As a family-owned business, the Seventy Ninth Group is a multinational group of companies chaired by David and his sons, Jake and Curtis, supported by an experienced board of directors most of whom have a banking & compliance background. The Seventy Ninth Group is renowned for its strong family values of loyalty, honesty, and reliability, and is respected by its clients globally. It has a proven track record in the acquisition of distressed and undervalued assets.
2023 was a period of notable change for the Group as it implemented its plans to create three separate divisions operating in the Real Estate, Natural Resources and Funds raising/management sectors while still retaining its UK Headquarters presence. The board recognised the benefits these changes would bring to its diverse customer base enabling them to identify and monitor those projects they preferred to invest in.
During 2023, the overall Group continued to deliver a solid performance with sustained growth despite political uncertainty, continuing global economic change from inflationary cost pressures, high interest rates, and significant fluctuations in currency exchange. Against this backdrop, I am pleased to report a strong performance across all three divisions during 2023 which continued through to 2024.
Real Estate
Our real estate division continued to identify suitable targets to build its portfolio across the UK offering clients a range of high-margin and yielding investment opportunities.
During 2023, 79th Commercial commenced the necessary work to convert Millennium Park, which is a commercial property located in Birchwood, Warrington, into individual offices for external businesses to rent. The building comprises over 10,000 square feet and is ideally located alongside both the M62 and M6 motorways, it will house several meeting rooms and will generate ongoing revenue streams.
Natural Resources
Seventy Ninth Resources forms the Natural Resources Division of the Seventy Ninth Group and is a leading global gold exploration company. Having initially operated with projects in the Republic of Guinea, it has recently expanded to become more diverse by acquiring two further projects in Ontario, Canada.
Seventy Ninth Resources continues to use its own inhouse specialists to partner with world-class experienced geologists, field consultants, and ESG specialists including, SRK Exploration Services and The MSA Group. During 2023 and into 2024, an extensive programme was undertaken, focusing on the LS Project using air core and diamond drilling. LS is a 44.8 km2 gold project located in the Siguiri region of the Republic of Guinea, approximately 590 km east of the capital city, Conakry. The project is located 8 km northwest of Hummingbird Resources Yanfolilla gold mine (1.42 Moz at 2.17 g/t Au Resources, 0.49 Moz at 2.56 g/t Au Reserves) and less than 1 km from GGE Sidikila gold mine (1.02 Moz at 1.17 g/t Au, Inferred Resource). Mineralization hosted on these mines is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted at LS.
Initial examination of results from the exploration work undertaken are summarised as follows,
Multiple gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies identified at the 44.8 km2 LS project.
Soil anomalies coincident with major 8 km north-south trending structure.
High-grade results from artisanal pit sampling including 10.74g/t Au and 8.32g/t Au.
Gold-in-soil anomalies to form the priority targets for a ground geophysical survey.
LS is strategically located in the prolific Siguiri basin gold belt, hosts numerous open-pit mines.
The 79th Board is currently considering a range of options for all its projects including the potential to pursue a public listing in 2025 and Joint Venture opportunities.
Funds Management
During 2023 the board fully implemented its plans to create a Middle Eastern based growth hub. I am pleased to report this hub has undoubtedly succeeded by way of connecting the 79th Group with international financial institutions.
It is this proactive fund-raising activity, by way of working with large financial institutions, which enables Seventy-Ninth Group to operate so successfully in the Real Estate and Natural Resources sectors by acquiring distressed and undervalued assets, generating income streams or profits on disposal.
Having launched a fully regulated experienced investor fund, designed to target suitable commercial or residential property for development opportunities utilising the experience and industry know how of the 79th Group, I am pleased that this fund has now been listed, and is trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
New Developments
The board of Seventy Ninth Group continues to identify opportunities to support our long-term growth and in recent weeks, there has been two major developments that will not only help deliver that aim, but also demonstrates the diverse nature within which, the Group is prepared to operate.
Post Covid the UK staycation trend continues its upward trajectory with more than 50% of UK holidaymakers indicating they are more likely to holiday in the UK rather than overseas due to cost and climate related reasons. In recognition of this trend, and the opportunity to identify suitable assets in the leisure sector which meet the Seventy Ninth Group operating objectives, the Group has acquired a luxury leisure park in Scotland. The 17.5-acre site in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of Loch Ness, will trigger a £15m project to develop and construct over forty luxury two- three- and four-bedroom lodges over the next 12 months. Supplementary to this, the Group has agreed the purchase of a 300-acre site in Wales for the development of 400 luxury lodges
Not only will these projects capitalise on the increasing demand for high-end property in sought after destinations, but it will also provide job opportunities for local residents in iconic locations. Other suitable staycation projects are being actively identified.
The second exciting development has been the recent launch of Seventy Ninth Aviation which is a new charter aircraft division providing luxury private chartering for corporate and private travellers. Based in the UK, Seventy Ninth Aviation owns and operates a fleet of aircraft, providing external management to other aircraft owners and operators. Bespoke luxury travel is offered to a range of global destinations with the volume of early bookings continuing to steadily increase.
Sustainability
Making a positive impact on individuals, communities, our business operations, and the environment, continues to be important to the Webster family and the wider Seventy Ninth Group. Holding ISO 14001 and Green Mark accreditations, demonstrates how important we recognise and adhere to the principles within the United Nations Global Compact initiative.
Despite our rapid growth as a Group, we remain fully focused on delivering the United Nation’s 3 core goals of sustainability which include meeting environmental concerns, socially responsible practices, and economic cooperation.
We continue to be involved in community work through our contributions to local charities and donating to organisations across the UK. In Guinea we are pleased to maintain our programme of outreach supporting the Red Cross training initiatives that have been running over the years. Having recently acquired two projects in Ontario, we will identify how we can work to support the Indigenous 133 First Nations communities representing at least seven major cultural and linguistic groups.
Our mantra is that giving back to the community is at the heart and will continue to be, of everything we do.
Strategy and Outlook
We believe diversification is critical to building a sustainable multinational group of companies for the future. Moving into the leisure and aviation sectors demonstrates how flexible we can be and not simply rely on those areas where we already have a proven track record. Diversification to build and widen our portfolio of assets not only makes us more attractive to our existing investors, but importantly to potential new investors.
The board and I are very confident we will continue to meet our objective to grow the Seventy Ninth Group and meet our goal of being recognised as a market leader in all the sectors we operate within.
David Webster
The 79th GRP Limited is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Brook House, Southport Business Park, Wight Moss Way, Southport, Merseyside, England, PR8 4HQ.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Equity instruments issued by the company are recorded at the proceeds received, net of transaction costs. Dividends payable on equity instruments are recognised as liabilities once they are no longer at the discretion of the company.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
During the year the company entered into the following transactions with related parties:
During the year there were net advances from other group companies of £23,203,308 with an intercompany balance outstanding at the year end of £23,609,524 (2022: £406,216).
During the year there were net advances to related overseas companies of £19,380,648 and invoices raised of £1,962,701 with a balance outstanding at the year end of £21,343,349 (2022: £nil). The companies are related as David Webster, Jake Webster and Curtis Webster are Directors of both companies.
The company has taken advantage of the exemption to disclose balances due and transactions entered into between two or more members of the group, provided that any such party to the transaction is wholly-owned by such a member.