On 30 December as the Tees Valley emerged from Christmas and limbered up for New Year’s Eve, the officers of Teesworks Ltd lodged their company accounts for the year to the end of March 2024.
Teesworks Ltd
Teesworks Ltd is the joint- venture offspring of South Tees Development Corporation (STDC), the regeneration arm of Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), the latter headed by Conservative Tees Valley Metropolitan Mayor, Ben Houchen.
Starting life as a public-private 50:50 joint venture between the STDC and four local businessmen, the project was set up to drive the regeneration of the 2,600-acre former steelworks wasteland near the mouth of the Tees, also called Teesworks.
The four private partners in the arrangement took over 90% of the shares in December 2021 with only 10% left in the hands of STDC.
Controlling Teesworks Ltd via three companies, the four businessmen – led by Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney – paid nothing for their 90% shareholding.
Nor have they invested any money in remediation of the polluted Teesworks site, while over £500mn from the public purse has been sunk into the clean-up.
Profit and dividends
The Teesworks Ltd 2024 accounts show that net profits after tax fell to £2.7mn from £54.2mn the year before.
The company’s decline in performance did not affect the four businessmen. Teesworks Ltd paid out £20,250,000 in dividends to its shareholders.
How were the dividends carved up between the STDC and the companies owned by the businessmen? We don’t know for sure.
A variation of the rights attached to shares was signed in November 2021, just before the consortium’s sharehold was increased to 90%. The variation stated,
“A flexible dividend policy in article 12 of the Company’s articles of association, whereby dividends (at different rates) may be declared on one or several classes of the shares to the exclusion of any class or classes of shares “
In the altered Articles of Association passed on the same day, the firm’s share capital was divided into four categories: A B, C and D.
The re-definition of share capital was: 25 ordinary A shares; 25 ordinary B shares; 40 ordinary C shares; and 10 ordinary D shares.
In the files lodged at Companies House there is no mention of which shareholder owns what class of shares. It’s likely though that STDC holds the 10 D shares. Northern Land Management Ltd and JC Musgrave Capital 25 A or B shares each, with DCS Industrial the 40 C shares.
If we look at the personal shareholdings in DCS Industrial and Northern Land Management, we see that Chris Musgrave ultimately owns 45% of Teesworks Ltd, followed by Martin Corney with 21.15% and the latter’s stepfather Ian Waller holding 19.35%. Their planner Chris Harrison owns 4.5%.
If these proportions are used for sharing out the dividends then Chris Musgrave gained £9,122,500; Martin Corney £4,282,475; Ian Waller £3,918,375 and Chris Harrison £911,250; with the STDC gaining £2,025,000.
(*We have included in Ian Waller’s earnings the 25 Northern Land Management shares he transferred in January 2020 to The Maureen Marie Waller Settlement 2020. We have no information on this entity: it is not registered with Companies House, the Charities Commission or the Financial Conduct Authority.)
As the recipients of Teesworks’ dividends were not detailed in the company filings, the proportions actually handed out could be different, with the STDC for example gaining nothing.
In section 15 of the financial notes to the accounts there is another surprise: payments for services rendered. During the year Teesworks was charged £8.3mn by “a company which holds a participatory interest and has shared directors” for “marketing and other consultancy services” which are “demolition and extraction of scrap across the development site and other chattels”.
At the time the Teesworks Ltd directors were Chris Musgrave, Martin Corney and the TVCA’s Julie Gilhespie. Private Eye have claimed the company is DCS Industrial which co-owned by the four businessmen.
In the previous year at the height of profits from scrap sales, the marketing fee charged was £22.2mn.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
