Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

BIG - Big Un Limited

The toll-free number of Life Line (13 11 14) was shared by posters on Hot Copper.

So says the AFR article on the BIG collapse, was spruked heavily on HC....apparently.
 
Big Un investors turn dark after 'life changing' losses
http://www.afr.com/markets/equity-m...rk-after-life-changing-losses-20180523-h10g3s

Reality dawns on investors that BIG UN's shares are all but worthless and the financial and emotional costs are being counted.

The administration came as a shock to staff in Sydney, London and Los Angeles, who had been sold the dream.

The company's incredible share price rise was on an impressive growth in cash sales near $100 million annually. These sales were in the form of financing advanced by a Sydney-based finance company, FC Capital, most of which was not backed by actual customer sales.

The writing was on the wall when they began paying commissions on a one-month delay basis.

Shareholders are left with the Big Un shell that contains two small publishing businesses with a combined worth of $5.2 million. They are left holding the can," said another shareholder. In cases like this, where there has been a breakdown in safeguards and regulation from the auditor, board, ASX and possibly ASIC, is there any recourse for shareholders from these other stakeholders who have let this occur under their watch?"
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BIG got HC all excited and emotionally involved. No doubt the hype intensified with this association.
bighc01.PNG

I hope there were a few rational and objective thinkers over there about this partnership.
 
I feel very sorry for those who lost money on BIG, and it's easy to look back in retrospect and say "they should have seen it coming" but from an objective point of view it was difficult if not impossible to justify the company's valuation of upwards of $800 million as it hit its peak of around $5.

When you're in a stock and it's going up rapidly and you're making money it's hard to pull the trigger and get out because of fear of missing out on more profits.

If there is a lesson to be learned I suppose it's always be objective about a company's revenue growth potential and market valuation. It's easy to get caught up in the hype, but it's not always based in reality and unfortunately for BIG holders this was one of those cases where it was all smoke and mirrors.

big.chart-BIG.gif
 
When you're in a stock and it's going up rapidly and you're making money it's hard to pull the trigger and get out because of fear of missing out on more profits.

I think that there are very few people who are good at this, as a % of the population in general, good at the whole thing, stock selection, analysis, timing, discipline, position sizing, taking losses, cashing in winners, not getting carried away, drinking the cool aid etc.

Its hard even when you have the 10000+ hours experience and the track record and your not an idiot, i think that the internet is an amazing enabler and that there are a lot of people in the market that shouldn't be, industry's created to take their money.
 
Today Tonight have jumped on the BIG bandwagon with this story from last night.

 
Administrators were appointed to Big Un Limited on 27 August and the company was removed from the ASX yesterday as a result of not having paid its annual listing fees.

BIG is officially DEAD. The only question that remains is: will there be a class action?
 
only dead to asx unfortunately, not to shareholders (not me but I feel their pain in this one).

They now await the 'process' to complete so they can get the tax write off without having to add more capital into the loss for disposal costs (hopefully this fiscal given no company cash) ...... if you know the story you would know there was plenty of cash....right up until the sudden point when there was no cash.....cos all that cash in the quarterlies was 'owned' by someone else and had to be given back.....

I have included every person associated with this into my "DO NOT INVEST" database. No surprise to me that some were already on it.......
 
only dead to asx unfortunately, not to shareholders (not me but I feel their pain in this one).

They now await the 'process' to complete so they can get the tax write off without having to add more capital into the loss for disposal costs (hopefully this fiscal given no company cash) ...... if you know the story you would know there was plenty of cash....right up until the sudden point when there was no cash.....cos all that cash in the quarterlies was 'owned' by someone else and had to be given back.....

I have included every person associated with this into my "DO NOT INVEST" database. No surprise to me that some were already on it.......

This was a very odd setup from the word go. The official ASX name was Republic Gold Limited RAU. RAU once had a gold mine in Bolivia worth at least US$35 million but bailed out after riots and government pressure selling for US$7.5 million to Lion Gold Corporation in Singapore - eventually they only got about US$4.5 million.

They then explored in Mozambique and BigUn Limited still owns this interest - seems to have been forgotten. RAU were to sell the interests to Auroch Gold Limited who pulled out of the deal. BigUn Limited were pursuing a legal case against Auroch Gold - not sure what happened with that. Auroch said they owed a maximium of A$533,000.

RAU joined with Big Review TV a private Company - they became Big Un Limited. I needed 42c a share to breakeven and that after averaging down - put it down as a disaster at 9c a share, a big loss.
Eventually started selling at $1.52 and made a 420% profit in the end. Should have lost that gamble on Bolivian gold. There you goes aye.
 
Five years after the BIG collapse and the fallout is still being played out in the courts: https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news...-big-un-limited-charged-with-insider-trading/

The former CEO of Big Un Limited, Mr Richard Evans, also known as Richard Simon Evertz, has appeared via his lawyer in the Downing Centre Local Court charged with insider trading.

Also known as? People with aliases should not be allowed to be CEO's of ASX-listed companies.

A note to ASIC from my long deceased grandmother, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
 

Could you have spotted this fraud? Many just rode the wave hoping to get off before the downside came. Others, very many, bought the story. This wasn't one I was caught out on, several others were disasters.
It was a kind of well disguised Ponzi scheme. Offering discounts for paying up front meant cash was there though in time Big Un had to collapse. AFR investigated it and spotted the situation though some may have wished they hadn't as it had further to run.
 
Top