Tottenham Hotspur was the first big club to float its shares in 1983 and now they are latest club to delist, announcing plans to quit the Aim junior stock market. The club argued that its Aim-traded status was acting as an impediment to plans to raise money to build a new stadium.
Tottenham Hotspur was the first big club to float its shares in 1983 and now they are latest club to delist, announcing plans to quit the Aim junior stock market. The club argued that its Aim-traded status was acting as an impediment to plans to raise money to build a new stadium.
Chairman Daniel Levy said that going private would make it easier to use financing options not normally available to a listed company such as the issue of preference shares or debentures. The latter could be linked to rights to a seat or even to a box for a number of years in the new stadium. Mr Levy said that institutional investors were not interested in buying football shares.
However, writing in the Lombard column in the Financial Times, Jonathan Guthrie speculated that Joe Lewis, the owner of a 85 per cent stake in the club (through his ENIC vehicle) and Spurs executives ‘are simply fed up with the compliance and transparency of an Aim quote.’
For their part the club states that delisting will save £250,000 a year. There are an estimated 30,000 shareholders, many of them fans holding ‘souvenir shares’. The club is not encouraging them to sell, but if they decide to do so, they will be allowed to sell their cancelled share certificates as a memento.
After the delisting, scheduled for 16 January, the company’s shares will trade on a third party matched bargain basis and hence will become much more illiquid. The price of the shares tumbled by nearly a quarter to 35p in late trading on Wednesday.
The delisting of the club overshadowed the announcement of the club’s financial results which showed a small pre-tax profit on the back of its success in Europe last year. However, the Pink ‘Un dismissed a full year pre-tax profit of £400,000 on revenue of £163.5m as ‘feeble’, whilst admitting that it was better than last year’s £6.5m loss.
The significance of participation in the Champions League is shown by its contribution of £37.1m in gate receipts and prize money. Overall revenue rose 36 per cent to £163.5m. However, operating expenses excluding player trading rose 35 per cent to £131.2m on the back of an increase in player salaries.