REC".

Cheers!(Doom Bar)

Don't think anyone thinks that the biomass to fuel idea in principle is a bad idea. Without doubt the recent rescue intervention by 4 individuals is good news for the existing gowers/contractors but am I the only one to wonder that if this was such a good business with excellent prospects under the renewable energy obligations and overall carbon reduction policies umbrella that it couldn't get bank finance (from anywhere) especially when the companies key customers are not about to go out of business for quite a long while.

I know I am an old cynic on these matters but methinks that there is often no smoke without fire in these things.

Do not think you can have any fire without massive filters to stop smoke these days, especially with miscanthus!

bankrupt:

Is this yet another of those universally dreaded pre-packs?

Looks like it, although got to take care as FWi not too keen on speculation.

However, I would speculate that the new owners are either the same directors as last time; some other well known Renewable Energy growers; or a mixture. Pure speculation however.

But ask yourself this - the new director Graham Kerslake (http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/118909/New-buyer-found-as-miscanthus-specialist-goes-into-administration.htm) sounds remarkably similar to the similarly named Graham Kerslake (http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2004/11/26/25751/MISCANTHUS-INTEREST-MOUNTS.htm) pimping miscanthus and the company back in 2004.

Renewable Energy Crops also seems to have been incorporated on the 20th November, so 6 days before the FW article.

Would you want to deal with the same people under a different banner?

There was a brilliant suppliment about renewable energy in last Saturday's Yorkshire Post. Not bad timing to have a full page ad, and I quote (bold added by myself) "A Green Shoots direct supply contract with Drax gives farmers, foresters and landowners the assurance they are dealing with one of the UK's leading power generators - a company that is financialy strong, secure, reliable and clearly focused on developing the biomass market." - Nov 28/09 suppliment.

A lucky timed press release?

 

Yes, any kind of speculation would clearly be quite wrong.

According to Companies House, the company was incorporated on 20th November 2009 as Bical Renewables Ltd.

It has since undergone the change of name to Renewable Energy Crops Ltd.

Number of shares issued   100

Nominal value of each share  £0.01

 

 

Which definition of speculation do FWi not especially like, just in case I take the word out of context.

• SPECULATE (verb)

  The verb SPECULATE has 4 senses:

1. to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
2. talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion
3. reflect deeply on a subject
4. invest at a risk

Up the Forum!

The only speculation that we don't like is the sort that could cause legal problems! I have no desire to censor people, but I do have to step in in cases where people are making statements about a business or individual that are based on conjecture.  

It's not an unusual approach - it happens on pretty much every other forum.

 

Thank you for the clarification.

Sadly, Isabel, some of the arrangements currently being made by practitioners in insolvency and corporate recovery, whilst nowadays strictly legal, are generally held by the wider business community to be grossly unethical and/or immoral.

One can argue that criticism should be directed to the law as it stands, rather than to any of those taking advantage of it.

However, it is ultimately company directors who decide to instruct their professionals to proceed with such schemes.

They should not, therefore, be surprised at the expression of measures of disapproval.

Its amazing what the ill informed can say and what the uneducated can write, I think your information is somewhat misguided as it is to my knowledge that all growers are being offered same if not better contract terms under Renewable Energy Crops, there are one or two growers trying to make a case, but dig deeper and you will see there is a darker truth, these growers are up to having a go themselves so they have there own gains being made under the table so to speak, not paid for their harvesting and collection, only 400 tonne out of 20 plus thousand are caught in between the company failing and a rescue being made, look at the end user and see there terms. Just a note. If the coal fired power station are pretending to be the saints ask them why do they burn Malaysian coal rather than our own, or better still asked for the value in output per tonne of renewables verses the payment to growers, bit like the supermarkets. United we stand divided we fall