Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more
Estimated reading time: 2 min
Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.
What are the key risks?
If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.
For further information about investment-based crowdfunding, visit the FCA’s website here.
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Blog
- 27 September 2024
HISBE’s mission was to build a robust local supply chain of high-quality food producers. Customers could have trust in the products which were evaluated for labour conditions, food miles, single use plastics and animal welfare standards amongst other issues. As a CIC HISBE also had the local community built into to its legal structure.
HISBE’s first store had steadily built up over its first six years, building a supply chain with over 100 independent local suppliers. With the second store HISBE hoped to reach profitability. The bond offer filled in February 2020 ready for the new store to open in June that year. By the end of March 2020 all plans were on hold with the nation in lockdown as a result of the Government’s response to Covid-19.
In the following years HISBE faced further lockdowns, changes in shopping and work habits, high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. The company’s plans were completely altered, the Worthing shop opened later than planned, footfall on the streets was slow to recover and never reached pre-pandemic levels so trading was difficult.
The management team worked through different options, adapting the management structure, staffing, opening hours and pricing.
The team raised further capital through crowdfunding in 2023 and was in regular contact with creditors, including bondholders, to try to create some headroom. In the last year it worked with an equity investor to try to raise the money to expand the chain further to reach a profitable scale. However, ultimately no investment was secured and in early 2024 the management team, with advice from administrators, decided that it could not continue to trade and entered administration and ultimately liquidation in March this year.
HISBE released a statement saying:
“It’s with great sadness that we announce the very painful decision to declare HISBE insolvent…. we are sad and sorry it has come to this…. We are also thankful for this journey – and grateful to every supplier, customer, staff member, investor and support who was part of it…. We hope that our rebel supermarket sowed a seed of change – and we trust that the import work to transform the food industry will continue through others.”
As with all the investments on the Triodos Crowdfunding platform investing into individual companies (as opposed to funds) is risky. Part of our role in raising money for organisations is to try to ensure that investors understand the risk they are taking by investing. As a loss-making company seeking scale for profitability, the HISBE bond offer carried specific risks and unfortunately in this case those risks materialised to investors’ detriment.
We aim to provide a range of investment types (bonds, equity, community shares) in a range of sectors, all of which support the transition to a more sustainable society. You can read more about Triodos’ approach to impact and our 5 transitions here.
Investments offered on this platform are not readily
realisable, which means that they may be difficult to sell and you may not get
back the full amount invested. Investments are not covered by the Financial
Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and your capital is at risk and returns are
not guaranteed. Repayment of capital and interest or payment of dividends will
be dependent on the success of the organisation's business model and past performance isn’t a
reliable indicator of future performance. You should
always read the offer document in full before deciding whether or not to invest as it
will cover risks specific to an individual investment. You can read more about
the general risks associated with making these types of investments. If
you are unsure if any of these investments are right for you, you should
contact an Independent Financial Adviser.
Triodos Bank UK Ltd. Registered Office: Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AS. Registered in England and Wales No. 11379025. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration number 817008.