[Archived] Venkys London Ltd Accounts

[yoda]

Think its 123 million. with only a bank overdraft of just over 10 million, just like we had under JW and Barclays regarding the overdraft.

So with that in mind (113 Million) that it's been borrowed through VLL, this 113 million must originally be from SBOI? Banking facilities with VLL expiring in March 2017... Administration end date to file for this year is also in March.

Fasten up.

Who loans 113 million to VLL which is basically a shell given the state Blackburn are in at the minute? Must be some heft securities put down.

The almost £124 million are fully paid up shares owned by the V's, what are they going to do with them ?

The £25 million is external debt, that would be my worry

[MGAndy]

The almost £124 million are fully paid up shares owned by the V's, what are they going to do with them ?

The £25 million is external debt, that would be my worry

Cheston out

he can barely speak ffs let alone count

[tomphil]

So the external debt still hasn't been being reduced ? Surely that's a priority when cutting costs and trying to get the club in better shape.

[MGAndy]

So the external debt still hasn't been being reduced ? Surely that's a priority when cutting costs and trying to get the club in better shape.

depends on your business plan

[yoda]

As Peter Kay would say

Plan,

Business Plan

[Exiled in Toronto]

So the external debt still hasn't been being reduced ? Surely that's a priority when cutting costs and trying to get the club in better shape.

3 of the 4.5m debt owed to God knows who and charged at 14.5% seems to have been paid off. The SBOI overdraft has reduced slightly. Any changes to debt owed to the owners is meaningless as they'll never get it back.

[tomphil]

3 of the 4.5m debt owed to God knows who and charged at 14.5% seems to have been paid off. The SBOI overdraft has reduced slightly. Any changes to debt owed to the owners is meaningless as they'll never get it back.

Ok cheers.

Not sure if it was on last years books but i think some of the last parachute was borrowed against in advance so maybe it was that and was squared off when received. Either way funding now looks to be almost soley from sales and external borrowings rather than blocks of share capital increases.

All revolves around the parachutes i reckon as it's a raging coincidence their funding stops just when that does.

[McClarky]

Blimmin Heck. So we made an operating loss of £20m. Roll this forward 2 months and what will we have this year? The incomings will be reduced by lower gates, less tv money and no parachute payments and the outgoings are probably similar. That probably means a bigger loss of maybe around £23m with less recouped on player sales to offset against. I suppose we already knew that anyone of value was for sale.

Looks to me like this club/business is broken beyond repair and as soon as the saleable assets are sold off it will implode leaving a mountain of debt which isn't ever going to be paid off.

[Baz]

Looks like we need to sell £30m of players to break even, and find another £130m to clear the debt.

If the amount to owed to external creditors is £25m, that's not too bad. Can Venkys afford to write the other £100m in their accounts without taking a massive drop in their group share price, or fund Personally? If not, that may be the reason we are stuck in the limbo of no investment, but the bills are just about being covered.

[Athlete]

Sooner or later this has to implode it can't go on for ever

[arbitro]

Sooner or later this has to implode it can't go on for ever

And the sooner the better for all concerned. There has been an inevitability about this for some time now and I for one will be glad when it has ended. However I think anybody who believes it will end nicely is in cloud cuckoo land.

[Stuart]

Looks like we need to sell £30m of players to break even, and find another £130m to clear the debt.

If the amount to owed to external creditors is £25m, that's not too bad. Can Venkys afford to write the other £100m in their accounts without taking a massive drop in their group share price, or fund Personally? If not, that may be the reason we are stuck in the limbo of no investment, but the bills are just about being covered.

I think people are numb to the value of money in the PL/Sky era. Try raising £25m to cover the debts.

Twenty-five million pounds.

Million.

It's going to be bloody hard work keeping this club alive post-Venkys...

[McClarky]

I don't think there is a "post Venkys" for this club.

[Amo]

I think people are numb to the value of money in the PL/Sky era. Try raising £25m to cover the debts.

Twenty-five million pounds.

Million.

It's going to be bloody hard work keeping this club alive post-Venkys...

Just you wait until we sell J Lowe.

[MGAndy]

Is it true or an urban myth that they kill chickens by cutting their heads off but they continue to run around for 90 minutes?

[JHRover]

Some of the sales won't be included in these accounts. Hanley and Duffy money in particular will be in the next set of accounts so that £10 million will make things look slightly better next time round.

The usual comments/guarantees from the owners re. the debt - that the loan facility expires in March 2017 but that they fully expect it to be renewed on the same terms and the owners have the means to ensure the club continues trading for at least the next 12 months.

One interesting part for me was the 'unlisted investment' of £3.3 million for a minority shareholding in a Canadian company called Hitlab INC. I'm sure this has never been mentioned before so must have occurred in the last 12 months and seems to be the only thing that Venkys London Ltd has an interest in beyond BRFC.

[Athlete]

Some of the sales won't be included in these accounts. Hanley and Duffy money in particular will be in the next set of accounts so that £10 million will make things look slightly better next time round.

The usual comments/guarantees from the owners re. the debt - that the loan facility expires in March 2017 but that they fully expect it to be renewed on the same terms and the owners have the means to ensure the club continues trading for at least the next 12 months.

One interesting part for me was the 'unlisted investment' of £3.3 million for a minority shareholding in a Canadian company called Hitlab INC. I'm sure this has never been mentioned before so must have occurred in the last 12 months and seems to be the only thing that Venkys London Ltd has an interest in beyond BRFC.

A quick Google of hitlab.. A Montreal singer performs for akon.. 😁

A company which connects musicians..

[Dunnfc]

Akon owns just under 27% of Hitlab Inc, See the proposals below;

http://hitlab.com/Downloads/DueDiligence/SECTION-3-SECURITIES/3C-OLD-OFFERINGS/3C-Term-Sheet-Hitlab.pdf

[4000Holes]

A quick Google of hitlab.. A Montreal singer performs for akon..

A company which connects musicians..

Maybe Barry has taken up singing for his supper

[Athlete]

Akon owns just under 27% of Hitlab Inc, See the proposals below;

http://hitlab.com/Downloads/DueDiligence/SECTION-3-SECURITIES/3C-OLD-OFFERINGS/3C-Term-Sheet-Hitlab.pdf

Venkys wanted akon to perform at Ewood a few years back.. Didn't akon open venkys xpress somewhere a while ago as well

[Dunnfc]

Not too clear if are actually investing 3.5 million ourselves "Brfc" into this Akon joke.

It would appear so as i can't see any other accounts

[cesus]

I think people are numb to the value of money in the PL/Sky era. Try raising £25m to cover the debts.

Twenty-five million pounds.

Million.

It's going to be bloody hard work keeping this club alive post-Venkys...

Absolutely 100% agree, so much tumbling ahead for us after they pack up and we start rebuilding. We will be left with no valuable players to sell, the "hope" of many fans returning, and as fans we need to respect that standing any chances of keeping the wolves from the door season tickets in turn would realistically need to be raised in price (quite drastically). Operation Survival will be launched when they (please God) leave, what happens on the pitch will be the least of our worries.

[RoverCanada]

Wages are still very high at £28M. For context, that puts us roughly tied with Brighton's wage for 2014/15 or 8th highest in the entire league. The likes of Ipswich, Birmingham, etc. are at more like £15M, which is what we're probably at now. There's certainly been some cuts, as our wages were about £37M back in 2012/13, but it's been a slow process. This only goes up to March 2016, so a lot of Rhodes' wage is still on there, plus Hanley, Duffy, Best's buyout, etc. I think we'll have to wait until the next set of accounts to get a better picture after all the outgoings this year.

Other expenses at £12M vs £13.8M in 2015 (which was reported as at £21.8M last year due to all exceptional expenses they brought forward) and £21M in 2014. Total staff is down to 252, relative to 262 in 2015 and 275 in 2014.

Turnover is hanging on better than I'd thought at £21M vs £24M, but it's on a steady downward march and my estimates would put it at £15M or so in the next set of accounts. Might still include a share of our last parachute payments then; I don't know the timing of that. Media income reported is down £2M at £13M, and it might be another couple million or so down now. Media income was £21M back in 2014...

Not entirely sure which transfers count in this period, but looks like roughly Gestede + Rhodes + Olsson and maybe King - Bennett and whatever loan fees there were (for Graham, Watt, Gomez, Borrow, Grimes, Lawrence, Henry) came to +£17M. Seems about right.

I'm no accountant so not sure about the debt situation, but it was hardly going to improve much if any when we're still a money losing club, like pretty much every Championship squad.

Any summary from a proper accountant would be appreciated!

[OJRovers]

Few initial points:

- Even with no money spent on transfers and the efforts to reduce wages, there was still a £25m shortfall in cash. So the "losing £2m a month" line is worryingy accurate.

- This was covered by £7m extra cash put in from the owners in the year to March 2016 and £19m cash generated from player sales..

- Bank of India are still owed the £10m overdraft. There's also another 'other loan' which is charging a very high rate of interest of 14% because interest cost is £1.3m.

- Again significant funding is required to continue until June 2017. There is again a letter of support from the Venkatesh top company saying they will provide share captial if needed. Nothing legally binding though.

- Overdraft due March 2017

- I don't agree with the idea that Balaji has taken control. He didn't sign the accounts. He has equal control of the Venkys top company. I genuinely think it was an error on that particular submission to companies house.

- Laughably the Directors believe that the value of BRFC has increased since March 2015 and that there is "continued improving performance" Who has written that?? Shou;d be challenged at the next supporters' meeting.

- Commercial turnover up £3.5m to £3.6m

- Pension costs down massively £410k to £190k - who left in the year? Was it shaw/myres? That shows how much they were getting paid.

- Also received £58k of KPMG tax advise which is a lot for a small company

- Leon Best etc previously provided for have been paid off in the period.

- Without Rhodes/Hanley/Duffy the wage bill is probably down a bit, but then so will revenue, so its probably safe to say that we're losing c.£1m a month still. This £12m a year needs to either come from player sales or share capital. The £10m sales in summer + £2m share capital in November 2016 (?) will probably cover the club until March. After that it is hard to see where the money is going to come from.

- Overall given the wages are in the top 8/10 of the league, the excuse of not having the finances to compete is shown to be complete nonsense. It is just criminal mismangement of the resources that has caused the team to keep slipping downwards.

[perthblue02]

The hitlab incvestment was in 2011, been mentioned on here before

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-56189220110407