Fawlty Towers Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 From today's Daily Express (which I don't buy myself but a colleague does) is the following piece: "The cash-starved First Division club are considering a share or rights issue to boost their coffers. A Jags spokesman said: 'Season tickets and gates are down substantially, leading to the well publicised cash shortfall. This needs to be plugged and the directors have already cut costs and made substantial financial and other contributions.'" Now, this is part of the same piece which appears to have our annual loss as a completely different figure from the one in our published accounts (see thread on PTFC Accounts). As I have said in another thread on the AGM, I believe that the Board will be looking to have a share issue to deal with the overdraft & historic debt so that we can start to move forward with break even budgets. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Incredible Adam Spark Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Thoughts? Who is the spokesman and why hasn't this been communicated to the fans before the press? Is this the "unique" offering Beattie spoke of? If so, what's unique about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alx Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 I'm interested in a share issue, but we need some forensic analysis.... this prop co thing muddies the water, there's no point buying worthless shares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKennan Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 I'd echo Adam's sentiments. Where did this come from? A source who has spoken, to one, two, three ... no four club directors, perchance? Remember where that got us. What is the nature of this share issue? What would share owners be entitled to? Will it vanish like a rat up a drainpipe if Ian's misfiring squad takes two fantastic leaps forward in the Scottish Cup? (Please gaaaawd.) Given the credibility of the Express can we have some kind of confirmation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jags365 Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 In the agenda for the AGM there is a motion "To remove the capital share issue limit" meaning it looks like they might be trying to plug some of the 100K SF with a share issue. However, given the Propco issue, the shares are seemingly (even more) worthless than before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Heron Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 In the agenda for the AGM there is a motion "To remove the capital share issue limit" meaning it looks like they might be trying to plug some of the 100K SF with a share issue. However, given the Propco issue, the shares are seemingly (even more) worthless than before. Let's face it though, shares in a football club (or, certainly, one at our level) are intrinsically worthless anyway as an investment. I'd be interested in understanding what the strategy is behind whatever is going to be proposed. There are more than sufficient shares unallocated within the present structure to raise enough cash to clear the cash shortfall if that's what the aim is. What I'd like to see is that shares can be made available to fans in a manner that is reasonable for the many of us that aren't entirely awash with spare cash. The current level of £1000 as a minimum investment (albeit that was briefly reduced to £300 last year at the time of the PropCo discussions) remains too high and, despite protestations to the contrary from the club, I do hear from people who I believe know what they are talking about that much lower levels are acheiveable. In general, anything that allows a widening of share ownership amongst fans (either individually and/or via the Trust) would be welcomed by me provided that it's not largely cover for my more cynical thoughts which are....... ..... that the exercise is being devised to allow the current board (which between them to do not own anything like 505 of the current shares and will require the support of other major shareholders to get through an AGM - and I am assuming that some of the former board members are on board with this though some others may not) to be given wider powers which will allow them to dilute existing shareholdings to reinforce their position. I suspect that some of them might be willing to pump more money into shares on that basis than they would within the existing structure. On a final note, these are all one-off injections of money. If it can clear off the debt that will be terrific but I'd still want to know the plans for moving forward. Certainly, we get more money by the reduction in interest but whilst that would be an improved position I'd suspect we're still in a constrained position year on year for playing budgets etc etc. The risk is that we end up going through this type of exercise on a recurring basis if we are looking to have a competitive, full-time team on the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 On a final note, these are all one-off injections of money. If it can clear off the debt that will be terrific but I'd still want to know the plans for moving forward. Certainly, we get more money by the reduction in interest but whilst that would be an improved position I'd suspect we're still in a constrained position year on year for playing budgets etc etc. The risk is that we end up going through this type of exercise on a recurring basis if we are looking to have a competitive, full-time team on the park. I feel the worrying thing is even if we clear off the debt we don't know what average attendance we'll have in future years. If we budget for two thousand and it's only 1800 then we're as much as £50K overspent. Gates are falling elsewhere as well and the trend these days is downhill dramatically. It would help if we knew what our basement attendance figure would be, but with the disinterest in going to matches these days so low it would be nigh impossible to guesstimate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Incredible Adam Spark Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 If it can clear off the debt that will be terrific but I'd still want to know the plans for moving forward. Certainly, we get more money by the reduction in interest but whilst that would be an improved position I'd suspect we're still in a constrained position year on year for playing budgets etc etc. The risk is that we end up going through this type of exercise on a recurring basis if we are looking to have a competitive, full-time team on the park. Exactly. It would have been my wish to have seen that outlined in the Herald piece which, in my opinion, was an empty exercise. It may be that the board isn't in a position to do that just yet. If that's the case, then it shouldn't be leaking information to the press that's going to result in a restless support becoming more agitated. I'd still like to know if Chap With Wings has extended the offer of a Q&A that was agreed to by AC to the new men pulling the strings. We were titilated with information regarding a "uniqe" venture almost five weeks ago and have since heard nothing. If the club's situation is as serious as made out in the same piece then how long can we be expected to hang on for an update? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fawlty Towers Posted January 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 Exactly. It would have been my wish to have seen that outlined in the Herald piece which, in my opinion, was an empty exercise. It may be that the board isn't in a position to do that just yet. If that's the case, then it shouldn't be leaking information to the press that's going to result in a restless support becoming more agitated. I'd still like to know if Chap With Wings has extended the offer of a Q&A that was agreed to by AC to the new men pulling the strings. We were titilated with information regarding a "uniqe" venture almost five weeks ago and have since heard nothing. If the club's situation is as serious as made out in the same piece then how long can we be expected to hang on for an update? Hopefully there will be something about it in the programme on Saturday: http://ptfc.co.uk/news/2010-2011/january_2011/saturdays_programme_v_stirling_albion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Incredible Adam Spark Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) Hopefully there will be something about it in the programme on Saturday: http://ptfc.co.uk/news/2010-2011/january_2011/saturdays_programme_v_stirling_albion Will we, or won't we? I may have misjudged some of your recent posts, but I was under the impression you had some idea what was going on behind the scenes. Edited January 13, 2011 by The Incredible Adam Spark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fawlty Towers Posted January 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 Will we, or won't we? I may have misjudged some of your recent posts, but I was under the impression you had some idea what was going on behind the scenes. Sorry if I gave that impression, I have only been speculating on what I think will happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Incredible Adam Spark Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 No worries. Forgive me for being cynical when it comes to 'important' messages in the programme. The last time we were advised of that we were read rumours relating to administration were wide of the mark only to be informed of a £100,000 shortfall a few weeks later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKennan Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Chill Adam. Everything will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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