People: Voaden digs for victory

William Voaden, the one-time English China Clays luminary who sold his VSA finance outfit for £1 last year to would-be broking empire builder Andrew Monk, is hoping for greater things soon from bombed-out Canadian quarrying concern Pan Pacific Aggregates. He is now chief executive of PPA, which used VSA to help raise money in the past and which has returned to AIM with a £1.2 million placing at a barely visible 0.1p – a far cry from its 80p float price in 2005.

‘We shall be profitable by the end of 2012,’ declares Voaden, who also insists that the company still has its eyes on a potential strategic acquisition after a previous aborted reverse takeover attempt. The company, chaired by Euan McAlpine, raised this latest money through broker Alexander David, with support from small company dealer Keith Catchpole and others, and has obtained some £250,000 in a convertible loan note, while negotiating potential finance facilities of up to £4.2 million.

Floated six years ago with ambitious plans in the Sechelt Peninsula in British Columbia, Pan Pacific ran into a succession of problems with local partners and environmentalists.

The company, which turned a £1.1 million profit into a £3.9 million loss last year, had to abandon its original strategy and is now focused on the Quadling granite quarry, which it hopes will benefit from demand for major road-building and other projects in the area.

Pan Pacific says Quadling doubled sales in the second quarter of this year, with average selling prices up 16 per cent a tonne. As Voaden puts it, ‘We have left no stone unturned.’