Portland Works community share offer, available NOW and extended to June 2012
"I've read your
business plan - and I like it" Hugh Facey MBE,
Chairman, Gripple Limited, and Portland Works supporter.
Our plan is to raise around £400,000, to buy and operate the building as a social enterprise (see Our Vision). At least half of this of this will be in shares in the Community Benefit Society , Portland Works Little Sheffield Ltd. Although the sale is now agreed we still have a shortfall in funding - we need to achieve £200,000 in share sales by the end of the share offer.
There are now (April 2012) over 350 individuals who've put in anything from £100 (around half our shareholders fall into this category) to £20,000, raising over £185,000 at this point. A lot of people pulling together will bring success - THANK YOU! Please join us.... just download a form and send it in with a cheque. The address is on the form.
Download
the share
offer documents - click on the headings below
If you wish to buy shares you should download and print the application form, and then post it to us with your cheque. The Share Offer has most of the detail you need, and we can post it to you if you prefer. You may also like to read the Business Plan, which gives a great deal more detail about the project and its financial basis. We are also required by the FSA to offer you the Rules of the Society.
(Note: Internet Explorer will open these if you left-click on them. Firefox users should right-click and 'save link as...' or 'download linked file' . The files will then download. If you have problems please email shares@portlandworks.co.uk and we'll email or post you whatever you need )
We have hard copies of all these documents -
please contact us
at: shares@portlandworks.co.uk
We're maintaining steady progress with shares sold to a wide range of shareholders, many of whom have opted for the £100 minimum holding - we value all our shareholders whether they put in £100, £1000 or £10,000. It's also great when people put more into the project, and around a third of our shareholders have opted for £500 or more. Our aim is to raise our total through this share issue, linked to loans and donations - enough not only to purchase the building (the exact figure is still subject to negotiation), but also start urgently needed repairs.
Once we own the building we will work with the Architectural Heritage Fund, English Heritage, Heritage Lottery Fund and other agencies to raise further funds to bring the whole building into productive use as workshops and for educational purposes. We already have a working relationship with all these bodies.
By investing you will be joining a social enterprise which will buy and manage this unique building and its mix of small businesses. Every shareholder will be a voting member of the Portland Works community benefit society. We have been supported by the Cooperative movement in our financial planning.
Your stake in Portland Works will provide long term financial support which will enable us to buy the building, restore the fabric and develop further workshop space for new businesses.
This will be a long term project backed by the value of the building and developing the existing mix of tenants. We'll aim to provide interest at a modest rate, aiming to match inflation to protect your holding, paid from surpluses generated by the rental income from the tenants. Our plan is to repay the entire share issue over 25 years, repayments being decided annually at the discretion of the Board, and starting five years into the project.
Costs are minimal in the project - all Board members are volunteers, all surpluses go to the project and much of our support so far has been given pro-bono.
Shares cost £1, with a minimum holding of £100 and the maximum allowed, under FSA regulations, of £20,000 per shareholder.
Finally - if you want to
support us but don't want to buy shares,
please think about a donation or loan, large or
small. Make a £1000 donation and you can be a Portland Patron
Make a Donation page Patron page Make a Loan page
If you have never invested in a community share issue before we recommend that you read the guidance document entitled: 'Investing in Community Shares', which was compliled by Co-operatives UK and the Development Trusts Association, in order to help inform your decision to become a Portland Works shareholder. This document is available to download, along with other guidance, on the following website:
Community Shares - Action learning research project
You can find more information on the following websites:
Development Trust Association - The community shares programme
Co-operatives UK - Investing in community shares
Derek Morton
Chairperson, Portland Works Committee
Portland Works
Randall Street
Sheffield
S2 4SJ
derek@portlandworks.co.uk
updated 16 April 2012