Beaufort Securities (Formerly Hoodless Brennan)

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Have you lost money with Beaufort Securities?

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The experts in Financial Litigation claims

Oakwood Solicitors Ltd specialises in Financial Mis-selling claims. We have a Financial Litigation team dedicated to assisting clients who have lost money as a consequence of negligent advice in relation to a financial product, such as a pension or an investment.

Beaufort Securities (Formerly Hoodless Brennan) - Have You Lost Money?

Who were Beaufort Securities?

Beaufort Securities consisted of a group of companies that provided regulated financial advice regarding a number of financial products in the United Kingdom, including Discretionary Fund Management portfolios, SIPP pension related services and investments.

What went wrong with Beaufort Securities?

Beaufort Securities, formerly known as Hoodless Brennan, was a small-company for miners on the Alternative Investment Market. In March 2018, the US Department of Justice brought criminal charges against the company for its alleged involvement in securities fraud and money laundering. Almost immediately after this announcement was made, the Financial Conduct Authority made an urgent application and Beaufort Securities was placed in Special Administration by UK regulators.

In its prime, Beaufort Securities was managing about £900million and had around 14,000 clients.

Have you been affected?

Did you trade stocks and shares on the advice of Beaufort Securities?
Did you fail to see a return of your investment?
Did you come out with less than you originally invested?

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, please contact Oakwood Solicitors urgently, as we may be able to help!

What are AIM listed shares?

Alternative Investment Market shares, most commonly referred to as AIM shares, are subsidiaries of the London Stock Exchange. They comprise of small or new companies that are not established enough to join the London Stock exchange, and therefore instead will float on the AIM.

AIM shares carry a multitude of risk because there is no minimum market capitalisation for companies looking to list on this market and no trading record is required. This means that the company may have only been around for a short period of time in order to join the market. Unfortunately, this is often synonymous with AIM shares being highly volatile and illiquid, meaning it is much more likely to lose money on such shares.

Purchasing AIM listed shares is often a high-risk route to take and may well result in the share falling in value significantly over a period of time.

Case Study

Mrs X. was approached by Beaufort Securities (formerly known as Hoodless Brennan) who advised her to invest into Alternative Investment Market (AIM) listed shares. AIM listed shares have no minimum market capitalisation and do not require a trading record, which means they are extremely volatile as they have a larger chance of suddenly plummeting.

Beaufort Securities boasted of being the ‘number one broker’ for investors on the Alternative Investment Market. However, in March 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority declared the firm insolvent. As a result, the London Stock Exchange has suspended the membership of Beaufort Securities, referring to unsettled market contracts.

Beaufort Securities provided clients with negligent advice and did not take into account the client’s objectives and risk appetite, when it came to investing.

When contacted by Beaufort Securities, Mrs X initially thought that the proposed investment advice would be a great way to raise funds as she ventured into retirement. She told the financial advisor at Beaufort that she wanted to invest 75% of her money into safe, Main Market shares and the other 25% into higher risk shares. Instead of acting in Mrs X’s best interests and wishes, Beaufort Securities acted negligently by disregarding Mrs Smith’s objectives. Instead, they invested 85% of her money into AIM listed shares. This is not what Mrs X initially specified she wanted.

As a result, Mrs X suffered a significant financial loss.

After an initial consultation with Mrs X, Oakwood Solicitors obtained and reviewed Mrs X’s client file and prepared a series of detailed legal arguments which were presented to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’) for assessment.

The FSCS adjudicator upheld Mrs Smith’s claim and awarded full compensation which amounted to over £13,000.

Could you have a claim?

Here are a few key indicators that you may have a claim:

Retail investor – were you an investor who only had basic investment experience, such as Main Market shares and bonds in secure reputable companies or held no investments at all?
Contact – were you contacted out of the blue by Beaufort Securities or Hoodless Brennan?
Knowledge – did you invest into something that you didn’t really understand? Did you have little or no knowledge as to what AIM listed shares were?
Pressure – did you feel you did not have time to get independent advice, research the investments or take your time to decide if you wanted to proceed? Were you pressurised to act quickly or risk losing out?
Risk consideration – did the advisor fail to explain the risks associated with the investment including the potential that you may lose more than your original investment?
Losses – as a result of the investment have you suffered a financial loss?

Beaufort Securities (Formerly Hoodless Brennan) – Have You Lost Money?