Dandyman
In London village.
LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Heavily indebted English soccer club Leeds United Plc (852900) suspended trading in its shares on Friday, raising fears that it had failed to persuade its creditors to give it more time to fix its finances.
The club said it had asked for the trading halt, pending a statement on its financial position later in the day when a deadline with creditors is due to expire.
Leeds has managed to get the deadline extended several times in the past two months.
Failure to get another extension could force the beleaguered club to seek protection from its creditors and to become the first Premiership club to go into administration.
Leeds, now at the bottom of the premier league, is labouring under debts of about 80 million pounds ($146 million) brought about by a player-buying spree and faces relegation from English soccer's lucrative top division.
The club made a loss of 49.5 million pounds in the year to June 2003 and has been struggling to find a buyer. Talks with prospective bidders have so far failed to produce a deal.
One of two consortia looking at Leeds dropped out of the bidding on Thursday and a representative of the other, Gerald Krasner, declined to comment before the club had made an official statement.
Bill Gerrard, professor of sports management and finance at Leeds University Business School, said the suspension raised concerns that creditors had declined to give the club more breathing room.
"All the sources were expecting a rollover of the standstill. That clearly hasn't happened and there's a great deal of concern," he told Reuters.
A share trader agreed: "It (the suspension) is pending financial clarification, which isn't good news."
Shares in the club, a Champions League semi-finalist in 2001, last traded at 2.75 pence, giving it a market value around 9.5 million pounds ($17.7 million).
© 2004 Reuters
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The club said it had asked for the trading halt, pending a statement on its financial position later in the day when a deadline with creditors is due to expire.
Leeds has managed to get the deadline extended several times in the past two months.
Failure to get another extension could force the beleaguered club to seek protection from its creditors and to become the first Premiership club to go into administration.
Leeds, now at the bottom of the premier league, is labouring under debts of about 80 million pounds ($146 million) brought about by a player-buying spree and faces relegation from English soccer's lucrative top division.
The club made a loss of 49.5 million pounds in the year to June 2003 and has been struggling to find a buyer. Talks with prospective bidders have so far failed to produce a deal.
One of two consortia looking at Leeds dropped out of the bidding on Thursday and a representative of the other, Gerald Krasner, declined to comment before the club had made an official statement.
Bill Gerrard, professor of sports management and finance at Leeds University Business School, said the suspension raised concerns that creditors had declined to give the club more breathing room.
"All the sources were expecting a rollover of the standstill. That clearly hasn't happened and there's a great deal of concern," he told Reuters.
A share trader agreed: "It (the suspension) is pending financial clarification, which isn't good news."
Shares in the club, a Champions League semi-finalist in 2001, last traded at 2.75 pence, giving it a market value around 9.5 million pounds ($17.7 million).
© 2004 Reuters
Make MSN my Home Page
Home | My MSN | Hotmail | Search | Shopping | Money | People & Groups
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