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Carlisle United Finances - EWM Loans and Holdsworth

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Carlisle United Finances - EWM Loans and Holdsworth

Postby Tippy Tappy Football » Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:19 pm

From Carlisle News & Star

Nigel Cribbens, Carlisle United Chief Executive, has confirmed that Carlisle no longer have access to the Edinburgh Woollen Mill “loan facility” from which they have borrowed more than £2m since 2017. It follows the recent sale of EWM, which had fallen into administration. The funding from EWM covered David Holdsworth's Director of Football position which will now be financed by the club.

Cribbens said: “In terms of David’s funding, etc, essentially the club is now self-sufficient of borrowings from EWM. Whilst at the start we couldn’t afford to do it on our own even if we’d wanted to, we can now and, being self-sufficient, we’ll do that."

The recent sale of EWM to an international consortium has seen the Blues’ debts to the firm now owed to another company. EWM and certain other parts of Nigel Day’s retail empire are now under the umbrella of Purepay Retail Limited, which is led by some previous EWM directors. EWM's group finance director John Jackson - also a director of CUFC Holdings - is one of two listed Purepay directors.

United recently described the fact the loan had been transferred to Purepay, rather than called in, as good news for the club.

Clibbens said the club’s approach to that debt - which stood at £2.1m in United's last published accounts - “will be dealt with in the fullness of time, but it’s not something that we’re spending a lot of time thinking about at the moment." The loans are secured against United's assets and subject to personal guarantees by club owners.

Asked where United would turn if circumstances dictate a need for similar external financial support in the future, the chief executive said: “You can’t predict the future, but we’ve already come through nearly nine months of coronavirus on our own. Prior to that we’d had another 12 months being self-sufficient. The steps that we’ve taken even during coronavirus stand us in really good stead going forward. We’re working on the basis of being a self-sustainable club, and that’s how we’re looking at it.

Clibbens said the shirt sponsorship issue was yet to be determined but the director said that he would expect plenty of interest in the opportunity to be on the front of the Blues’ kit. EWM have been the Blues' main shirt sponsor since 2017 as they stepped up their long-standing commercial relationship with United. “That’s something we’d talk about in a few weeks,” Clibbens said. “Because of our relationship with Errea it means we can get whoever we want on the shirt at short notice, so we can think about that. They’ve got things to think about, so we’ll have a discussion on that, but it’s not something we’ve sorted out just yet. I’m sure that there’d be plenty of people who’d be interested in being on the front of our shirt if the opportunity was there, so we’ll see.”

It is likely, meanwhile, that United’s accounts for 2019/20 will appear later than normal. Last year the Blues’ 2018/19 accounts were published in March but it may be three months later this year. “There’s an extension of all accounts now until June 30,” Clibbens said. “So normally we file near the deadline and we haven’t thought about when we’re filing just yet, due to the uncertainties around coronavirus. But there’s a general exemption to allow all businesses to file three months later now.”
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Re: Carlisle United Finances - EWM Loans and Holdsworth

Postby Tippy Tappy Football » Wed May 05, 2021 2:33 pm

"Carlisle United made a profit of more than £750,000 in 2019-2020 and pulled in £1.1 million from player sales. The figures help to underline the value to the club of deals for young stars such as Jarrad Branthwaite who was sold to Everton in January 2020.

Last season saw the Blues' headline turnover rise to £4.5 million, the highest figure for several years. United's debt, though, had also risen to £3 million by the end of the 2019-2020 accounting period including a short-term £120,000 loan from the EFL as part of measures to help clubs cope with the pandemic. While the club had not borrowed any further cash from Edinburgh Woollen Mill in 2019/20, they were left owing "£2.25 million of capital and interest" by the end of last June.

Carlisle say they suffered a reduction in "normal" recurring income of £345,000 due to the coronavirus from that point to the end of June. This would have been far higher but for donations in lieu of refunds from fans and businesses.

United say they received £361,000 from the government's job retention scheme as furloughing staff from March to June enabled them to protect jobs. The sales of players, meanwhile, meant United came out of last June with £500,000 "cash in hand".

It followed a year when star Cumbrian defender Branthwaite joined Everton in a six-figure deal. Although the teenager went on to break into the Premier League club's first team, triggering further income, that did not happen until after the 2019/20 accounting period. Other player sales in 2019/20 included Liam McCarron's move to Leeds, Josh Galloway's departure to the same club, and Hallam Hope's January switch to Swindon.

United said not all of the £1.1m transfer income was received in the 2019/20 year and they said they did not need to use any of the cash from player sales to help cushion the financial blow of Covid-19 before the end of June.

Clibbens, speaking on the club website, said: "We fully absorbed all adverse financial effects of coronavirus in the year to June 30, 2020 by cost savings, donations in lieu of refunds and the job retention scheme before player sales. This meant the football fortune from cup runs and cash from player sales earned in 19/20 was not needed to pay for coronavirus impacts."

"In a normal year we still need around £400,000 to £500,000 of new cash. This usually comes from football fortune or, when we are not self-funding, from external sources. In 19/20 that came from player sales. This meant we entered 20/21 in a sound position, even though we had no external finance expected."

The Blues' profit comes after the club posted an overall loss of £667,000 in the previous financial year.

Cribbens said Carlisle's accounts will again be "comprehensive" and much more detailed than those of some other League Two clubs.

https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/1927 ... transfers/
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