Liverpool FC owners lose £42.6m

[dom9]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8084182.stm



get out of the club, get out right now

Hang on a minute.

The club made a profit of £10m. Kop Holdings made the loss.

If Kop Holdings goes bankrupt, the club will be sold on.

[Kenneth]

Everybody knows the yanks have to pay 30+ million a year to cover the interest on the loans to buy the club. Therefore, how can a loss for Kop holdings be a surprise?

[Kenneth]

Hang on a minute.

The club made a profit of £10m. Kop Holdings made the loss.

If Kop Holdings goes bankrupt, the club will be sold on.

Yes, but if it does get to the stage of kop holidings folding, which won't happen imo, then what are the PL rules for this? Southampton were in a simlar position and were docked 10 pts.

[barnes10]

there is one small point. the club may have to cover kop holdings losses unless it pushes the club into insolvency.

the club will be fine. we may well do a leeds however.

f**k moores and f**k parry the effing clowns. 1 down 3 to go. the sooner they are all out the better.

[poorscousertommy]

This is just ****ing depressing. We are going to be left miles behind with transfers this summer.

We'll end up with Tuncay and Distin if we are lucky! Who would seriously want to come to this club when we are looking like we are on the edge of financial collapse.

[James P]

Guys, as a partner in a large firm of chartered accountants, let me add a bit of perspective here.

KPMG's comments on going concern are no surprise at all - in the current economic environment, the pressure on us as a profession has increased dramatically, and so these kind of qualifications based on ongoing negotiations over bank facilities are increasingly common, and don't mean that the sky is falling in. It's as much an arse-covering exercise as anything else.

Also, comparing us to Southampton is a irrelevant - we have just finished second in the Premiership, have a huge fanbase and top players, and are in next year's Champions League. If the owners are unable to refinance, then they will be forced to sell the club, and there are simply too many parties who have already expressed an interest for the club not to be bought. If their hand is forced, they simply won't get the price they want, but they will still sell because they will get a lot more than if it did go into administration.

Also, suggesting that we need £1bn of cash is a nonsense. Having a certain level of debt can actually be desirable (if you understand gearing then you will understand why), and the notion of building the stadium without some degree of financing would be unusual to say the least.

[Kenneth]

I don't see why this 'news' will mean we don't have a transfer kitty. The club is profitable and the owners will want to keep it that way, which will require investment in the team to build further success.

[cream]

There will be no new ground for a at least 8-10 years.

[cream]

I don't see why this 'news' will mean we don't have a transfer kitty. The club is profitable and the owners will want to keep it that way, which will require investment in the team to build further success.

The club may be profitable, but it is the club that pays the debts of Kop Holdings, so really the club isn't profitable.

[dom9]

Guys, as a partner in a large firm of chartered accountants, let me add a bit of perspective here.

KPMG's comments on going concern are no surprise at all - in the current economic environment, the pressure on us as a profession has increased dramatically, and so these kind of qualifications based on ongoing negotiations over bank facilities are increasingly common, and don't mean that the sky is falling in. It's as much an arse-covering exercise as anything else.

Also, comparing us to Southampton is a irrelevant - we have just finished second in the Premiership, have a huge fanbase and top players, and are in next year's Champions League. If the owners are unable to refinance, then they will be forced to sell the club, and there are simply too many parties who have already expressed an interest for the club not to be bought. If their hand is forced, they simply won't get the price they want, but they will still sell because they will get a lot more than if it did go into administration.

Also, suggesting that we need £1bn of cash is a nonsense. Having a certain level of debt can actually be desirable (if you understand gearing then you will understand why), and the notion of building the stadium without some degree of financing would be unusual to say the least.

Thank you - better explained than I could dream of.

[Vermilion]

As someone said above, maybe some good will come of this news, and encourage potential serious buyers to return to the table, thing is, H&G likely already knew the situation and it hasn't encouraged them to sell as yet, not for a sensible price anyhow.

Our immediate future is in the hands of RBS, and the decision they make on re-financing, from what i've heard so far, they don't want to be the ones to send the club into bankruptcy, for various reasons, so H&G may yet get their re-finance.

The big worry for me is, the longer they stay, the bigger the hole they dig us into, whether out of desperation, bad business, or plain stubbornness, oh, add stupidity to that.

[dom9]

As someone said above, maybe some good will come of this news, and encourage potential serious buyers to return to the table, thing is, H&G likely already knew the situation and it hasn't encouraged them to sell as yet, not for a sensible price anyhow.

Our immediate future is in the hands of RBS, and the decision they make on re-financing, from what i've heard so far, they don't want to be the ones to send the club into bankruptcy, for various reasons, so H&G may yet get their re-finance.

It would be insane for them not to. I think people are making this out to be an issue more than it really is.

They have not defaulted on any payments.

[Vermilion]

It would be insane for them not to. I think people are making this out to be an issue more than it really is.

They have not defaulted on any payments.

Maybe, but do they have to wait till the exact date for the re-financing to get the go ahead ?, if it's a foregone conclusion why not just agree to it and announce that they'll get it now, and put all the rumour to bed.

[ukfootballfan101]

Guys, as a partner in a large firm of chartered accountants, let me add a bit of perspective here.

KPMG's comments on going concern are no surprise at all - in the current economic environment, the pressure on us as a profession has increased dramatically, and so these kind of qualifications based on ongoing negotiations over bank facilities are increasingly common, and don't mean that the sky is falling in. It's as much an arse-covering exercise as anything else.

Also, comparing us to Southampton is a irrelevant - we have just finished second in the Premiership, have a huge fanbase and top players, and are in next year's Champions League. If the owners are unable to refinance, then they will be forced to sell the club, and there are simply too many parties who have already expressed an interest for the club not to be bought. If their hand is forced, they simply won't get the price they want, but they will still sell because they will get a lot more than if it did go into administration.

Also, suggesting that we need £1bn of cash is a nonsense. Having a certain level of debt can actually be desirable (if you understand gearing then you will understand why), and the notion of building the stadium without some degree of financing would be unusual to say the least.

Hi James, great post. Could you give a quick explanation of gearing and why a certain amount of debt can be desirable?

[JHP]

Guys, as a partner in a large firm of chartered accountants, let me add a bit of perspective here.

KPMG's comments on going concern are no surprise at all - in the current economic environment, the pressure on us as a profession has increased dramatically, and so these kind of qualifications based on ongoing negotiations over bank facilities are increasingly common, and don't mean that the sky is falling in. It's as much an arse-covering exercise as anything else.

Also, comparing us to Southampton is a irrelevant - we have just finished second in the Premiership, have a huge fanbase and top players, and are in next year's Champions League. If the owners are unable to refinance, then they will be forced to sell the club, and there are simply too many parties who have already expressed an interest for the club not to be bought. If their hand is forced, they simply won't get the price they want, but they will still sell because they will get a lot more than if it did go into administration.

Also, suggesting that we need £1bn of cash is a nonsense. Having a certain level of debt can actually be desirable (if you understand gearing then you will understand why), and the notion of building the stadium without some degree of financing would be unusual to say the least.

As I see it Parry should be given credit for forcing the debt on the holding co and not LFC.

If they are forced into selling LFC it would be sold without the debt following LFC. The debt would be left in the holding co - offset by any income from funds from the sale of LFC.