Holland ‘should face up to those he left out of pocket’
Saturday 24th December 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
Howard Holland
RUNAWAY restaurateur Howard Holland left a lot of businesses out of pocket and should be made to face up to his debts, said a former supplier to his restaurants.
Fred Kilpatrick, chairman of catering equipment suppliers Sidlocks of Guernsey, said Mr Holland left Guernsey owing his company tens of thousands of pounds. Had it not been for Mr Holland’s former business partner Peter Ferbrache settling the debt out of his own pocket, the money would never have been retrieved.
‘People should not be allowed to get away with behaving like that. It wasn’t just Peter Ferbrache who lost money. There are a lot of small businesses that were affected,’ said Mr Kilpatrick whose son, Roy, is the company’s director.
‘It’s the principle of it and I think people who are standing up for him are talking nonsense. They are obviously not owed money by him.’
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Absolutly right, I couldn’t agree more
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there were rumours flying around years ago about this guy,and then we had the front page stories in the press, if he does come back to face the music, is he going to get a fair trial, and as for advocate ferbrache, as he got more money than sence, i would not of leant mr holland 5p, let alone 1 million plus,
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I think many catering suppliers have extended credit recklessly in the past in the hope of not losing business to competitors, extending credit is a risk and should be managed as such.I expect Howard was largely unaware of the mounting debt and simply fled back to Portugal when confronted with just how much he owed, I believe he has made an apology, perhaps he was more poor businessmen than criminal..
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“a poor businessman”
Where have you been recently??
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Well I think it’s wrong what holland has done and should be made to pay it back. But ferbrache it’s his own fault that he’s lost his money as it was him who taught Howard the lawsvabout owing money when he left ireland the same way
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Roy Gueno,
Which planet do live on ??
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He lives down petit bot.
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He should, but he certainly wont?.
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Roy Guerno@
The fact that he was given extended credit is nothing new in business. It’s how some sectors in this island function. Your argument about mabye just being a ‘poor businessman’ does not wash i’m afraid. We’ve read the evidence for ourselves through GP and yes i know before you say – ‘We haven’t heard the other side of the story’ – but look at the facts so far. He and his wife lived well beyond their means, he withdrew large sums of money from from the firms he ran and effectively got caught with his hands in the till.
You can’t blame Advocate Ferbrache for wanting a return on his investments beacause they were successful until they were used as personal cash machine.
Mr Holland hid the money out of anyones reach in spain and was setting up his ‘Plan B’ or ‘escape route’. I doubt many people will see the money they are owed, be it investors or stakeholders. He might end up a victim of his own doing with the Spanish banks getting twitchy and the Euro on the verge of collapse but saying that he has more than likely accounted for that.
Remember he is not the ‘poor buisnessman’ we are led to believe. He knew exactly what he was doing and ‘crocodile tears’ certainly don’t wash with me.
A Leopard never changes it’s spots.
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It has been my experience in the past that eventually all will sort itself out naturally. Call it karma, or whatever your like, Holland’s luck will run out. He will foul up in Spain and leave people there out of pocket, and eventually – not for many years though – he will be brought to justice. That dosen’t help the people here of course who are owed money. How could Ferbrache be so stupid? Shows you, that despite years of superior training, he has not an ounce of commonsense!
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Excuse me but isn’t failed debt the grief of the lender? The supplier lent the money, stupidly, motivated by greed and without collateral. I personally couldn’t give a damn if any company extending credit got burned, tough luck – grow up.
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One thing I have learnt about this is ” Hell hath no fury like a Peter Ferbrache conned ”
He get involved with someone who has known previous for business problems.
Trusts him by lending money, no questions asked, and fails to check bank accounts of businesses involved.
Is well aware of Hollands extravagance and high living.
Sorry Advocate Ferbrache, your rantings in the GP have shown the world what sort of man you are.
You paid your money, thinking you would get a quick buck by using Holland, to increase your vast wealth, and what really hurts is that,
” You now have discovered that you had it all wrong and Howard Holland instead was using you and laughing all the way out to Spain”
What really surprised me was that you went public and confirmed what most of us have known for years.
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Whilst the articles have made for fascinating reading, some things stand out above everything else. Peter Ferbrache has demonstrated a lack of commercial awareness and has shown himself to be rather naive.
The irony is that as a result of unintentionally taking ownership of the various restaurants, I suspect that Peter Ferbrache could well end up making more money out of the deals than if Howard Holland hadn’t stitched him up.
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GM – superb analysis.
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GM, has hit it on the head we hear how Mr Holland has done Mr Ferbrache out of £1.4 million but he has taken civil actions and claimed all the restaurant shares as his so it would be good of him to go public and now justify
How he is still owed this sum or is he not putting a value on what he has put into his name already.
Don’t get me wrong what Holland did was wrong, but then Ferbrache has been foolish.
States member in the future I don’t think so!
Do we the public really want all this sort of local press, it was all good news a year ago when it happened but now, and if Holland is making a go of it in Spain, good for him for having the guts to try again, one only hopes that this leopard has changed its spots.
I am sure Ferbrache will get his money back in one way or another over a period of time, even if it means selling the successful Christie , Boathouse, Swan, and various properties.
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John T -”Hell hath no fury like a Peter Ferbrache conned “. I think I would be well fired up if a so called friend had me over for £1.4 million. Can you tell us what we have all known for years. I only ask politely because I must be missing this knowledge.
GM. I think Mr Ferbrache’s commercial awareness may not extend much beyond the very lucrative legal system but to be fair, as I read the article, his first involvement was to lend money to Holland. The question I would pose is why did not Holland get loans from his bank ? Was he overstretched and Ferbrache agreed to help him, albeit for a profit. At first as I understand it the loans were being repaid then Holland got way too greedy.
Guern. Re your last comment, Are you sure that Mr Ferbrache fully owns the premises you list. I think he does not.
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From my limited knowledge PF took full ownership of the profitable restaurants (one would ask how he was able to do this?) and has since sold slices of them off. The majority of the debt he is claiming is HH’s share of the bank debts from the entire group. I presume these would be very difficult to pay if you no longer have the profitable businesses and have been left only with the loss making ones. One would have to ask where HH’s shares in the profitable businesses and various properties went and how he could still owe these vast sums if PF took ownership of them. Surely PF should also have taken the majority of the bank debt?
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Some spot-on posts by GM and Mac. Two sides to every story.
On a lighter note, don’t you miss HH taking his hourly walks around Town, mobile phone pressed firmly to his ear while having a theatrical conversation with a non-existent person at the other end?
Heard a few stories about his phone suddenly ‘ringing’ while having one of these important chats (to PF perhaps?) on the phone!
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