Pompey need to pay £1.2m to creditors in April
TROUBLED TIMES Pompeys ground Fratton Park
POMPEY face a race against time to meet a deadline to find an estimated £1.2m by April to pay former owner Sacha Gaydamak.
The first instalment of the cash owed to unsecured creditors seeking more than £2,500 is due on April 1, 2012, under terms approved in the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) signed to bring the club out of administration last year.
An estimated total of £16.5m will need to be paid back in instalments as part of the agreement – but the first £2.2m will go straight to Mr Gaydamak, as he is the club’s only secured creditor.
Under the requirements of the CVA, a further estimated £1.2m will need to be paid on August 15 – and again, most of that will go to Mr Gaydamak.
Only then will other creditors who are owed more than £2,500 begin to be paid. Around £4.1m needs to be paid in equal instalments on April 1 and September 1, 2013.
A further payment is due on April 1, 2014, and the balancing figure to comply fully with the CVA is required to be paid on June 17, 2015.
The club’s parent company Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) went into administration in November, and Pompey are now seeking a new buyer.
The figures were revealed in a letter sent by liquidation firm Baker Tilly to update small and unsecured creditors who are still waiting for payment following the club’s administration. The firm was appointed liquidator of the club in February.
Joint liquidator Geoff Carton-Kelly, who signed the letters, told The News updates were sent out after the firm was contacted by ‘anxious’ creditors.
Club chief executive David Lampitt said: ‘The payment of the CVA obligations have always been built into our business plan.
‘The CVA was drawn up as part of the exit from administration and the process to retain membership to the Football League. It was the obligations Portsmouth Football Club had to fulfil.
‘Anyone coming in to invest or take over the club and move it forward understands the nature of the obligations.
‘There has been a significant level of interest expressed in the football club and we see that as a very positive thing.
‘Obviously it is quite early on in the process and it remains that we will make sure to resolve the ownership situation as soon as possible.’
Only creditors who are owed more than £2,500 are usually paid under the terms of a CVA. But in Pompey’s case, former owner Balram Chainrai pledged to pay creditors owed less than that amount in full through his company Portpin.
The letter from Baker Tilly says that this obligation now rests with Portsmouth Football Club.
But Mr Lampitt disputes it is the club’s sole liability to pay small creditors in full.
‘We were unaware of the fact that the liquidators were sending out correspondences to creditors but we take issue to the liability for 100 per cent payment with creditors owed less than £2,500.’
‘They are still due to receive their full payment of their debt.
‘There is no time scale for full payment but the sooner the dispute is resolved over how the payments are made and who by the better for all concerned.
‘We want to put it to bed.’
STILL WAITING TO BE PAID
SMALL creditors still owed money following Pompey’s administration last year feel they are back to square one after receiving update letters from liquidators.
Roger Higgins, a Pompey fan of 60 years and who worked for the club for 35 years, is owed more than £900 for work he carried out before the club’s administration last year.
He said: ‘After reading the letter, it seems like another game of pass the parcel.
‘It’s wrong we have to keep pushing the football club.
‘In my case, the money is not important – I have written it off anyway. If I do see it, I will give half of it to charity but it’s the practicality of it all.
‘I just feel very sorry for the young fans. All they see is a crisis and they are the future of the club.’
Scott Mclachlan, of the Pompey Supporters’ Trust, said: ‘This latest news paints a bleak picture for the small creditors.
‘As time went on it seemed that them getting paid was very unlikely, that now seems even more so.
‘It’s yet another sorry day for the club and possibly one in a long line of coffin nails waiting to be used to shut tight the lid on the club.’
THE BIG MATCH
POMPEY’s eagerly-anticipated clash with rivals Southampton at Fratton Park on Sunday is virtually a sell-out.
Only a handful of seats around the ground remain for the lunch-time encounter.
Saints fans have taken up their full allocation of tickets.
The last time the Blues faced the Saints on home soil was six years ago – on April 24, 2005.
On that occasion, Pompey ran out 4-1 winners in the Premier League thanks to two goals from Lomano Lualua, a Yakubu penalty and an Arjan De Zeeuw header.
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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Comments
There are 99 comments to this article
Page 1 of 7
pfcbutton
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 10:59 PMLumpitt turn that frown upside down .. face like a smacked a55 .. gotta laugh at the s(ummers mindless speculation .. you know nada FACT (FACT=over used, but strangely apt on this occasion)
Baddesley Bill
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 09:42 PMNice picture of your...(ahem)..."stadium"...I trust we get the stand west of shot to sit in...or do we have to totally slum it in the "Victorian workhouse" stand to the East?...hardly room to park a Saints bubble behind that old cattle shed! :O)
slugger2
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 09:39 PM@ 93 , we've never claimed to be "the best fans in the world" as your sorry bunch have ....... just that we're far the best on the south coast ! COYR
people dont like the truth trueblue1
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 09:32 PMJUST SELL TO PLAYERS JOB DONE STOP F@KING MOANING FACT
trueblueinkiwiland
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 09:31 PMisn't lampitt the FA's head of anti corruption or something?, I am surprised nobody is calling for his head. Working with crooks when he's the taskforce on sorting it out?. Only at Pompey...........
blue bob
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 09:01 PMLoads of people keep banging on about off loading certain players, including TBH, don't they realize that you can't just say goodbye to these players. So we're skint, but unfortunately for us we would have to pay their contracts up & it's doubtful if we could afford to, we are between a rock & a hard place.
Wrinkley
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 08:58 PM@91. Of course, it was a sell-out for every match when Rupert Lowe ran your outfit! Dedicated fans? You could not even manage a demo!
deepincider
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 08:56 PMEvening all! Why do people keep banging on about the parachute payments covering the CVA? I understand that is what AA sold to the creditors to get the vote passed but the reality is 1. You have never received any investment, only loans. 2. The difference between your wages and income from 12,000 supporters each home game, is huge (in the negative). 3. Therefore the shortfall is being met on a monthly basis by.....you guessed it....the parachute payments. I'm not saying there is nothing left in the pot but the fact that DL refused to confirm(today) that the parachute payments would cover the CVA speaks volumes, dont you think?
slugger2
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 08:29 PM@90 ........ oi , i used to work at "the old gas works" , center circle is where our canteen was .......at least we own it , along with our training facilities ....... i hear there's still tickets left at your end , not at all supprised ........ "best fans in the world" ..... lol
Wrinkley
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 08:13 PM@89. We should be OK if you select the keeper whose fingers are sponsored by Anchor Butter! Having seen last weekend's fiasco when Blackpool visited the old gasworks, I thought it was the start of the Panto season.
slugger2
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 08:05 PMwhat a shambles ! ......... i feel for the people who have been robbed by your sorry excuse for a football club , bring on sunday .... COYR !!!!!
Wrinkley
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 08:01 PMIf Pompey were to go out of business, then it would not be long before a large printing works at Hilsea followed suite.........With no Pompey to report on, a large section of those who currently read The News, would no longer bother..........Food for thought for those who always seem delighted to 'dish the dirt' on PFC.
baz1953
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 07:09 PM@81 High earners? the only ones that are rumoured to be on wages above the current pay structure are TBH and KK all the others are on wages within the current structure and besides, none of us have seen the contracts
baz1953
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 07:04 PM@79 I dont think DL dodged the question about the potential Italian investorsNew owners all he has done is not go into specifics and said he would not and to be fair to him, this is exactly the stance he took last time when we were looking for new owners. I believe this is the right stance to take afterall, we dont want to add fuel to the specuation at the moment because there is enough of that
baz1953
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 06:59 PM@71 If my memory serves me right, the issue about the missing money and paper trail is a matter of a seperate investigation which will take some time to fathom out and I fear we may never know the full outcome of that investigation but on saying that, I also do believe that when AA was at the helm so to speak, he did say that if there was clear cut evidence of wrong doing then the matter would be handed over to the appropriate authorities. The case against MM and HR is a totally separate issue and is being dealt with as such by HMRC
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