Versailles, the trade finance company which collapsed in 2000 owing Ј70m to its banks, made no money whatsoever from the time it was founded nine years earlier, a court heard yesterday.
Despite being a very popular stock after floating in the late 1990s, favoured by both investors and City analysts, Versailles' main business never generated profits, according to its former finance director, Fred Clough.
Mr Clough, who is giving evidence against his former business partner, Carl Cushnie, who founded Versailles, said: "From the very start it was apparent that Versailles Trade Finance was losing money."
Mr Clough has pleaded guilty to attempting to disguise the situation throughout the 1990s by falsifying Versailles' accounts. He has become the star witness for the prosecution in the case, being heard at Southwark Crown Court.
