I would have preferred to have had a manager with some experience and some decent contacts to help secure loan and permanent signings but there have been so many comments on here about 'not having enough money to appoint certain people' I had to ask a question to the group. If we have netted £3.7m from the two player sales, £300k from Mackays compensation and are anticipating anything around £1.5m from Ashley Young that brings our incomings to £5.5m. A bit of unbudgeted Saracens cash in there too. Is the deal with the former owners to pay back £10m over 5 annual installments? If so is there a provision to pay it all off early and if so is that possibly the intention here? Cowie, Loach and Murray are all sellable assets that could generate £4.5m so is there a possibility that BB is trying pays off the full amount this year to give himself unencumbered ownership. If not how deep is the gap between incomings and outgoings and is this surplus being used to provide bridging cash? Surely Ellington, Sadler, Graham, Buckley and the £270k p.a. saved from the manager and chief exec must have gone some way to making us self sustainable? Not sure if all my figures here are correct but would appreciate any thoughts.
n8ive - - I asked this recently too - see the thread I just brought back to the top called "can someone explain" - there are some good explanations there from fans who have followed this closely
Thanks Leonardo, just seen your thread which has got some useful stuff on the current finances, if you have the power feel free to delete this thread.
No - its your first - we'll leave it here - if no-one posts it will soon slip down the page - good to have you here
The 10m is payable in certain instalments over the 5 years. [From what I remember of the Stock Exchange agreement] the debt will be cleared within 5 years, with payments going to certain creditors first and other later.
In simplistic terms we have been running at a loss each year and apparently still do although I hope this will be the last year. Bassini agreed to give, from his own funds 3.5m working capital back around March/April time to see the club through to the end of the financial year. He then went through the proceess of buying the club for 1p a share - approx 445k - which meant small shareholders, mainly fans lost out. Ashcrofts original bonds were due for repayment on the 11th July and Bassini has now renegotiated the payment schedule which you can see in the offer which you can get to on the official Watford website. he could repay early if he wants but at reasonable interest rates I doubt he would take that offer up or indeed be able to do so. The following is taken from the offer document which is legally binding and issued on 10th March 2011: As the Company did not trade any player registrations in the recent transfer window in January 2011 and now cannot sell any players until the next window in the summer of 2011, there is a working capital requirement of approximately £3.5 million to cover the shortfall for the remainder of the Company’s current financial year. Repayment date Amount of principal to be repaid Date the Offer becomes wholly unconditional £1,000,000 First anniversary thereof £1,500,000 Second anniversary thereof £2,500,000 Third anniversary thereof £3,182,000* Fourth anniversary thereof £1,055,000** Fifth anniversary thereof £1,025,000 TOTAL: £10,262,000 * - includes £90,000 of accrued interest due to Fordwat Limited and Graham Simpson which is to be capitalised. The remaining accrued interest due to such Bondholders has been waived. ** - includes £30,000 of accrued interest due to David Fransen which is to be capitalised. The remaining accrued interest due to such Bondholder has been waived. The rate of interest, which is currently 4.5 per cent. above the base rate of Barclays Bank plc, is to be changed to a fixed rate of 5 per cent. for the first year and 3 per cent. thereafter, although one Bondholder, David Fransen, has agreed to accept a flat rate of interest of 3 per cent. throughout. The Secured Bonds can be repaid early at Watford Leisure’s election and must be repaid if Watford Leisure is promoted to the FA Premier League or there is a subsequent change of control of Watford Leisure. Ok - that's the facts. As he now owns the club outright he no longer needs to show us all the figures but surprisingly to me so far Mr Bassini has been quite above board with his communications so maybe we will be kept informed in the future. Are we running at a loss? probably. Do we have money for the transfer market? Yes but from the figures and what he needs to pay back we probably have 1m + any new money such as Ashley Young and MM so not all bad.
Thanks for the detail both of you. I seem to recall that Bas cant take his 3.5m back until everyone else is paid back and that would also go for the 1st million on completion of the deal. If that is the case he must have a backer or his own loans which will accrue a lot of interest over a 5 year term.
He can and I imagine will pull the 3.5 million one year after the facility was made available. I would imagine he might then lend it back again but this time accruing interest.
